Castleford Tigers coach Ryan Carr hails 'super talent' after comeback win at York Knights

Castleford led twice in the first half, only to trail 18-12 at the break, but a dominant effort in the final 40 minutes got them home with Laulu-Togaga’e producing a star turn in only his second game for the club. The recent signing from Catalans Dragons had a tough debut against Hull KR two weeks ago, but Carr felt today’s performance proved he will be a quality addition.

“He’s a super talent,” Carr said in his post-match press conference. “He brings a lot to our game and being able to spend two weeks with him, getting him understanding how we play and our style, he has fitted in really well. Today we unlocked a lot of his strengths and we will continue to do that.”

Laulu-Togaga’e, 23, has previous Betfred Super League experience with Hull KR as well as Catalans and Carr reckons his best rugby is ahead of him. He added: “He’s so new to the system with us and to Super League at the moment. He has got so much ahead of him, which is pleasing.

“He works very hard on his game and is very diligent. He wants to be the best player he can be, which I like. I’m just going to keep pushing him to work harder and be better. He’ll take that on board, but he is a joy to have out there for us.”

Tigers’ fourth win of the campaign lifted them to 10th in the table and came despite them having George Hirst sin-binned in the final quarter. Carr said: “I am pleased for my team and our fans.

“We had a massive turnout from our fans, which is really pleasing after what has been a tough couple of weeks. Seeing the support here shows how loyal our fans are and we put a performance together which was brave and committed. I am happy for the fans to be going home feeling really good about themselves, as well as the playing group.”

Carr was particularly pleased with how his men handled being a player down. “I am really proud,” he reflected. “I know what we’ve got here at this club and in this group. We need to keep pushing that self-belief, individually and collectively and that was a win based on effort really. That pleases me a lot.”

Carr admitted his nerves were jangling during the spell when Tigers were a man down and clinging to a six-point lead. “My heart was beating fast,” he recalled. “I asked the playing group afterward ‘how did it feel out there’?

“The feedback was they had a real self-confidence that they were going to keep turning up for each other, no matter what. I thought the boys did a really good job in that period.

“There’s no better way of learning than doing something. I felt like today we took a lot out of doing really well in tough moments. We can review and reflect on that because we have had the opposite thing happen to us and we’ve had to reflect on that, which is the hard part of our job.”