Castleford Tigers coach Danny McGuire took heart from his side’s late rally in their 38-24 defeat at Leeds Rhinos and stressed they will keep working hard to turn things around.
Tigers trailed 38-6 with 17 minutes left, but scored three late tries to make the scoreline respectable. That gave McGuire something to build on and he is confident Tigers will come good, but admitted pressure to get a win is mounting.
“I was proud of the way they kept battling to the end, but obviously it was a little bit too late,” he said of the derby defeat. “We are just lacking any consistency with any of our actions. I thought we worked hard to absorb all the pressure Leeds had in the first 15-20 minutes before we conceded.
“At one point they had 90 per cent possession, we hardly touched the ball and when we did, it was in our own 10 metres area. I thought there were some positive signs there that we were committed, but then [there was] some lack of discipline, errors, poor skill and Leeds took advantage.”
Castleford are without a win in three Betfred Super League rounds and are due to face a team with a similar record, Salford Red Devils, at the Jungle on Friday. “It is tough, it was never going to be a straight road for us this year, there were always going to be some curves and bumps in it,” McGuire admitted.
“We have had some bumps already and it is a challenge, we are doing some good things mixed in with some really ordinary things. We probably lack a bit of toughness to push through some tough moments. We will get there over time, but at the minute we can’t quite handle it and good teams take advantage of that.
“The only way I know to improve and get better is working and preparing and committing. That’s what we will do. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we have to stick together as a group.”
Prop Liam Watts was released from his contract in the week before the derby and McGuire confirmed “loads” of talks are taking place over potential additions to strengthen Tigers’ squad. “We need some middles in, there’s no getting away from that,” he accepted. “We are trying, but there just doesn’t seem to be anything happening.
“If you get someone in they need to be able to make a difference and add something to the team. There’s not many of them available at the moment, so we will keep working hard. They are a good set of lads, they are trying their best.
“As coaching staff we need to keep working with the players, giving them information, letting them take it on board and hope they are going to improve and over time be the players we expect them to be. People expect it today, I appreciate that, but we’re not quite there.”
McGuire revealed Tigers picked up several “bumps and bruises” during Sunday’s defeat, with Joe Westerman and Fletcher Rooney both struggling. “They pushed on through,” he said. “We can’t really afford any more injuries.”
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