CASTLFORD TIGERS head coach Craig Lingard believes that the amount of defending his side have had to do in first-halves in 2024 has been the main reason as to why teams have blown the Tigers away at the beginning of the second period.
Against Wigan Warriors in last weekend’s Super League clash, the Tigers were down just 12-8 at the break, but they were hit with three tries inside the opening ten minutes of the second-half as Wigan put the game out of sight.
That has been the same story for many of Castleford’s games in 2024 so far and Lingard has pinpointed the issue.
“I just think it’s the amount of defence we are doing in certain games,” Lingard said.
“In both games against Wigan we had 34 per cent and 35 per cent in the first-half and you can only defend against a team that has two-thirds of the ball for so long and that dam will break eventually.
“Ultimately, you do that much defending you are going to get fatigued and the easy thing for people to say is that we aren’t fit enough as a team.
“I don’t care how fit you are as a team, if you are defending two times to their one then anyone will be fatigued in this situation.”
So how do Castleford go about improving those statistics?
“We need to control the ball better. We need to make sure we don’t give repeat sets away and make sure we have more sets with the ball in and then defensively we will be better.
“Our aim this week is to have at least 50 per cent of the ball and if we do that then we will have more energy and less fatigue in defence.
“Hopefully that will mean our performance can last for longer than a 40 or 50-minute period.”
The Tigers go up against the London Broncos tomorrow night with the capital club still yet to post their first win of the 2024 Super League campaign.
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