Craig Lingard has confirmed that forward George Griffin failed a HIA in what was his 250th career appearance as Castleford Tigers lost 30-22 to Salford Red Devils.
It was a defeat that marked the end of the Tigers’ three-game winning streak following a serious upturn in form after the halfway mark in the season, however, Lingard conceded that uncharacteristic ill-discipline cost his side.
Of the five Salford tries, three were scored whilst Castleford Tigers were down to 12 men with Liam Horne and Sylvester Namo picking up yellow cards for a late hit and a high tackle respectively.
In the unlikely circumstances that Namo be banned then it would leave the club’s forward pack very short on numbers with loanee Matty English being recalled recently and confirmation that George Griffin failed his HIA. That was something the Castleford Tigers boss spoke about to BBC West Yorkshire Sport post-game.
He explained: “He’s just had his shower in there and he’s getting changed. I think he’s frustrated because it’s a head knock and he had one pre-season that left him out for a considerable period of time.
“We’ll have to reassess and see how he is and make sure he’s alright before we think about putting him back in the team. He’ll be stood down now for the next 12 days.
“It was his 250th career game as well, so it’s not the ideal way to mark that one, is it, with a defeat and a HIA.”
Castleford Tigers simply not good enough claims Lingard
Given the impressive run of form that Castleford Tigers have been in with two of their three victories coming against playoff sides, they were heading into the clash with Salford Red Devils with plenty of confidence but simply weren’t good enough according to Craig Lingard.
Post-game, he bluntly stated: “I don’t necessarily think it got away, I don’t think we were good enough to win that game if I’m perfectly honest. I think we lacked a lot of what we’ve shown in the last five games, particularly in the first 40 minutes. I felt we were a bit too accepting.”
He was keen to pay compliments to Salford Red Devils, who Paul Rowley had labelled as “excellent”, with Lingard commenting: “I thought Salford were excellent in the first 40 minutes. I think we only had one good ball set that first half and we expended a lot of energy defending our own goal line so we didn’t really have much aggression in our carries, much aggression in our D and I thought we were just a little bit too passive.
“Maybe at the start of the season we would have been quite comfortable and happy as a group, but the way that we’ve progressed, the way that we’ve developed, we’re disappointed that we’ve dished that up today and frustrated that we’ve given away an opportunity to get four on the bounce.”
They’ll have an opportunity to get back in the winning column when they face Leigh Leopards at home in Round 20.
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