THERE was definitely an air of “after the Lord Mayor’s Show” about the performance of the U19s on Saturday, writes Graham Henthorne, Team Manager.
The game was over at the break with the Saints leading by 16 points but a lacklustre effort after the break let the Tigers back into it forcing the Saints into a dogfight instead of the easy runaway win they could and should have had.
Poor defending on the last allowed the Tigers to take an early lead with a well executed cross kick on the last.
In fact it was over 20 minutes before the Saints troubled the scorers as Lewis Galbraith took Greg Wilde’s offload to score in the right corner.
Two further tries from Man of the Match André Savelio in the next 10 minutes took the Saints clear. Both were typically bullocking efforts from the powerful second row. He took three defenders over with him for the first and handed off three to stroll under the sticks for the second.
The errors resurfaced late in the half and it was left to stand off Lewis Charnock to provide a piece of class as the half ended. He managed to poke his nose through the line before passing out to the supporting Matty Fozard who juggled his way to line.
Charnock was substituted at the break after the suspiciously high shot he received in putting Fozard free, but the new half back pairing of Yates and Dave Hewitt were hampered by poor handling and had little possession to work with.
Hewitt scored the Saints final try with a fabulous jink inside the sliding cover defence converting as well.
The Tigers replied with a try from another set of offloads which the Saints had struggled to contain all day.
The final quarter was an arm wrestle which nobody won and there was a certain sense of relief at the final whistle.
The general consensus was great defence from the Saints but it was a good job because the Tigers were repeatedly invited in by some poor Saints play.
Match Summary:
Saints:
Tries: Lewis Galbraith, André Savelio 2, Matty Fozard, Dave Hewitt.
Goals: Lewis Charnock 2, Dave Hewitt 2.
Castleford:
Tries: Jamie Graves, Brad Foster.
Goals: Ben Reynolds 2.
Half Time: 22-6
Full Time: 28-12
Teams:
Saints:
18. Dan Abram; 2. Lewis Galbraith, 3. Greg Wilde, 4. Jack Ashworth, 5. Ben Parry; 6. Lewis Charnock, 7. Danny Yates; 8. Greg Richards, 9. Lewis Foster, 10. James Tilley, 11. Olly Davies, 12. André Savelio, 13. Connor Dwyer.
Subs: 14. Matty Fozard, 15. Adam Hesketh, 20. Tom Calland, 21. Dave Hewitt.
Castleford:
1. Ben Reynolds; 2. Jamie Graves, 3. Connor Taylor, 4. Tommy Newbould, 5. Billy Nodder; 6. Connor Land, 7. Zak Snellgrove; 8. Ryan Backhouse, 9. Casey Canterbury, 10. Shaun Pick, 11. Brad England, 12. Lewis Farr, 13. Brad Foster.
Subs: 14. Jordan Anderson, 15. Nathan Hammond, 16. Luke Day, 17. Nathan Darby.
