Castleford Tigers gained a comfortable 25-4 victory today over Hull Kingston Rovers at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle, consolidating their position in the top eight, moving into fifth place and building on their Easter Monday victory at Warrington Wolves.
And yet it was the Robins who impressed early on, when a brilliant passing movement involving several players resulted in Ken Sio beating Michael Shenton and touching down in the right corner, although Josh Mantellato couldn’t convert.
But that was as good as it got for the Robins, and the Tigers, with a superb defensive effort, gradually took control.
They pulled ahead after ten minutes, when Ben Roberts moved smartly across the field before creating an opportunity for Jordan Tansey, who touched down in the right corner, with Luke Gale adding the conversion.
The Robins suffered a blow on 19 minutes, when Albert Kelly had to leave the field for several minutes after being handed off by Castleford winger Justin Carney and getting a finger in the eye.
The Tigers scored their second on 26 minutes, with Gale touching down after more good work by Roberts, and Nathan Massey scored their third five minutes later, bursting through attempted tackles by Shaun Lunt and Tyrone McCarthy. Gale converted both tries.
The Tigers suffered a blow early in the second half when Carney suffered a dislocated elbow, and had to leave the field and go to hospital.
The Robins’ hopes were reinvigorated when Kelly kicked a 40-20, but they couldn’t take advantage of the position, and the Tigers were the next to score when Gale landed a field-goal to give his side a 15-point lead.
And they clinched the game on 65 minutes when Frankie Mariano scored against his old club after more great hands from several of his team-mates.
Luke Gale and Terry Campese came into the game as joint leaders of the Albert Goldthorpe Medal table, but Gale came out on top in that particular battle.
A full report and photos from today’s game will feature in Monday’s edition of Rugby League Express, in the shops and online digitally from Sunday evening at 10.00pm.
