Reading reports on the thrashing of Castleford Academy lads the other evening reminded me of my first season, playing friendlies only, in my own amateur days. We started out with lads who had never played Rugby League, soccer lads wanting to try their hands and lads who had played years earlier at school. We suffered some beatings in our first year where we played many different standard of sides to gain experience. Things started to gel and the following year we finished second in our division which shows things can and do change with a little experience and attitude.
Gives hope to teams like West Wales and newcomers Cornwall for example where Rugby League is still forming it's roots. Castleford Academy who operate on a provisional Academy licence may well need a revamp within their structure especially if they wish to gain an elite licence after their 100-0 beating by Wigan. Hull FC ladies are another side (presumably just starting up) who have been on the end of a couple of hundred odd nil demolitions, in fact haven't won a game all season and the club itself have not updated their results for many weeks, which i do think is disrespect to the women concerned incidentally. There must many teams within all sports who have known the lows of being the whipping boys or girls but they need encouragement, recruiting better and support to continue and improve..

St Helens academy narrowly lost to Castlefords first team. The takeaway from this is that the amateur game in castleford must be really struggling as there obviously isn’t the talent coming through in that area

there are many factors in tow for these wins/defeats, first team injuries are the main aspect, but also how club use their reserves.

I don't think you can read anything into the scorelines, it is reserve grade and all sorts of impact are to be taken into account.