Andy Last ‘lost for words’ as Hull FC sink to latest defeat

Hull FC’s interim coach Andy Last refused to make excuses for the club’s latest defeat as he criticised his side’s performance in defeat to Castleford Tigers.

The Black and Whites were unable to back up their victory at St Helens last week as they suffered their seventeenth loss of the Super League campaign, leaving them twelfth and just two points ahead of basement side Huddersfield Giants, who have a game in hand.

It was a disappointing outing a day after the club announced the astonishing signing of Australian halfback Daly Cherry-Evans, who has plenty of work to do if he is to turn around the fortunes of the team next year.

For now, Last’s focus is on the task at hand and he refused to shy away from the nature of the performance after going down to a Castleford side in disarray due to the absence of head coach Ryan Carr.

“It’s a disappointing result and performance,” he said. “I’m lost for words really. The problem with the team is we can find a reasonable period in games, and piece a period of rugby together but tonight we didn’t start the game really well. We got rolled from their outside backs too easily and it became a very stop-start affair after that. I’m disappointed with the result and the performance, it just isn’t good enough.

“There’s been a lot of talk about next year but I’ve got a job to do this year. I’ve got to galvanise the group and concentrate on better performances between now and the end of the season. But this was nowhere near good enough in terms of consistency. There were periods when it was okay and then periods where it was shocking. The last set said everything; we didn’t create and get our spine plays connected. It was a massive couple of steps backwards.”

They return to action next Saturday as they travel to France to face Catalans Dragons, knowing they are at risk of finishing bottom of the league for the first time in 62 years.