CASTLEFORD TIGERS went down 50-8 to Huddersfield Giants at The Jungle tonight in a dismal performance.
The Tigers were down 24-4 at the break before capitulating in the final quarter, conceding five tries in 17 minutes as Huddersfield simply blew Craig Lingard’s men off the field.
And Lingard reflected on the game, saying: “I need to be careful what I say, it hurts massively. I think that’s the main thing and it’s got to hurt the players. Some players it does and some maybe not but that hurts me,” Lingard said.
“That’s not a performance I want to be associated with, the club doesn’t want to be associated with that and it doesn’t represent us as a club.
“How we’ve performed in the games so far for a certain amount of time, that wasn’t good enough and it doesn’t represent us but we have got to own it.”
Lingard explained that it is difficult to pinpoint what went wrong.
“It’s difficult, we have prepared really well all week, our previews have been good and the content has been good on the field. There are indicators you can sometimes pick up on with how they talk in the build-up but everything was how we wanted it to be.
“I think we got out-enthused, we have to base ourselves on being effort-based and out-work other teams, be more together than other teams and Huddersfield blew us off the park with all the effort-based stuff.
“The stuff we can control which is your want and will to get off the line, too many times we had a man lay on the floor and let their mates defend without them.
“They got a rocket at half-time and they played like we wanted to do at the start of the game but then to capitulate like we did, it was embarrassing.
“There are no easy solutions, we’ve not got an open cheque book where we can bring in marquee players. We are building for the future, we knew tough days were going to come but they hit you hard and it is certainly hitting me hard.
“The only people that can fix it are the group we have got, that’s the players and coaching staff. It’s down to hard work and it’s effort-based stuff we are talking about.”
Lingard explained that there will be “real tough” sessions this week ahead of the Tigers’ clash at Catalans Dragons next week.
“There are going to be real tough and difficult sessions either on the field or on the video review because people have got to feel and see what I am feeling.
“I don’t think it hurts too many people, you have got to take it personally. Are you happy to drive home and have a nice weekend? I’m certainly not.
“I will have a horrible weekend as I know 7,000 Cas fans will do. That’s not representative of us. These people that have come and watch us are people who want to see pride and give effort.
“We know we won’t win every game this season but they want people to put effort in and that wasn’t that today.”
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