Cas claim win over KR

Lee Radford made one change to his starting 13 who travelled to Perpignan with Ryan Hampshire making his second Castleford debut in place of James Clare. Prop Suaia Matagi was also introduced as an interchange for Brad Martin. As well as it being a Betfred Super League encounter, Hull Kingston Rovers and Castleford Tigers came together to celebrate the life of a rugby league great by competing for the Roger Millward Trophy.

As Chris Kendall blew his whistle, Ryan Hampshire’s kick got the game started under the bellowing sun at Wheldon Road. Within five minutes, a fantastic bursting run from Kenny Edwards split open the defence leaving Castleford short of the KR line by five metres. A short ball to Griffin ended the set as the prop barged over despite three defenders grappling him.

The Robins were quick to respond after going behind early on and Castleford caused problems for themselves following the dismissal of Liam Watts for ten minutes after his high shot on Lachlan Coote. The Tigers remained under the cosh and some fluid hands down KR’s right edge looked all but clear for Lachlan Coote but was held up on the line by some resistant defending courtesy of Jake Trueman and Jason Qareqare.

Between the fifteen and twenty-five-minute mark, neither side managed to retain full control of the ball with both the Tigers and KR making a category of errors. Momentum, nevertheless, did start to build and the Castleford fans could feel something was coming. As the ball was distributed out to the left edge, a sublime step from Kenny Edwards duped his opposite man and the second rower put the burners on to go over unchallenged. Gareth O’Brien made no mistake in front of the sticks.

Castleford looked to punish the Robins in quick succession and secured their third score of the match. It was the right edge this time that the Fords attacked and after Derrell Olpherts sprinted clear of the KR defence his inside pass to Jake Mamo was pounced on and the #4 went over. The score was 18-0 after Gareth O’Brien’s successive kick.

The Tigers were hungry for more and moments later youngster Qareqare added to his impressive tally this season. A quick play the ball by Paul McShane was handed to Edwards and his pass into space was beautifully ran onto by Jason Qareqare who outwitted Lachlan Coote with a clever step where he eventually went clear.

Pressure really began to mount for the Robins as the Fords were relentless with their plays. Daniel Smith came closest after his signature pirouette was stopped just short of the line, but the following play was brought back for a Cas penalty after Ben Crooks intercepted the ball in an offside position. Gareth O’Brien decided to kick for goal and took the game to 24 points to nil going into the half-time interval.

Possession was dominated by KR in the early stages of the second half as the away side looked to begin their comeback. A collection of successive offloads from Hull kept the ball alive and despite nearing closer to the Castleford line were unable to find a way through.

It was in fact the Fords who continued to put points on the board and after soaking up constant attacks from KR, Jake Mamo anticipated a slack pass down the right edge and completed a 70-metre burst to the KR line.

The Robins replied with moments of their own class but dominant cover from Ryan Hampshire stopped Rowan Milnes from going over. The versatility player, Hampshire, demonstrated vital defensive plays in back-to-back sets as he caught a kick beyond the Cas try line to dart back over back in field.

With just under fifteen minutes to play, Castleford were in the driving seat and began to turn on their groove. Around fifteen metres from the line, the Fords slickly shipped the ball to the left and Gareth O’Brien’s firing pass out to Jason Qareqare provided the winger with his second try of the match.

In the closing stages of the match, Jake Mamo looked to secure a hat-trick and came frighteningly close. After streaking past two KR defenders on their left edge, Mamo chipped the ball over the top of Lachlan Coote but the weight of the kick rolled out of play.

An excellent afternoon for the Tigers as they demonstrated a dominating performance and claimed a 32 points to nil victory.

Full-time: Castleford Tigers 32 – 0 Hull KR

Castleford: Hampshire, Qareqare, Fonua, Mamo, Olpherts, Trueman, O’Brien, Watts, McShane, Griffin, Edwards, Lawler, Westerman

Interchanges: Massey, Smith, Matagi, Milner

Tries: Griffin, Edwards, Mamo x2, Qareqare x2

Sin bin: Watts

Goals: O’Brien (4/7)

Hull KR: Coote, Ryan, Crooks, Kenny-Dowall, Hall, Takairangi, Milnes, Maher, Parcell, King, Johnson, Keinhorst, Hadley

Interchanges: Storton, Litten, Sims, Richards

Golden Gamble Number: 13822