Hightown Tiger
Juniors
- Messages
- 315
Doncaster Dragons 10 Castleford Tigers 29
Attendance: 3,371
Highlights:
-At the 'house of pain' (although after the number of penalties given away by Doncaster I feel it should be renamed the 'house of gain'!) the players kept their discipline and composure to come back from 4-0 and 10-6 down.
-This is supposedly one of the toughest NL1 grounds to come to but I was always confident if we could stay within a try of Doncaster come the 60 minute mark, our fitness would pull us through.
Lowlights:-Early on our completion rate was shocking. Too many dropped balls, and we seemed to lack any form of composure. Also, we failed to deal with the kickoffs, although Doncasters Graham Holroyd used the wet surface to perfection.
BOOM of the match: Alex Rowe's tackle in towards the end of the match. It was given as a high tackle but from where I was stood (and maybe I'm wearing my black and amber spectacles) it looked nothing like a high tackle.
Referee Rating: J. King 3/10. Sorry Fritzman, but I've got to give him some points. Looking at the comments on the Doncaster board, they feel the ref was one sided and gave Castleford too many decisions. I myself think he struggled to keep control, and Doncaster didn't appear to play the ball when they scored their second try. He tried to keep the game flowing, and full credit to him but Doncaster were guilty of quite a few cheap, niggly shots. However, on a positive note it was pleasing to see the touch judges raise their flag when they had something to say. Too many touch judges fail to give any support to the ref.
How many Cas Fans? 2,000-2,300
How noisy were the Cas Fans? Fairly loud, particularly the 100 or so who stood in the popular stand-no violence or anything, just banter I add. Great turnout as well, and just a few hundred short of Doncasters record Belle Vue crowd.
Comedy Moment: At last, an easy one! Just after Castleford scored a try in the 1st half, the mascot 'Mr Purrfect' jumped around a little too much and soon fell over, before becoming tangled with one of the advertising hoardings. Quality!
My MOTM: Winger Tim Robinson had his best game yet in a Tigers shirt, and was faultless in dealing with Graham Holroyd's kicks. Damien Reed looked strong, Paul Handforth linked up well, Andrew Henderson again had a great defence and Alex Rowe never took a backwards step. But this evening's MOTM goes to Andy Kain, who showed excellent awareness to go for the drop goal on 71 minutes, thereby putting Castleford 7 points ahead. Especially after it looked like he would have to go off due to an injury.
In a nutshell: This wasn't a vintage Castleford performance, and I think the greasy conditions meant the ball was hard to control. Frank Watene was struggling from the kick off (and had to be carried onto the team coach after the match. By team coach I mean the vehicle, not Dave Woods!) and so already we were one strong forward down. Castleford were very professional and refused to panic, fitness told towards the end as Doncasters otherwise excellent defence started to tire. This is one of the hardest NL1 grounds to come to, but the team acquited themselves very well. Next up, a trip to promotion rivals Halifax for our Challenge Cup tie.
P.S. Anyone know where Stuart 'Little' Kain and Waine Pryce were?
Attendance: 3,371
Highlights:
-At the 'house of pain' (although after the number of penalties given away by Doncaster I feel it should be renamed the 'house of gain'!) the players kept their discipline and composure to come back from 4-0 and 10-6 down.
-This is supposedly one of the toughest NL1 grounds to come to but I was always confident if we could stay within a try of Doncaster come the 60 minute mark, our fitness would pull us through.
Lowlights:-Early on our completion rate was shocking. Too many dropped balls, and we seemed to lack any form of composure. Also, we failed to deal with the kickoffs, although Doncasters Graham Holroyd used the wet surface to perfection.
BOOM of the match: Alex Rowe's tackle in towards the end of the match. It was given as a high tackle but from where I was stood (and maybe I'm wearing my black and amber spectacles) it looked nothing like a high tackle.
Referee Rating: J. King 3/10. Sorry Fritzman, but I've got to give him some points. Looking at the comments on the Doncaster board, they feel the ref was one sided and gave Castleford too many decisions. I myself think he struggled to keep control, and Doncaster didn't appear to play the ball when they scored their second try. He tried to keep the game flowing, and full credit to him but Doncaster were guilty of quite a few cheap, niggly shots. However, on a positive note it was pleasing to see the touch judges raise their flag when they had something to say. Too many touch judges fail to give any support to the ref.
How many Cas Fans? 2,000-2,300
How noisy were the Cas Fans? Fairly loud, particularly the 100 or so who stood in the popular stand-no violence or anything, just banter I add. Great turnout as well, and just a few hundred short of Doncasters record Belle Vue crowd.
Comedy Moment: At last, an easy one! Just after Castleford scored a try in the 1st half, the mascot 'Mr Purrfect' jumped around a little too much and soon fell over, before becoming tangled with one of the advertising hoardings. Quality!
My MOTM: Winger Tim Robinson had his best game yet in a Tigers shirt, and was faultless in dealing with Graham Holroyd's kicks. Damien Reed looked strong, Paul Handforth linked up well, Andrew Henderson again had a great defence and Alex Rowe never took a backwards step. But this evening's MOTM goes to Andy Kain, who showed excellent awareness to go for the drop goal on 71 minutes, thereby putting Castleford 7 points ahead. Especially after it looked like he would have to go off due to an injury.
In a nutshell: This wasn't a vintage Castleford performance, and I think the greasy conditions meant the ball was hard to control. Frank Watene was struggling from the kick off (and had to be carried onto the team coach after the match. By team coach I mean the vehicle, not Dave Woods!) and so already we were one strong forward down. Castleford were very professional and refused to panic, fitness told towards the end as Doncasters otherwise excellent defence started to tire. This is one of the hardest NL1 grounds to come to, but the team acquited themselves very well. Next up, a trip to promotion rivals Halifax for our Challenge Cup tie.
P.S. Anyone know where Stuart 'Little' Kain and Waine Pryce were?
