Daryl Powell slams Castleford Tigers after Challenge Cup exit
Last Updated: 16/05/15 7:16pm
Daryl Powell accused Castleford of lacking maturity after they were dumped out of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup by Hull FC.
Last year’s finalists started poorly at the KC Stadium and fell away badly to slump to a 40-14 defeat, a scoreline which appeared unlikely with only two points in it after an hour.
"We're getting in fights and just getting bored of it," said Tigers head coach Powell. "We're just not good enough at the moment.
"When it comes to the games that are tight we get bored and fed up of staying in the fight.
"I'm getting bored of us getting bored. I've had enough of it. The players have to get a grip of how we go about our business.
"We just need to mature as a team. I don't think we've really improved that much. We have some games where we look like the real deal but there's no consistency.
It's really disappointing at the moment. Obviously the Challenge Cup is a massive competition for us and we just haven't done ourselves justice today over 80 minutes.
Daryl Powell
"It's really disappointing at the moment. Obviously the Challenge Cup is a massive competition for us and we just haven't done ourselves justice today over 80 minutes."
Hull raced into a 16-0 lead courtesy of Curtis Naughton's double and Mickey Paea's close-range effort, but found themselves on the back foot either side of half time as the Tigers came storming back.
Ashley Gibson, James Clare and Mike McMeeken all crossed to make it 16-14 and leave the game in the balance.
Former Tigers forward Jordan Thompson was carried off after a lengthy stoppage and that halted Castleford's momentum, with Jordan Rankin's try soon after swinging the contest back in Hull's favour.
Naughton completed his hat-trick to settle the outcome before Rankin added his second and Kirk Yeaman scored on the final play to give the scoreline a misleading look.
"We started the game poorly and finished it poorly," said Powell. "We had a period in between where we had control of it but our game management was poor and we made too many errors."
Contribution
Powell's counterpart Lee Radford hailed the contribution of Naughton, whose last appearance for the Black and Whites came in the previous round at Sheffield.
The 20-year-old, an off-season recruit from NRL club Sydney Roosters, has had to be patient but Radford believes he has now earned a run in the side.
"He got his chance again today and has taken it with both hands," he said. "It's his place to lose now.
"We got warned off signing Curtis after speaking to people who knew him but since he's been at the club he's been fantastic and I think he really likes the environment, which is showing in how he is playing and training."
Hull have now won six of their last seven games in all competitions and have the chance to complete the double over St Helens in the next round of Super League matches.
"We've knocked off some pretty formidable opposition over the last five or six weeks," said Radford.
"We're going to be playing against the champions at home on Friday and will need to be ready for that because they do pose some threats."
