Performance was 'pathetic' says Castleford Tigers boss after 64-6 hammering by Leeds Rhinos
Castleford Tigers’ performance in their 64-6 home loss to Leeds Rhinos today was blasted as “pathetic” by boss Chris Chester.
The interim-coach and director of rugby felt Tigers’ first half performance was the “worst” he has been involved in. He also revealed some players currently under contract for next year won’t be at Tigers in 2026.
“I don’t like using the word, but I thought it was pathetic,” Chester said in his post-match press conference. “The way we played in that first 40 minutes was probably the worst individual and collective performance I've ever been involved in.”
Tigers were 36-0 behind at half-time and Chester reflected: “Fair play to Leeds, they out-muscled, out-enthused and out-fought us. We got beat on effort, which is totally unacceptable for a game like today.
“We needed some guys to really front up, but I could tell after three minutes we were in for a long afternoon. Contact-wise, we were really, really poor, our urgency when the ball went down was poor and that’s just this group at the minute. You feel like you’re taking two steps forward with them and three steps back. A lot of it is to do with mentality, when things aren’t going well we have too many guys that wave the white flag and that hurts.”
Chester had hoped full-back Tex Hoy would be available to return, but he suffered a new calf injury in training. Winger Josh Simm limped off and prop Joe Stimson failed a head injury assessment, ruling him out of next week’s visit to Catalans Dragons.
Chester confirmed he hopes to announce Tigers’ new head-coach on Monday, but admitted only “nine or 10” of the squad on duty against Leeds are likely to be in Castleford’s plans for next year.