Featherstone Rovers and Castleford Tigers coaches pleased with first hit-out in derby tussle

Recently appointed Rovers head coach Sean Long saw his charges come out on top 26-10 and was particularly delighted with the defensive efforts of the Featherstone players.

Cas were led by assistant head coach Andy Last, in the absence of Lee Radford, and also declared themselves happy with the run-out despite the loss after choosing to field a young side for the match.

After being victorious in his first game as Fev head coach, Long said: "I liked how they scrambled for one another.

"Thomas Lacans chased someone down, they put a kick in and (Jack) Bussey got back well.

"We are trying to work on our defence a lot and to only concede two tries is good. If you can do that throughout the season then you’ll win the league

"Riley Dean has come in and was nice and calm. He set a good tempo and set four tries up.

"Our middles were outstanding, they grafted and that’s what we’re all about this year – hard work and graft.”

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Stand-in Tigers boss Last saw plenty to encourage him from the first hit-out of the new season.

He said: "I'm really happy. We set out some clear objectives before the game, spoke about defending with some intent, making sure we tried to control the ruck, try and play the field position and the conditions well.

“First half we struggled a little bit, albeit down the hill, but in the second half I thought we got to grips with the contest and did a real good job.

"Young Jacob Hookem did some good stuff, kicked the ball well, kicked early and turned them round. Jack Broadbent showed what he is going to be all about for us.

"For a first hit-out I’m really pleased.

"I challenged the senior blokes. Their motivation to play may not have been from a personal point of view, their motivation was to give a good account of themselves for those young guys to be inspired by them – and I thought it worked really, really well.

“Dan Smith as captain led well, Jack Broadbent and (Alex) Sutcliffe did well. Mahe and Bureta showed some good touches and came with an energy and intent to play.

"Likewise, our younger boys played brought some energy and enthusiasm, which the senior blokes fed off.”

Last added: "For me the highlight of the game was young Olly Agar coming off the bench and getting smoked by Joey Leilua. He got up laughing and Joey gave him a little bit of a pat on the head.

"He will remember that for the rest of his career, albeit in his first senior outing for Castleford Tigers. We don’t know how many more he will get.

"There’ll be some special moments for those young guys who played.

"The free-flowing rugby wasn't evident, but it was a game where we rolled our sleeves up, played the conditions and the pitch and I thought we did that well.

“We came through unscathed. Alex Sutcliffe picked up a bit of a stinger just before half-time, but was able to get another 15 minutes in the second half.

"We managed the squad well and made sure that we got people off if they were feeling anything, any tightness or bumps and bruises.

"I think there’ll be some sore bodies because there was nowhere to hide out there and there were some physical contacts.”