Castleford Tigers fell to another defeat last night on the road against Hull KR which further solidifies their place in a relegation fight with Wakefield Trinity, particularly following Trinity’s recent run of form including wins over Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos.
The Tigers themselves beat the Rhinos earlier in the season but since that victory in round five they’ve won just three of their last 15, which has left them sitting just two points clear of rivals Wakefield.
Defeat to Hull KR last night marked their fourth in a row and it was the third consecutive game that they conceded 30 or more points, which is of huge importance considering that the relegation battle could come down to points difference.
Heading to Craven Park with a weeks rest advantage over a Hull KR side that went to golden point in a bruising and emotional Challenge Cup encounter, it could have been expected that Andy Last’s men may catch Rovers out but that wasn’t the case.
Hull KR raced into a 16-0 lead scoring three tries in eight minutes, all of which Last will have been far from impressed from especially Rhys Kennedy’s dive over and the opener which came from incredibly scrappy circus style rugby league.
There looked to be some fight in the Tigers as they posted two tries in response before the break, including former Robin Will Tate, but Rovers blitzed them in the second half to run out 34-16 winners.
Speaking to the press post game Andy Last called on individuals to take responsibility.
“I’m really disappointed with the result and disappointed with the manner of some of the tries that we conceded,” Last told the Tigers Youtube Channel.
On why it took so long to get going, Last replied: “Individuals, individuals making some poor decisions.
“The first set of the game we try and offload when there’s four in the collision and that’s down to an individual making that decision, and it’s not the right one.
“Over the course of the first half too many individuals made poor decisions and those individuals will be aware of that, and they’ll need to be better next week.”
Specifically Last called on his senior players to step up.
“It’s about delivering on game day and unfortunately the last couple of weeks we haven’t delivered on game day, and that’s pressure.
“I think we need some of our senior blokes to deal with that pressure of game day a little bit better than they’re currently doing and we’ll certainly be asking them to do that moving forward.
“You need to be busting your absolute balls to give your actual best and work hard to be competitive, that message has been rammed home to the boys. We’re in a desperate desperate moment and they need to give their absolute best and stay together.”
