Dave Craven: Home-reared Tigers proving that English talent is not extinct

Perhaps the only down side of the World Club Challenge, aside from the Super League champions’ narrow loss, emanated a lot closer to home than Wigan or Sydney.

The Warriors’ closely fought, high-octane, intoxicating battle with St George-Illawarra was further proof that the annual fixture has integrity and worthiness.

It proved an absorbing encounter deserving of such a title. However, on a personal selfish note, it left me slightly annoyed as staging the contest then meant everyone missed out on another feel-good tale which is unfolding – the continued development of Castleford Tigers’ burgeoning talent pool.

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Terry Matterson’s young side had started the season in the sort of form which left us all wanting to swiftly witness more but someone had to sit out last week to allow Wigan that chance to take on Australia’s finest.

Castleford, after opening wins over Wakefield and Huddersfield, were subsequently left kicking their heels just three weeks into the new campaign.

They resume against Hull KR on Sunday afternoon when the task will be to maintain that 100 per cent record and develop the sort of consistency which has consistently eluded them for too long.

The main talking point, rightly so, about their encouraging start has been the surfacing of so much gifted homegrown talent at the PROBIZ Coliseum.

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In their meticulous victory over Huddersfield, there were seven players who actually hail from the town, six of which had come through the club’s own academy, Brett Ferres the odd man out having started his professional career at Bradford before moving to Wheldon Road via Wakefield.

There is a lot of hyperbole about the quality of young English talent currently prospering in the game which often has to be quantified and scaled down but credit where credit is due.

The aptitude is clearly there at Castleford. Another tyro talent who fielded that night – the abrasive prop Jonathan Walker – had progressed through their Academy after moving from Odsal, Oli Holmes is a further product while two of the club’s most highly-rated kids were not even on the field.

Elusive full-back Richard Owen, 20, is nearing a long-awaited Super League return after a horrible leg break 12 months ago while England Academy centre Jordan Thompson is currently gaining more valuable first-team experience on loan at York City Knights having found his path barred by the hugely talented 19-year-old Joe Arundel.

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Both Walker, 20, and Arundel were named earlier this week in the England Knights squad, the newly-formed group which is set to supplement Steve McNamara’s first-team plans.

Ferres, meanwhile, the 24-year-old back-row who is equally as productive at centre, has added real punch to his game over the last 18 months, a fact rewarded by McNamara who named him in his England Elite Squad.

Castleford also boast the England Academy hooker Adam Milner who, aged 19, should be happily looking ahead to a long run in the first team of his hometown club for years to come.

That would be if he did not already have a 17-year-old talent called Daryl Clark, who lives just spitting distance from the ground and is rated equally as highly if not better. This was illustrated perfectly when he came on for Milner to make a sprightly debut against Huddersfield almost a fortnight ago.

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Factor in the experienced sons of Castleford, Danny Orr and Craig Huby, and it is pleasing to see Matterson’s work coming to fruition.

They are only two games in and it may be a little too early to start singing their praises too loudly.

However, if British clubs are going to not only wrestle back the World Club Challenge, which has headed back to Australia for a third successive year, but also compete on the international front, it can only be encouraged further.