CASTLEFORD TIGERS registered a quite incredible 24-18 win over Catalans Dragons at The Jungle this afternoon.
The Tigers led 18-6 at the break before withstanding a tremendous Catalans fightback to finally cap off a wonderful display through Tex Hoy on 72 minutes.
Castleford head coach, Craig Lingard, was happy to say the least: “It was a bit tight, you try and keep composed but the actions during the game get the better of you at times.
“I thought we scrambled really well to prevent tries in the last five minutes. It’s a strange one because the pleasing thing was although it was 18-18 from being 18-0 up, to see the game out was a real turning point for us.
“In the past, we have conceded points and gone into our shells and you would have thought Catalans were favourites to kick on and win but we responded well to that and that’s testament to how the boys have responded since the Challenge Cup break.
“The performances we have showed against Wigan, Hull KR, Saints and today to put a performance like that against a really good Catalans team shows we can challenge anybody.
“I think we completed 94 per cent in that first-half and our attitude to defend and some of the work to get off our line put us in positions. I thought our middles were outstanding today.”
Lingard was full of praise for Liam Horne in a man-of-the-match performance as well as Jason Qareqare who fielded almost all of Jordan Abdull’s wicked kicks.
“The effort areas he gives us is first-class. We challenged Horney and Cain (Robb) to lead the line speed in yardage and take everyone with us defensively and they did just that.
“Jason is going really well, I think his workrate out of yardage – which I think was something he needed to improve – is improving all the time.
“He is getting bigger, his physical presence is improving and I thought he dealt with the kicks really well.”
The Castleford boss also hailed his “unrecognisable” team from the one that started the season: “We are unrecognisable as a team from where we started the season. We knew it would be a long process; we hoped days like this would come but we weren’t sure if they would or not.
“We believed in the process that we began the start of the season with and the players have bought into it 100 per cent about what we are wanting.
“I don’t know when we last got three wins on the bounce.”
The Tigers do, however, have one injury concern with Liam Watts needing to go off at the start of the second-half with a knee problem.
“Wattsy got twisted with his knee. He tried to start the second-half but you could tell quite clearly that he wasn’t right.
“We will assess him and see how he is. You can never tell straight after.”
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