Despite losing their opening round game to the Warrington Wolves, Castleford Tigers coach Ian Millward noticed the positives in his side’s performance, praising their resolve to get back into the game, after they were trailing 28-0 at one stage.
With the eventual score finishing 40-24 in favour of Warrington, Millward knew that his side was up against one of the best sides in the Super League, and the game was a good indication of the level the young players are at.
“We were up against a really talented squad who are worthy favourites for Super League and for us it was really foreign territory, with eight new faces, and to see where our young kids were,” said Millward.
“It was tough early on as we had only two completed sets in the first 15 minutes, so had no ball.
“At half-time, I was quite positive and in the second half our enthusiasm, toughness and desire was great, but on a couple of occasions our execution was just off when we looked a little bit rusty.
“I thought if we could have got one or two tries we could have made it a great last 10 minutes and really been pushing for the game. We blew a couple of chances but I’m really proud of the players.”
Pleased with the win, Wolves coach Tony Smith thought his side was rather scrappy with the ball at times, but it was their overall defence that he was most pleased with.
“We were probably a little bit scrappy with the ball at times, but I thought our defence was was pretty good for a fair amount of the game,” said Smith.
“But we did some really good stuff as well today and, with the amount of penalties in the match and the amount of ball turned over, you are going to concede a few points.”