Furious Powell slams ‘worst ever’ Cas performance

Castleford coach Daryl Powell was left angered by his team’s 22-0 defeat at Huddersfield on Thursday night.

The furious coach was in no doubt as to where the game stood on his personal list of Tigers performances.

“I think it is the worst performance since I’ve been at Castleford,” he said, according to his club’s official website.

“The disappointing thing was that the spirit and attitude were missing. I think the boys have got to take one on the chin for that.

“We have been pretty close in every game up until this one. In the first half they were just as bad as us to be honest, it was a ridiculous game of rugby league and it started right from the off.

“They got a little bit better in the second half and we stayed pretty much the same. That is the worst game of Rugby League I have seen in a long time.

“The attitude and application just was not there from start to finish. I have said to the players, for it to be that bad across the whole of the game is really difficult to take as a coach.

“I will probably sit in Shaun Wane’s shoes from last week in the case that it’s difficult to work out how a team can fall so far from one week to the next.

“It was a really poor performance from us. Quite a few players, well most of the players, were off their games and we just could not pull our game together.

“I suppose the only thing that will tell me that is what happens next week.

“There are some players there that I have never seen play as badly as that. I’ve never seen some of the things that some of the boys were doing out there tonight and hopefully I will never have to see them again.

“It was just an appalling performance from us from start to finish.”

Powell also highlighted how poorly he felt his team had defended at the John Smith’s Stadium.

“It was completely unrecognisable from the team that I have been working with for the last 18 months,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

“There are times when I am struggling to fathom what we are trying to achieve in games. I thought we defended really poorly.

“I nearly fell asleep in the first half. It was a terrible game of rugby league. It is hugely disappointing. I asked for a reaction at half-time and did not get one.

“We just could not find our game at all. Clearly that type of effort is not going to get us very much at all.”