REPORT: Castleford Tigers v Huddersfield Giants

Castleford Tigers took home their first win of the Betfred Super League season with a 34-8 victory over Huddersfield Giants on Friday night.

Things got underway with Castleford legend, and Club President, Mal Reilly OBE bringing the matchball onto the field with Chairman Martin Jepson, fitting in the Club’s Centenary year.

The start of the match was a tale of handling errors from both sides, with a rainy night at the OneBore making things tricky for the players on the field.

However, the Tigers were on form, and after a drive up the field, Liam Hood fooled the Giants on their line, and had a scrambling try again, his second in two games in Castleford this season!

Weaver’s conversion was good, and the Tigers continued to pile pressure on to the away side.

Tigers fans were aggrieved that a high shot wasn’t given a sin-bin, but were soon happy with a second try of the night, as Darnell McIntosh raced onto a pass, through a gap, and in for a second try.

Soon, the Giants would indeed be given a yellow, with Taane Milne sent to the sin-bin after Krystian Mapapalangi had come close to a try, and a quick ball from Hood gave George Lawler the Tigers’ third of the night.

Jack Ashworth then came onto the field for a Tigers debut, and came close to scoring just minutes later, but he was denied a dream start by a knock-on over the line.

Just before the half-time whistle, finally, some concerted pressure from the Giants, and the Tigers eventually cracked - Jacob Gagai raced onto a pass down the left to give the Giants their own first try of the night, but the conversion went wide - meaning 16-4 was the half-time score.

A restart out-on-the-full wasn’t exactly an ideal start to the second half, but the Tigers stood firm in defence, before a penalty gave the home side a set on the Giants’ line. From this, a perfectly-weighted grubber kick through from Asi was chased by Tom Weaver, who dived on the ball to score his first for the Tigers.

After converting his own try, the lead stretched to 18 points - but not for long, as George Flanagan raced through after a high kick wasn’t dealt with by the Cas defence.

He was unable to himself convert his own try.

The Giants had a successful Captain’s Challenge to cement the pressure they then began to put on the Tigers defence, but some huge defensive efforts in front of the Railway End somehow stopped the away side from capitalising.

Then, out of nowhere, a breakthrough for the Tigers! Joe Stimson passed it to Joe Westerman, and ran an unbelievable line to put him through, he passed it to Tom Weaver, and the half-back had his second of the night!

Things only got better, and louder, for the Tigers, as Ashton Golding scored on debut after forcing his way over from a play-the-ball, with Weaver once again accurate from the kicking tee.

It was a 34-8 victory for the home side, and a first league victory under Ryan Carr.