CASTLEFORD TIGERS went down 26-4 to Catalans Dragons at The Jungle this afternoon in a dreadful display from Danny McGuire’s men.
The Tigers were second best throughout, and, after trailing 14-0 at half-time, Castleford conceded a further two tries to succumb to a Dragons onslaught.
It’s fair to say that McGuire was frustrated with what he had seen.
“I just thought they handled the conditions better. I thought their game management and their simplicity in the way they went about it was better,” McGuire said.
“They used their big bodies down the middle and kicked to corners. I thought we had some chances to go in front in the first-half with Zac Cini and Innes Senior.
“I thought we did some decent things in the first-half with the ball but we showed no resilience to defend our line with soft tries.
“One of their middle guys barged through and then they scored from dummy-half which was really disappointing.
“We didn’t grasp the conditions and made too many mistakes. We never really got control of the game.”
McGuire admitted that some aspects of the game were “worrying”.
“Any try conceded is a concern but when it is just one guy taking six over the line then it is worrying – and then the dummy-half try is concerning too.
“There are some things we are not doing what we want to do. We have got to keep working and learning and trying to get better each week.
“We’ve been at it since November and we have moments where we look a good team and then have moments where it looks like we don’t know what we are doing.
Concentration, fatigue, pressure – I don’t know. It’s a few things that contribute to that and we need to get on top of that.”
The Castleford boss also hailed Sam Tomkins’ influence, with the Catalans fullback scoring a try and kicking five from six.
“We do lack a bit of what Sam Tomkins showed today. He was the best player on the pitch by a mile.
“The fact he can come back, play on one leg and still be the best player on the field shows you where we are.”
McGuire also explained Jeremiah Simbiken’s early exit from the field, as well as Joe Westerman’s and Dan Okoro’s absence.
“Jeremiah Simbiken went off early, I was looking forward to seeing his combination with Rowan on the right-hand side. He went off with a hamstring problem.
Hopefully Joe Westerman will be back. I made a call not to play him because he had not been training – I probably should have played him.
“Dan Okoro had a bit of a niggle, too, and didn’t quite do what we needed him to do in training. He potentially could have played – that was a bad call as well.”
McGuire praised Brad Singleton on debut but admits that more new bodies are needed.
“Brad has not played for a while. He had some good moments and some mistakes but he was out there for 50 or 60 minutes.
“He added a little bit of steel to us which we needed. We potentially need another one or two now.
“Recruitment is ongoing but we may need to add a bit in the next week or two – if not, we will work with the boys we’ve got.”
