'I haven't seen that since primary school': Castleford Tigers boss Lee Radford on Jake Mamo incident

Lee Radford admits even he does not know what is coming next from Jake Mamo after seeing both sides of the centre's game in Castleford Tigers' big win over Hull KR.
Jake Mamo races clear to score an intercept try. (Picture: SWPix.com)Jake Mamo races clear to score an intercept try. (Picture: SWPix.com)
Jake Mamo races clear to score an intercept try. (Picture: SWPix.com)

The enigmatic Australian was fortunate to escape a yellow card in the first half of Sunday's match after kicking the ball out of the Mend-A-Hose Jungle in disgust at a decision by referee Chris Kendall.

Mamo channelled his frustration to help Castleford open up an unassailable 22-0 lead, scoring one of three tries in eight minutes for the hosts.

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The 27-year-old added an intercept try in the second half to make it a double as the Tigers closed out an impressive 32-0 victory.

Castleford celebrate Jake Mamo's first try. (Picture: SWPix.com)Castleford celebrate Jake Mamo's first try. (Picture: SWPix.com)
Castleford celebrate Jake Mamo's first try. (Picture: SWPix.com)

Although he was not overly impressed with Mamo's act of petulance, Radford enjoyed what came next.

“I understand his frustration but the manner in which he tore up his teddy bear was scary,” said Radford with a smile. “I haven't seen that since primary school.

“He responded well and played with energy. What is exciting about Jake Mamo is you don’t know what is going to happen next. I don’t think anybody expected that response."

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Castleford took an early lead thanks to George Griffin's try but had to dig in after Liam Watts was sin-binned for a high shot on Lachlan Coote.

Radford feared the worst when Mamo aired his frustration with the man in the middle.

Asked whether he could have been yellow-carded, the Castleford head coach added: “Definitely yeah. He was right on the edge.

“We lost Liam for 10 minutes but I thought we handled that period really well.

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“Going down to 12 and not conceding in that period was pleasing for me."

A fifth win in six Super League games saw the Tigers replace Hull KR in the top six ahead of Friday's trip to Salford Red Devils.

Radford believes there is more to come from his side heading into the second half of the season.

“The scoreline was the first zero of the year and to put 32 points on them was really pleasing," said Radford.

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“We needed to after that performance in Catalans. It was incredibly disappointing and we had a couple of weeks to stew on it.

“I still think we pushed it too much and didn’t get to the end of sets as disciplined and as accurate as they need to be if you're to beat the bigger teams in the competition. But we scrambled really hard for each other.

"We hit Salford at the halfway stage of the season. We're not where we need to be but we're heading in the right direction definitely, particularly after the start we got off to."

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