Hull FC returned to blighty after their fruitless trip down under, to take on a Castleford Tigers who had so far failed to live up to the pre-season expectations heaped upon them by most commentators and pundits following a heavy defeat to St Helens and a single point victory over Widnes.
Hull FC have also one win in their opening two fixtures after beating Huddersfield in the opening round before losing to Wigan in the tour match in Australia.
The visitors made five changes from last week including Dean Hadley for Danny Houghton at hooker and Danny Washbrook coming off the bench to replace Sika Manu in the second row. The Tigers welcomed back Greg Eden after he missed out in round two
The opening exchanges were nip and tuck with very little to choose between the two sides as attacks tested defences.
It looked like FC would open the scoring on thirteen but Ben Roberts chased Bureta Farimo back brilliantly to haul him down just short of the try line, and on the next play the Tigers forced the error.
On twenty FC finally got the reward for their endeavours thanks to a solo effort from Marc Sneyd who swatted off some lacklustre attempted tackles from the Tigers defence to go twenty metres to score. The Airlie Birds scrum half converted his own try for a 6-0 lead.
After Sneyd was held down in the tackle on the Tigers twenty he accepted the offer of an easy two point addition to the score.
On twenty-eight Greg Minikin managed to get the ball down in the right corner after picking up a bounce pass and motoring over in the corner. Luke Gale was unable to add the extra two from wide and his side were still four points adrift.
Two minutes before the interval Jake Webster found a gap in the tiring FC defence when he stepped off his right foot to outpace the defence and go under the sticks from twenty metres. Gale added the simplest of conversions to give the home side a 10-8 half time lead.
It had been a half of two halves, FC dominated the opening twenty but the Tigers more than came back into it in the second twenty to snatch the half time lead.
On fifty-three Mike McMeeken collected a Jamie Ellis grubber kick on the FC line to ground the ball for Castlefords third of the afternoon. Two minutes later and Michael Shenton found himself on the overlap wide left to ground in the corner. Gale was unable to add the conversion.
The Tigers looked to be in total control but on fifty-five Faraimo benefitted from a penalty conceeded by Paul McShane when he went for the line, got ankle tapped, but managed to crawl over and ground without the tackle being effected. Sneyd failed to add the extras and Hull were still eight points adrift.
On sixty-two it was normal service resumed as Michael Shenton crossed for his second after a passing move from the back of the scrum with the centre lurking on the wing to take a Junior Moors pass to dove in. Gale converted brilliantly from the touchline and made the FC task almost impossible.
Shenton bombed his hat-trick try on sixty-six when the ball slipped from his grasp as he was in the act of scoring. The Tigers were punished a minute later when Mickey Paea went under the sticks after he pushed off three tacklers to go over from ten metres. Sneyd added the extra two for 18-26.
There was a long suspension in play on sixty-nine when Albert Kelly went off the field following a heavy impact with Michael Shenton.
When Hull were offside on seventy three, Gale kicked a simple penalty to extend the lead to ten points. Castleford ended the game on the attack but couldn’t add any further score, eventually winning by 28-18.
While the Tigers were worth the win they didn’ have everything their own way and lacked the clinical edge that they showed throughout 2017. They still look a little rusty and unsettled, perhaps as though the expectation is weighing on them too heavily. Just as Wigan last night, FC looked a little rusty after their antipodean jaunt and as the game wore on it was the Tigers who had the stamina to take the win.
Tigers: Roberts, Minikin (T), Webster (T), Shenton (2T), Eden, Ellis, Gale (4G), Foster, McShane, Millington, Holmes, McMeeken (T), Milner. Subs: Moors, Massey, Sene-Lefao, Wardle.
FC: Shaul, Faraimo (T), Connor, Griffin , Talanoa, Kelly, Sneyd (T, 3G), Watts, Hadley, Paea (T), Washbrook, Minichiello, Bowden. Subs: Abdull, Fash, Tuimavave, Matongo.
Referee: Chris Kendal.
Half-Time: 10-8.
Full-Time: 28-18.
Attendance: .
