“We’re looking at the teams above” – Castleford not thinking about relegation crunch

Castleford boss Andy Lasts insists his side are only looking up following their 26-24 Magic Weekend win over Leeds at St James’ Park.

A late try from Jason Qareqare in the 74th minute saw the Tigers clinch the victory over Rohan Smith’s Rhinos, who had led by 10 with 15 minutes to go thanks to tries from Derrell Olpherts, James Bentley, Rhyse Martin and Mikolaj Oledzki. 

The victory, their third of the season under Last, sees Castleford six points clear of Super League strugglers Wakefield, who remain winless in 2023.

Mark Applegarth’s side take on Leigh in the opening game of Sunday’s Magic Weekend, followed by St Helens against Huddersfield and Warrington versus Hull. 

Andy Last: “We’re looking at the teams above.”

“I don’t want to look at Wakefield too much because it’s really important that we take care of our own business,” said Last.

“We’ve got a good team on paper.

“It was evident today that those players who’ve been excellent in the past and played for their countries and played in Super League, can put up a performance which was of quality and if we get more of that from our senior blokes, we’ll get more wins than losses, and it will be out of Wakefield’s hands.

“We need to make sure that we take care of our own performances and I’m really pleased we got the win today.

“We’re looking at the teams above. 

“We need to keep knocking off performances and don’t look too far ahead of ourselves. 

“We’ve got Salford next week who are a really good side and a really well coached team and a real threat, but we look forward to that opportunity.”

Leeds ‘not anywhere near the standard’ 

Leeds boss Smith admitted his side were nowhere near the standard where they needed to be, having led 24-14 in the latter stages. 

Alex Mellor and Qareqare exploited space down Leeds’ left edge to overturn the score in what saw Last’s Castleford claim a double over the Rhinos in 2023. 

However, Smith could not question his side’s character just a week after their heroic display in a golden point defeat to St Helens at Headingley Stadium.

“It wasn’t anywhere near the standard,” admitted Smith. “We’ve been up for it a lot lately and today our execution was a long way off.

“We just didn’t have that usual level of connectedness and discipline and trust, so they created more opportunities than we would have liked to provide.

“But everyone who watches rugby league has seen the character in this group – we’ve been backs against the wall a lot lately and today we were also under pressure.

“Sometimes when you’re under pressure you don’t always answer the question correctly, but there’s no questioning the character and spirit.

“You don’t do what you did last week and then all of a sudden not have character.”

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