Castleford Tigers sack Danny McGuire in shock move as interim replacement named

Castleford sit 10th in Super League following a 13th defeat of the season against Huddersfield Giants last week, a result that proved the final straw for chairman Martin Jepson.

Chris Chester, who joined the club as director of rugby in May, has taken the reins on an interim basis after the board decided to part ways with McGuire at a meeting on Monday.

"It has been a challenging season but in particular, the result and performance in last week’s game against Huddersfield were hugely disappointing for me and everybody involved with the club," said Jepson. "The board felt that a change of direction was therefore needed.

"I would like to put on record my thanks to Danny for his hard work at the club over the past two years, both as an assistant and head coach. I wish him well in the future."

McGuire's sacking comes as a surprise following the club's decision to put their faith in the rookie head coach at the end of last year.

The former Hull KR coach signed a three-year contract after stepping up from his role as an assistant but oversaw just 17 Super League matches.

Castleford won four games under McGuire and produced some encouraging performances in defeat, most recently against Wigan Warriors at the end of last month.

McGuire was publicly backed by Jepson following his comments on the standard of officiating in the wake of that frustrating loss.

However, he has now become the fourth head coach to be sacked by the Tigers in little over two years.

Castleford finished seventh under Lee Radford in the first season of the post-Daryl Powell era but have since struggled for stability, hampered by recruitment challenges and a squad that has fallen behind the competition.

The Tigers, whose next assignment is a trip to the beleaguered Salford Red Devils on Sunday, are once again on the lookout for a new head coach to begin another rebuild at Wheldon Road.