CASTLEFORD TIGERS secured victory for the first time in the 2025 Super League season with a 22-14 win over Salford Red Devils.
The two sides were locked at 6-6 apiece at half-time before two Tigers’ second-half tries proved enough to keep Salford winless in 2025.
And Castleford boss Danny McGuire admitted he was ‘relieved’ to get his first win as head coach.
“It is a bit of a relief if I’m being honest. The game wasn’t a spectacle, it was very stop start,” McGuire said.
“I’m obviously really pleased for the players, seeing what they’ve put themselves through in pre-season and the challenges we’ve had to overcome this week, we’ve been kind of forgotten about.
“All the stories have been about Salford so it’s not been an easy week for us.
“They showed character, it wasn’t perfect but we kept working hard for each other and we are trying to bring that commitment and steel and players that want to work hard. We are getting there.
“It’s been tough, I’ve tried to take some pressure off the players and not focus too much on what’s going on outside of what we can control.
“I thought Dan Okoro was strong on debut and I thought Cain Robb and George Hill were good early on.
“Judah Rimbu and Liam Horne came on and added energy. He was good was Judah, we haven’t seen the best of him yet because we haven’t been able to generate ruck speed for him to run off.
“We saw glimpses of him today when we did win the ruck. He is a smart player and players coming in from overseas always take time to settle in.
“I thought he was very good today.”
McGuire also revealed why Westerman pulled out.
“We are missing some big bodies. Westy pulled out this morning and that changed things a little bit.
“Westy was sick, he put his hand up to play after hurting his back.”
McGuire was also asked about three disallowed Castleford tries and two successful Salford Captain’s Challenges.”
“Would it help if I said had a problem? The one where Muizz touched it and he gave a try, I thought it went backwards.
“You get some that go for you and you get some that don’t you and you hope they even themselves out across the season.”
The Castleford boss also hailed Sam Wood for standing up to be counted despite numerous injuries throughout the fixture.
“He had a bit of everything with his arm and his back. It’s not quite going for him at the minute, he needed to step up for the team.
“We were short on numbers and he put his hand up to stay out there and that’s what we need to do. It’s not easy in our game.
“It was good of him to tough it out as the players needed him.”
With the week leading up to the fixture all focused on Salford, there were claims that the fixture could have been postponed.
But, McGuire had prepared his players as normal ahead of the game.
“I feel for their players and staff, it’s a bit of a mess but that’s out of my control. My focus is on my players.
“I didn’t hear anything about it being postponed. We were prepared for always playing this game.
“I don’t know if anything was going on above me but I wasn’t aware of it.”
