Crusaders 30 Castleford 24: Tigers allow rivals to close the gap in race for play-offs

CASTLEFORD Tigers head coach Terry Matterson described the last 10 minutes of his side's trip to South Wales as 'diabolical' after seeing his side slip to what could prove to be a costly defeat to one of their closest Super League play-off rivals.
By The Newsroom
Published 26th Jul 2010, 12:22 BST
Updated 26th Jul 2010, 12:38 BST

Tries from Joe Westerman and Dean Withers had put the travelling Yorkshiremen 12-0 ahead.

But Crusaders found themselves level at half-time thanks to tries from Rhys Hanbury and Jordan James and then went ahead from Weller Hauraki.

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Even though they then let in touchdowns from Tigers' Michael Shenton and Rangi Chase, centre Tony Martin and scrum-half Jarrod Sammut pounced late on to grab the winning tries.

If they had been able to hang on, Castleford would have enhanced their chances of staying in the top eight until the end of the season ahead of Crusaders, Bradford and Wakefield.

"We had to overcome a few obstacles in that we lost our two front rowers at half-time," said Matterson.

"After a really solid start, I thought we could go on and get on with it. But credit to Crusaders, they hung on in there and got back to level and then went ahead of us.

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"We showed some fight but the last 10 minutes was pretty diabolical, to be honest."

Last summer, the Welshmen struggled for any victory at all but, under Brian Noble, they have now won nine and stand just two points behind eighth-placed Tigers in the race for a play-off spot.

Noble beamed: "We have got five games to go so our destiny is in our own hands (for the play-offs). We are still throwing punches, which is really pleasing.

"We knew we would score some points today. You never know how many but our challenge was to stop a team which has been free-scoring even when they are getting beaten.

"They are averaging 30 or 40 points a game.

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"We found enough reasons to get down to their end and post some points although I thought we were a bit scruffy in attack which might have been that element of anxiety because it was a must-win game."

Crusaders RL: Schifcofske, Dyer, Martin, Mellars, Youngquest, Hanbury, Sammut, Peek, Withers, Bryant, Hauraki, Chan, Lupton. Substitutes: Lee, James, Winternstein, Trimarchi.

Castleford Tigers: McGoldrick, Dixon, Shenton, Ferres, Wainwright, Widders, Chase, Huby, Hudson, Jackson, Snitch, Clayton, Westerman.Substitutes: Sargent, Jones, Higgins, Thompson.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).

Related topics:Castleford TigersCastlefordSuper League