'It's the inconsistency': Castleford Tigers boss Andy Last reacts to key Joe Westerman incident

The Castleford loose forward was forced off in the early stages of the second half following a head clash with Linnett after passing the ball.

The Tigers struggled in Westerman's absence on their way to a 12-7 defeat in a hard-fought contest at Wheldon Road.

"He's fairly shaken up but is ok and talking," said Last.

"They just need to check for any facial fractures. It was a hefty challenge and a key moment in the game.

"Joe was really organising shapes which were threatening Hull Kingston Rovers and goes off due to a rugby league collision rather than foul play."

Last, who had earlier seen Liam Watts sin-binned for a late hit, added: "It's the inconsistency.

"With the concussion protocols and protecting people, it was a direct head into the face. You can talk about the timing but the head hit Joe straight in the face.

"We saw incidents last year where blokes were getting sin-binned. Kane isn't a malicious player but it was a hefty challenge and probably warranted spending 10 minutes in the sin bin, albeit it wasn't deliberate. It was an unfortunate accident that can happen in a game.

"It’s the fact that Liam Watts spends 10 minutes in the sin bin for a push on Jordan Abdull and the same consequence isn't afforded to Kane. It's a strange one but that's the way it is."

Castleford took an early lead through Jacob Miller's try in Last's first game as permanent boss before being pegged back by Corey Hall's effort.

The Tigers edged back ahead thanks to a Miller drop goal, only for Matt Parcell to score the winning try after Kenny Edwards and Mahe Fonua left the restart to each other and the ball went into touch.

"I gave them a little bit of a dressing down afterwards around how they scored their points," said Last.

"Mentally we're not coming up with the right plays when we're fatigued. We need to show a little bit more mental toughness in those periods and I told the guys that, not in an angry way but a stern way.

"We need to start coming up with the right decisions because it's been the story of our season. The case in point was taking the drop kick, not dealing with the kick-off and conceding straight away. You can't do that and have got to be better than that."

While Castleford remain third bottom following an eighth defeat of the year, Hull KR are joint second after extending their winning run to five games.

Willie Peters, who took the reins at Craven Park in the off-season, has challenged his team to maintain their impressive form and show they can be a genuine force.

“We’re not going to talk about winning silverware but we want to be a top-four club,” added Peters.

“Being there now doesn’t make us a top-four club – we need to be there at the end of the year, then you need to do it again and again.

“I always said that after round 10 you see trends in teams and individuals. It’s probably around this time now and we’re starting to show we’ve got a style that we want to play and I thought we played that in the second half.”