‘Loads to come’ from early Super League leaders Castleford Tigers, insists Daryl Powell

The West Yorkshire club won 28-8 at Hull KR last night to make it four victories from their opening five games.

But they had a slow start for a second successive win and trailed 8-6 at the break against opponents missing nine regulars.

“There’s some things to fix up but we’re battling back and showing a lot of character,” said Powell.

“Hull KR deservedly led and we were struggling to get a grip of the game.

“But second half we were really professional, we kicked the ball better and gradually had an ascendancy that got us control.

“It just took us ages. It wasn’t our best performance but there’s loads to come.”

Victory came at a cost for Castleford, though, who lost prop Liam Watts to a first half injury.

Powell said: “He’s ruptured the tendons in his finger; his fingers just kept dislocating. It’s a similar injury to what he did in his other hand and that kept him out five or six weeks so it’s not a great injury.

“He’ll see a hand surgeon tomorrow and we’ll find out where he’s at.

“He’s a little bit down; it’s not great for a player to get an injury that he knows will keep him out for a bit. But we’ll see what the surgeon says.”

It was a fourth successive defeat for Rovers who saw the game swing away from when Ryan Brierely was sin-binned at the start of the second period. He was yellow-carded for blocking Grant Millington as the Castleford player chased a kick in a try-scoring position but coach Tony Smith said: “I thought the sin-binning was harsh.

“I didn’t think it was a penalty; two players are allowed to compete for the ball. It was a big moment in the game. It took some steam out of us.

“We need a few bodies to return as well. We’re missing a few. Mitch (Garbutt) has gone off to hospital feeling nauseous.”