Try of the season contender, Karl Lawton, horror debut and more Hull KR v Castleford Tigers talking points

Castleford Tigers’ season continues to go from bad to worse with the side suffering another heavy defeat, this time to Hull KR.

The Robins, who have now won six games in a row, emerged as 50-6 winners, with Tom Davies crossing for a hat-trick, his first time on the scoresheet in eight matches.

Karl Lawton crossed twice, whilst Tom Amone, Joe Burgess, Dean Hadley and Mikey Lewis all found the whitewash.

From Jez Litten’s impact to a Tigers injury concern, here are the biggest talking points to come from the contest.

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Hull KR v Castleford Tigers Talking Points

80-minute Robins:

Despite winning comfortably against Bradford last week, Peters criticised his side for dropping their standards in the second quarter of the game. Bradford scored twice in that period, but KR rectified that this week and was able to keep Castleford to 0 until the final play of the game where Mapapalangi was able to get over for a consolation score.

Their best stint in defence saw Castleford fail to score after six consecutive sets on KR’s line. Most teams would have eventually cracked, but the Robins dug deep and were able to keep Ryan Carr’s side out quite heroicly.

That stat bodes extremely well given that there is a Challenge Cup semi-final next up for the home side. They take on Warrington, who are also in some solid form.

The Robins may not have been as dominant in the second half in terms of points, but it was still a comfortable performance from minute one to minute 80.

Litten/Lawton dynamtic:

Willie Peters opted to start with star hooker Jez Litten on the bench this evening, a decision that proved very fruitful.

Karl Lawton made his second start of the league season in his place, and after 16 minutes the former North Queensland Cowboys man had two tries to his name.

Capitalising on Tigers errors, a theme throughout the majority of the Robins’ tries, the versatile forward made an instant impact, and executed his role perfectly before Litten came on after 25 minutes to speed up the play.

PLT’s night to forget:

Full-back Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e was one of four debutants in Castleford’s side this evening, and whilst none of the quartet really made any impact, his efforts in particular came under scrutiny.

Out of position for the Lawton’s second try, his basic error on his own line saw Tom Amone go over for KR’s third of the evening.

His positioning, or lack of, saw Dean Hadley over from an Elliot Minchella kick, before Mikey Lewis outjumped him which then allowed Joe Burgess to cross.

Castleford’s defeat certainly wasn’t wholy down to him, but the former KR man will be wanting to have his debut all over again.

Alex Mellor concern:

In what was an already disappointing evening for the Tigers, they could be set to lose one of their most influential players.

Mellor left the field in the second stanza due to a hamstring injury, in what will no doubt be worrying for Carr, who have already been without their captain for a lot of 2026 already.

Tom Davies’ worldie:

Is it too early to be labelling any try scored at this stage a ‘Try of the Season’ contender? Probably. But Davies’ second try of the night has to be up there come the end of the year.

In the final play of the half, the Robins kept the ball alive and went from right to left and back again before the former Wigan man acrobatically finished in the corner.

The ball went through 10 sets of hands in the move, and it summed up Rovers’ first half performance – free-flowing and clinical with Castleford unable to get a hand on them.