Castleford Tigers boss Ryan Carr has hit out at the standard of officiating during the club’s 32-8 Challenge Cup loss to St Helens on Saturday night.
The Tigers were well beaten at Wheldon Road, with the Saints running in six tries to seal their spot in the quarter-finals of the Cup. Castleford did get over the line through Jason Qareqare and Ashton Golding, but they let themselves down with a slow start, conceding two tries in the opening seven minutes, which left them with such a mountain to climb in the tie.
Carr was understandably frustrated about his side’s overall performance, but the head coach vented his anger about some of the calls that went against his side on the night from referee Aaron Moore.
Given the clash was a fourth round cup tie, there was no video referee on the night, and Carr felt that meant for a chaotic clash, with high shots being missed and St Helens’ third try being wrongly awarded.
The Castleford head coach also stated that he had been denied the opportunity to meet with the officials after last week’s loss at Leeds Rhinos.
“George Hirst had a head knock and we lose him for 15 minutes and we don’t even get a penalty,” Carr said after the game. “Qareqare, I don’t know how many times he got hit in the head, the poor kid. He kept getting up and Maps failed a HIA on the try assist that set him up.
“I’ve got to be really clear and really smart in what I say. I will be held accountable for my job and the players will 100 per cent, yet we can’t have things going like that. We didn’t have the video ref tonight, we take that away and it just turns into… I won’t say a debacle, but I will.
“I truly believe that and if you’re a rugby league fan, Cas, St Helens it doesn’t matter, you can look at it from a neutral point of view and go wow.
“I said it last week that I feel sorry for my players and I still do. I asked for a meeting after last week and I didn’t get granted a meeting. I’m trying to find out, I’m trying to work with it and get our team on the right path, but if I don’t get the feedback that I’m asking for… I just want personal feedback on how and why.
“I get apologies on last week on wrong calls, but it’s too late. I get there’s human error and I would never want to do that job, but at the end of the day it’s critical to a game. That third try where Feldt goes up and it goes a metre forward and it’s called play on, it’s scary.”
Asked whether he will request another meeting this week, Carr said: “No. I have to get used to it I think. I’m a bit too precious about it. I have to get on with life and accept this is going to happen and find ways to be better than it.”
On his side’s performance, he added: “Second half, particularly that first 20, that’s how we wanted to play our game.
“Unfortunately it took us 40 minutes and a half time break to realise our identity and what we’re trying to build here at this club. We responded and showed some real character in the second half to go after the game but we can’t start like that.
“There’s no sugar-coating it, you give a good team a good start and it’s always going to be hard because you’re playing from behind on the scoreboard and that’s not what you want to do.
“Rugby league is a long game and 80 minutes is an eternity at times. Teams get jumped and it’s happened to us. It’s how you respond to those moments. How we responded early in the second half is how we should have responded straight away. That was my assessment.”
Leave a Reply