Hull FC suffered a tenth straight defeat, going down to a 30-22 loss against Castleford Tigers at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.
Despite first-half tries from Harvey Barron and Liam Sutcliffe, it was a familiar story for the Black & Whites, who found themselves 18-10 behind at the interval.
Things got worse for FC early in the second-half, as Jason Qareqare and Corey Hall extended the Tigers’ lead, meaning tries from Tiaki Chan and Jake Trueman for the visitors acted merely as consolations.
Team News
There were five changes to a Hull FC side that lost disappointingly in the capital just under a fortnight ago, with Jack Ashworth and Barron marking their full returns from injury after coming through unscathed for the Reserves just six days ago.
Brad Fash made his first Super League appearance of 2024, starting at loose-forward after recovering from an ankle injury.
Logan Moy’s form in the Reserves was rewarded with a second start of the season at fullback.
But the main headline for Hull was the club debut of halfback Ben Reynolds, who partnered former Castleford stand-off Jake Trueman in the halves.
Jack Walker, Lewis Martin, Jack Charles, Joe Cator and Franklin Pele were the five to be replaced.
The Match
Having worked each other out inside the opening seven minutes, it was first blood to the Tigers after soft hands from Joe Westerman put Sam Hall through a hole, and Liam Horne was burning up on the outside to screech in underneath the posts.
It took the hosts only a minute to add their second try of the evening, with a break down the right edge seeing Jason Qareqare offload to former FC fullback Tex Hoy, who chipped past the defender and regathered possession to score.
The visitors threatened an answer when Reynolds stepped through with a jinking run, but his pass back on the inside drifted forwards.
A few moments later, Hull did provide a timely answer with just over a quarter of the game played. A ball spillage from the Tigers coming from deep out of their own end of the field was swept upon by Fash, and on the next play, Trueman’s looping pass was finished off by Barron in the left corner.
Despite looking the more dominant side after their first points of the evening, Hull found themselves twelve points behind again. Back-to-back penalties invited pressure on FC’s line, and Liam Sutcliffe couldn’t deal with Rowan Milnes’ grubber kick, allowing the Tigers halfback to ground the bobbling ball in the in-goal area.
It looked as though the hosts may have been in for try number four as they had an extra-man on the right side, but Sutcliffe shot out of the line and intercepted the pass, racing 80 metres to score and atoning for his earlier error.
Half-Time: Castleford Tigers 18-10 Hull FC
It was a scrappy start to the second-half, and even though Hull appeared to have got away with one when Paul McShane’s try was chalked off, a video referee referral didn’t prevent Qareqare getting off the mark for the hosts. The ball from a kick was knocked backwards, picked up by Sylvester Namo and the Fijian winger stepped inside Barron to score.
If there was any doubt on the scoreline front for the hosts, it was quickly extinguished when the Tigers once again scored on the back of a kick, Corey Hall getting on the end of a Milnes grubber.
Tiaki Chan did manage to get over for his first try in Hull FC colours, running and supporting Sutcliffe after the centre made a nice break, cutting in from the left wing.
The Black & Whites had another one with six minutes to play. A nice move out to the left wing allowed Barron space, and his kick on the inside picked out Trueman, who scored his second try in as many games.
Full-Time: Castleford Tigers 30-22 Hull FC
Squads:
Castleford Tigers: Tex Hoy, Jason Qareqare, Sam Wood, Corey Hall, Innes Senior, Rowan Milnes, Paul McShane, George Griffin, Liam Horne, Sam Hall, Alex Mellor, Elie El-Zakhem, Joe Westerman
Interchanges: George Hill, Josh Hodson, Sylvester Namo, Liam Watts
Hull FC: Logan Moy, Tom Briscoe, Cam Scott, Liam Sutcliffe, Harvey Barron, Jake Trueman, Ben Reynolds, Herman Ese’ese, Danny Houghton, Yusuf Aydin, Jordan Lane, Ligi Sao, Brad Fash
Interchanges: Jack Ashworth, Tiaki Chan, Zach Jebson, Morgan Smith
Scorers:
Castleford Tries: Horne, Hoy, Milnes, Qareqare, C Hall
Castleford Goals: Miles (5/5)
Hull Tries: Barron, Sutcliffe, Chan, Trueman
Hull Goals: Reynolds (3/4)
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