Hull FC went down 33-26 to a spirited Castleford Tigers side at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle in a lively clash in West Yorkshire.
The Black and Whites fell behind to a Daniel Smith try with the first play of the game, and were never able to recover from the setback, despite a valiant effort from Brett Hodgson’s men.
Team News
Hodgson made three changes from the team that defeated Salford Red Devils, with Kane Evans and Andre Savelio returning from suspension, Evans to make his debut for Hull. Darnell McIntosh and Cameron Scott dropped out of the team through injury, with Josh Bowden the other player to make way.
Castleford Tigers head coach Lee Radford was forced into several changes to his side, with George Griffin, Niall Evals, Nathan Massey missing out through injury, with former Black & Whites Bureta Faraimo and Liam Watts forced to miss the game through suspension.
The Match
Hull got off to the worst possible start, with Castleford opening the scoring in the opening ten seconds of the game. Ligi Sao dropped a pass from the kick off and Daniel Smith pounced on the loose ball and fell over the line to give Castleford an early lead, which Gareth O’Brien improved with the conversion.
The start went from bad to worse for Brett Hodgson’s men with Danny Houghton sent to the sin bin for a high tackle after several offloads from the Tigers. O’Brien kicked the penalty goal from in front of the posts to extend Castleford’s lead.
Hull rode out the ten minute period well, and Houghton returned from the sin bin to get Hull’s opening try of the afternoon. He fed Andre Savelio a short pass, which the back rower gave back to Houghton to walk in under the posts. Ben McNamara reduced the deficit with the conversion.
Castleford then scored two tries in as many minutes. First, Greg Eden squeezed over in the corner after Jacob Trueman fired a bullet pass to the winger. Cheyse Blair then struck for the Tigers, taking a pass from Paul McShane close to the line and getting on the outside of the Hull defender to score.
Hull then scored their own try from the kick-off. Derrell Olpherts wasn’t able to decal with Jake Connor’s restart, which was collected by Ben McNamara who had the presence of mind to offload to Josh Griffin to walk in for a simple score. McNamara converted the try to send the teams into the break one converted score apart.
Half Time: Castleford Tigers 18 – 12 Hull FC
As in the first half, Castleford started the stronger of the two teams, scoring in the opening minutes of the half through Gareth O’Brien after the Tigers forced a repeat set. They extended their lead through Greg Eden, again taking a long pass from Trueman, this time to walk in in the corner, though O’Brien was unable to convert either of the tries.
Hull struck back with a try in the corner from Adam Swift. A penalty from Jake Connor was kicked 50 yards downfield to give Hull good field position, which was duly taken advantage of. Nice work from Josh Reynolds to find Griffin with a long pass gave the centre the time and space to pass to Adam Swift to dive in in the corner. McNamara converted the try from out wide.
Hull continued to put pressure on the Tigers, again earning field position by forcing an error in a tackle. Joe Lovodua and Jordan Lane both were inches away from scoring from dummy half, but on the next play Jake Connor threaded a grubber kick behind the Tigers line which Connor Wynne was able to ground and bring Hull within a try of the West Yorkshire side.
Hull’s momentum was brought to a halt. Alex Sutcliffe have Greg Eden the ball on half way and the winger had the pace and strength to carry Jake Connor over the try line to score. O’Brien converted the try.
Hull scored again with timing running out to give them hope for the closing stages, Shaul receiving a pass from Connor 20 meters from the Tigers line and showing his trademark pace to race away to score. McNamara was unable to convert from the touchline.
The Tigers settled the tie with a drop goal from O’Brien to see off Hull’s spirited fightback.
Full time: Castleford Tigers 33-26 Hull FC
Squads:
Castleford Tigers: Gareth O’Brien, Derrell Olpherts, Jordan Turner, Mahe Fonua, Greg Eden, Jake Trueman, Paul McShane, Daniel Smith, George Lawler, Suaia Matagi, Chayse Blair, Alex Sutcliffe, Joe Westerman;
Interchange: Brad Martin, Cain Robb, Tyla Hepi, Sam Hall
Hull FC: Jake Connor, Adam Swift, Josh Griffin, Connor Wynne, Jamie Shaul, Josh Reynolds, Ben McNamara, Ligi Sao, Danny Houghton, Chris Satae, Jordan Lane, Andre Savelio, Brad Fash;
Interchange: Kane Evans, Jack Brown, Joe Lovodua, Jordan Johnstone
Attendance: 10072
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