Error-ridden Castleford Tigers are no match for in-form champions Hull KR
They may have saved face a little by showing some spirit in the second half, but Castleford Tigers conceded a half century of points against opposition from Hull for the second week running as they were outclassed by the in-form reigning champions.
Helped by some giveaway tries, Hull KR romped to a 50-6 victory with the Tigers clearly lacking confidence after their 50-10 defeat to Hull FC the week before.
The brilliance of their win at Wigan just two weeks earlier seemed a distant memory as a one-sided first half saw the hosts 34-0 up with the points already in the bag.
In fact Cas were lucky to get nil so outplayed were they with half-time stats incredible as they had only made 345 metres to their opponents’ 820 and had just one play-the-ball in the opposition 20 to Hull’s 19.
The second half was much closer and they deserved their late consolation, which predictably came from Krystian Mapapalangi and avoided the embarrassment of being nilled as they were against Wakefield Trinity.
But the opening half was a horror show with far too many errors gifting a Rovers team that did not need a helping hand good field position and tries.
The hosts were quickly on top and only some desperate defence from Darnell McIntosh – playing on the wing with Zac Cini brought back in to his preferred centre position – emergency loan signing Brad Dwyer and new boy at full-back Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e prevented an early try.
But relief was temporary as a miscommunication from Jason Qareqare’s play-the ball gifted Rovers the ball 10 meres out from the visitors’ line and, with two set restarts then a penalty following, the Cas defence cracked.
Karl Lawton went over from acting half as an alarming gap appeared close to the line. Rhyse Martin added the first of what was to be seven conversions and Hull were on their way.
Six minutes later the hosts were in again off the back of Renouf Atoni’s fumble on half-way and hooker Lawton was over for his second try after taking advantage of hesitant defending.
The Tigers dug in for a spell, but never threatened to hit back and fell further behind when debutant Laulu-Togaga'e spilled the ball in trying to run it back to Rovers after fielding a high kick and Tom Amone had the easiest of tasks to pick up the ball and plant it down over the line.
It was a tough night for PLT, who was also caught out of position a couple of times, but at least he later played a part in their one try and showed glimpses of promise in attack.
In contrast Rovers were almost perfect in the first half and they stretched their lead further with winger Tom Davies acrobatically finishing in the corner for their fourth try.
There was more to come before the break as Elliot Minchella tried a rare grubber kick and it bounced perfectly for fellow forward Dean Hadley to touch down as he followed up.
And just before the hooter the home team moved the ball superbly from one side to the other for Davies to dive over for his second try.
A shocking start to the second half saw the Tigers concede again after presenting another gift to their opponents with McIntosh fumbling the ball in his own in-goal area and Mikey Lewis pouncing to get the ball down.
Now it was looking like a real embarrassment, but they finally got a chance to do some attacking of their own after receiving their first penalty of the night in the 49th minute.
Off the back of a Rovers knock-on on the last tackle then three penalties some real pressure was exerted on the home line. However, they are not champions for nothing and held firm with Jordan Lane going closest to scoring when tackled a metre out and Davies coming to the hosts’ rescue in deflecting away PLT’s pass which was intended for an unmarked Qareqare.
As so often happens wouldn’t you just know it? When the Hull team finally got the ball back after nine minutes of defending they worked their way straight downfield and scored, Joe Burgess finishing well in the corner after Cas failed to deal with Lewis’ high kick.
Davies completed his hat-trick five minutes before the end to bring up the half century after being sent over by Peta Hiku.
But at least the Tigers had something to show for their efforts late on as Mapapalangi followed up PLT’s clever kick to score his sixth try of the season.
It was too little, too late of course on another night to forget for Castleford.