Match Report: Castleford Tigers 10-16 Hull FC

Match Report: Castleford Tigers 10-16 Hull FC

Hull came from behind to take victory in their only pre-season game of 2025

Match Report News

A determined Hull FC hung on to defeat Castleford Tigers 16-10 at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle in their only pre-season fixture of 2025.

The Black & Whites trailed 10-4 at the break, with Josh Simm and Innes Senior tries sandwiching Jordan Rapana’s first for FC.

Early second-half tries from Jed Cartwright and Amir Bourouh gave Hull’s youngsters something to hold onto, and they did with some solid scramble efforts in defence.

Team News

John Cartwright took a squad of 28 players to West Yorkshire for his first match in position as Head Coach of Hull FC.

Zak Hardaker, Jordan Rapana, Cade Cust, Aidan Sezer, Amir Bourouh, John Asiata and Hugo Salabio all made their first appearances for FC.

The game came too soon for Oliver Holmes, who has only just returned to on-field training following an injury.

Davy Litten (knee), Jack Charles (ankle), Matty Laidlaw (knee) and Nick Staveley (ACL) were ruled out, alongside the suspended Yusuf Aydin, whose ban carried over from last season.

The Tigers named a significantly smaller squad, with Castleford Head Coach, Danny Maguire, looking to fine-tune his side having already played two prior pre-season friendlies.

Former Black & White forward Joe Westerman started at loose-forward for the hosts, celebrating his Testimonial match.

The Match

There was little to report inside the opening 15 minutes, but Hull had to have their wits about them to stop a couple of Castleford half-chances. The visitors recovered well to bring Tex Hoy’s break to a halt, before Ligi Sao repelled a dangerous Judah Rimbu grubber kick.

But the Tigers took a deserved lead after Hull conceded a seven-tackle set. Down at the other end of the field, Sam Wood supplied Simm for a walk in try at the right corner.

Good ball opportunities came at a real premium for Hull inside the opening half-an-hour, but a Herman Ese’ese tackle bust afforded FC the luxury of venturing into Castleford territory. A nice passage of play saw Rapana score his first try in Black & White colours after taking in Aidan Sezer’s pass left.

The Tigers hit back five minutes later after the visitors conceded a sloppy penalty for being offside deep in Castleford’s half. Daejarn Asi linked up nicely with Hoy, with the former Hull fullback firing a bullet pass that allowed Senior to stroll in at the left corner.

In a relatively uneventful first-half, Hull had the opportunity to draw level on the stroke of the break. Early ball gave Hardaker a sight of the try-line, but he was held up a couple of metres shy by his opposite number, Zac Cini.

Half-Time: Tigers 10-4 Hull

John Cartwright made a series of changes at the start of the second-half, introducing the likes of Joe Ward, Callum Kemp, Will Kirby and Lewis Martin to name a few.

Jed Cartwright powered through the Castleford line on the final play to register the first points of the second-half, just two minutes after the restart, taking in Amir Bourouh’s soft dummy-half pass.

A resurgent Hull FC plunged into the lead just a few minutes later. Bourouh turned scorer, twisting over the try-line to score out of dummy-half.

Hull tried to take the sting out of the game for the next ten minutes, with completion rates at a high level and Callum Kemp kicking towards the corners.

At the other end of the field, Callum’s twin brother, Lloyd Kemp, was doing a sterling job of diffusing Asi’s kicks with Castleford beginning to turn the screw in the battle for territory.

The youngsters continued to face significant pressure from the Castleford attack, but they scrambled well to deny Fletcher Rooney after taking in Hoy’s offload.

Rooney had an even better chance to cross the whitewash when he came steaming onto a Liam Watts pass, but the fullback dropped the ball over the line courtesy of heroic defence from the Airlie Birds in the closing stages.

Full-Time: Tigers 10-16 Hull
Squads & Scorers

Tigers: Hoy, Simm, Cini, Wood, Senior, Rimbu, Asi, Griffin, Horne, Lawler, Simbiken, Mellor, Westerman

Tigers Interchanges: Hooley, Mustapha, Namo, Okoro, Robb, Rooney, Watts

Tigers Tries: Simm, Senior

Tigers Goals: Hoy (1/2)

Hull: Moy, Briscoe, Hardaker, Rapana, Barron, Cust, Sezer, Ese’ese, Bourouh, Sao, Lane, Chamberlain, Asiata

Hull Interchanges: Ashworth, Balmforth, Cartwright, Clark, Fash, Gardiner, Hutchinson, Jebson, C. Kemp, L. Kemp, Kirby, Martin, Salabio, Ward, Westerman

Hull Tries: Rapana, Cartwright, Bourouh

Hull Goals: Hardaker (0/1), Westerman (2/2)