Castleford Tigers hammered at home by Hull as they fail to back up Wigan heroics

Empty terraces and seats showed that fans had voted with their feet and seen enough long before the final hooter as Castleford’s topsy turvy form took another turn for the worse with a shocking 50-10 home defeat by a team with their own problems previously this season.

After the brilliant win at Wigan the previous week it was fair to say people were left questioning how had this same team beaten one of the best teams in Super League just five days earlier.

Perhaps that was part of the problem, it had been just five days earlier that they had played and maybe there was some tiredness hanging over with the short turnaround after such a big effort at Wigan.

Cas were not helped by an early penalty count of 4-0 plus two set restarts in the first 15 minutes. But by then they were already 10-0 down and the flat start simply got worse with some of the worst defending seen by a Tigers team on their home turf.

Head coach Ryan Carr was predictably angry after the final hooter and has promised changes. They clearly need to be made as home surrenders like this cannot be tolerated and it came off the back of a 34-0 hammering by local rivals Wakefield Trinity in their previous game at the OneBore Stadium.

In their last five league games the Tigers have now been thrashed three times yet managed to win twice in between – all very puzzling.

The great defence from Wigan was in short supply as it was far too easy for Hull to help themselves to their nine tries and the writing was on the wall early.

The visitors, under former Castleford coach Andy Last, went ahead in the fifth minute when Amir Bourouh sliced open the Cas defence and Jake Arthur finished the move off. Ex-Cas star Zak Hardaker converted.

It did not help the home team’s chances of hitting back when George Lawler was sin-binned for a high tackle and while he was off their opponents took advantage to score twice, Tom Briscoe racing over wide out and Davy Litten dancing through weak defending.

Tigers briefly threatened when Daejarn Asi was tackled just short of the line after his kick had been knocked back by Jason Qareqare, but they went further behind as Connor Bailey scored his team’s fourth try.

Off the back of a run of penalties and set restarts Cas finally got some good field position and they made it count just before half-time as Krystian Mapapalangi – one player who could escape criticism – showed his quality in shrugging off two would-be tacklers to charge over for a try that was converted by Tom Weaver.

With the deficit down to 14 points Cas fans had hope that their team could repeat their effort at Wigan when coming from behind there with a strong second half performance.

But an early penalty put Hull on the front foot again and Aidan Sezer was allowed too much time as he put in a perfect kick over the top for Lewis Murphy to score.

With Hardaker again missing the conversion there was still some hope perhaps and the team showed some spirit at least in having a go for a spell. Pressure built before Asi was stopped just short after trying to weave his way through.

The Tigers’ defence was not so stubborn, however, as Litten found a gaping hole to score his all too easy second try.

Again Cas responded with Darnell McIntosh getting to a high ball only to be unable to force his way over the line.

But more melting defence allowed Hardaker to waltz through for another try.

A goal-line drop-out that did not go 10 metres invited more pressure on the hosts. They survived, just, as Connor Bailey charged through only to have his effort chalked off by video official Jack Smith for an obstruction that referee Tara Jones missed.

At the other end a rare impressive home attack led to the Tigers' second try and centre Mapapalangi was again the scorer, leaping well to catch a high kick then spinning round to get the ball down over the line.

However, it summed up their night when a scruffy finish to the game was punished with Cade Cust and Yusuf Aydin going over for Hull tries and Hardaker rubbing more salt on the wound with a late penalty kick.