HEADING into their round 24 clash against Warrington Wolves, Castleford Tigers held a two-competition points advantage over relegation rivals Wakefield Trinity as well as a better for and against differential of 44 points.
But after suffering a 66-12 defeat at Warrington Wolves on Saturday, combined with Wakefield’s 16-32 home defeat by St Helens the following day, that differential has now fallen to just six points.
It means that the Tigers can’t rely on avoiding relegation if they and Trinity finish the regular season on the same number of league points.
It left a sour taste in coach Danny Ward’s mouth after admitting several of his players looked to have given up during their round 24 clash.
“A few stuck their hands up and had a big shift and had a dig, but we are not a team that can carry a few passengers,” Ward said.
“A few just gave up a little bit at times and just weren’t good enough.”
Down 18-6 at half-time the Tigers scored first in the second half bringing the score to 18-12, a moment Ward thought could be the turning point in the match.
“We came out of half-time and we were probably lucky in a sense to be 12 points behind at half-time.
“Warrington threw everything at us in the first half and then we came out and Greg (Eden) scores at the start of the second half and we were doing alright.
“Then unfortunately we got the yellow card (for a dangerous Jacob Miller tackle) and we crumbled with 12 men and conceded four tries.”
Ward admits it was a dire dressing room following the loss.
“A lot of hard truths, lads are speaking and saying the right things in terms of how disappointed they are and areas they need to fix up, but we just need to walk the walk.
“We’ve probably had a lot of those conversations this year after defeats.
“The beauty of the game is we’ve got a short turn around, six days until we play at home to Hull FC, so we’ve got to get back on the horse next week.”
