Castleford Tigers director of rugby Chris Chester insists he can’t wait for the Super League season to end after his side’s one-sided defeat to Leigh Leopards on Thursday night.
The Tigers were second best throughout against the Leopards and shipped eight tries on the night to lose 46-6 at Leigh Sports Village. Given the Tigers’ woeful recent form, expectations were low when Castleford arrived at Leigh and they were ultimately handed another heavy defeat, with Tex Hoy’s second half consolation effort being the one thing their fans had to cheer.
The result was enough for Leigh to seal their place in the play-offs and rise up to third. For Castleford, though, they remain rooted to 11th spot in the Super League table and with a new head coach and a raft of new signings, Chester finds himself counting down the days until this miserable 2025 season draws to a close.
“We made it easy for them,” Chester said at Leigh. “The very first set they march us down the field off an offload, we defended well for three plays and then we spent the next 20 minutes either defending our tryline or stood underneath the posts. We were toast at half-time.
“We got a bit of a reaction in the second half which kind of sums us up at the minute as a club. I can’t wait and I’m pretty sure the fans can’t wait for the season to end.”
With incoming head coach Ryan Carr watching on from down under, Chester added: “It’s a dress rehearsal, these next four weeks, because I know Ryan is watching the game tonight, he’s watched the last four weeks and he knows he’s got a hell of a job on to turn things around.
“It’s my job to make sure I supply him with the best players available. There’ll be another big announcement tomorrow (Friday) and probably five or six more over the coming weeks.
“I’m just disappointed, we spoke about Leigh’s game plan. It’s route A, through the middle and our middles just couldn’t cope with the intensity and the ruck speed in that first 40 minutes and that’s what’s really disappointing.”
Castleford Tigers have three more games left to go now with the not so small matter of a West Yorkshire derby against Wakefield Trinity coming up next. That’s before trips to Wigan Warriors and St Helens, which could get ugly if Thursday was anything to go by.
“I don’t know what to say to these guys, I just don’t know what’s turning up sometimes on game day,” Chester added. “They’re giving everything in training, I know we’re really down on troops but we have to get away from feeling sorry for ourselves and start, individually being a hell of a lot better than we were tonight, and collectively.”
