Tigers dominate Bulls in Reserves clash

Castleford Tigers Reserves scored twelves tries against Bradford Bulls on Saturday afternoon at The Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

The squad was strengthened by five members of the First Team squad with; Greg Eden, Sosaia Feki, Daniel Smith, Alex Sutcliffe, and Jason Qareqare all named in the starting thirteen. However, Qareqare would be replaced late on by Junior Vasuitoga on the right wing and Josh Thornton moved from 18th man onto the bench. The game would also mark Alex Sutcliffe’s first match in around 12 weeks after a knee injury.

A strong start was expected by Cas and that is just what happened, after pushing the Bulls back into their own half a couple of times the first penalty placed the visiting side in danger. The ball was worked right to Sosaia Feki who spotted a gap and raced through it and closer to the posts for the first try of the game.

No one tell the Prop Forwards Union, but Daniel Smith acted like a halfback all game long and was pivotal in the Tigers’ strong performance, stepping up to kick the conversions he nailed his first one following Feki’s score. He almost grabbed Castleford’s second too with a grubber kick and chase which came off the posts and almost got grounded for a special try – but not meant to be.

Great efforts from the youngsters were littered throughout the game, in the build-up to the Fords’ second George Hill scooted near the line but was just a tiny bit short of the line. Then Kieran Hudson rattled one of the Bulls’ bigger men with a great shot on the halfway line on the last tackle.

Bradford came close with 1-2 passing between Jayden Myers and Joseph Burton but a knock-on stopped the threat. Cas then went all the way to the other end with Junior Vasuitoga showing lightning pace, besting the last-ditch defender with a dive, in at the corner. A tough kick from the wing was missed making it 10-0 around 20 minutes in.

The visitors were finding more of a foothold in the fixture and around the half-hour mark a smart chip kick by the posts just stayed in enough for Lewis Camden to ground before running out of play. The Bulls scrumhalf also added the kick to his try.

Errors were creeping in from both teams, but Bradford could not push beyond the halfway line, on the back of a bad tackle the Tigers forced a goal-line drop-out and kept the pressure slowly building for their third score. Leading from the front Daniel Smith got on the end of a flat pass near the try line and powered over to score, adding the extras to his own meat pie.

It was a disappointing end to the first half for Cas though, a fourth tackle kick to the left corner caught out Vasuitoga and fullback Will Groves, an awkward bounce made matters worse and allowed Taylor Mail to recover the ball and score, which Camden converted the kick for. Therefore, Cas’ lead was cut to four points heading into the sheds at halftime 16-12, and Bulls still in the fight.

A lot more play seemed to click for the Fords’ Reserves following the break, and Greg Eden injected himself a lot more into proceedings too. Three minutes into the second period near the middle of the field and in front of the posts the star wingman kicked a grubber, chased it, and scored for the first points of the half, and an easy Smith conversion.

Eden on the left edge moved towards the line and threw a pass to big, young winger Elliot Wallis, who then found Greg again for a 1-2 pass in space. Eden moved back centre field through a gap and was pointing where he wanted George Hill to be running, the young hooker followed Eden’s instruction and then juked around to get over the line and score a remarkable try. Smith tacked on the extra two also.

Cas had a spring in their step, fullback Groves got the next with a run which kept the Bulls guessing if he would shoot the line or pass, he had them moving backwards and chose to go himself and forced his way over. Smith slotted over the conversion to take Castleford beyond 30 points scored at 32-12.

To make matters worse for the visiting side, a bad spear tackle saw a player get shown a yellow card. Bradford did initially handle being a man down well but Daniel Smith being in the mood he was, he fancied another try and pushed towards the line, he kept pushing and ground the ball to score and convert and bring Cas up to 40.

Still with a numbers advantage, Wallis got an Eden pass on the 40m line and saw off two defenders with power and then as he raced away, he beat the third defender for pace and dived in for a corner score. Smith missed the kick from the wing.

Castleford kept rolling the Bulls downfield, following a brief break in play due to a Bradford injury the Tigers threw the ball out right and Sosaia Feki held off the tackler and moved to the ground in the in-goal area. A hard conversion on the right side but Smith added it to bring up half a century of home points scored.

Vasuitoga got his brace following a brilliant Groves hit out pass which arched beautifully, the winger caught it well and finished it even better, Smith could not make it two edge kicks in a row though and came off following the conversion attempt, and everyone in The Jungle’s Main Stand applauded him off for his efforts.

The Tigers did not rest on their laurels, they wanted more, and it came next from stand-off Charlie Harris who showed nimble footwork to step twice and work his way to the line, a beautiful try that Greg Eden converted after stepping up for kicking duties, making it 60-12.

Junior Vasuitoga’s hat-trick was sealed with play down the right edge, Eden running the show and Alex Sutcliffe passing it to him to finish it off with a burrowing finish. Eden nailed the kick from out wide for the last major action of the game.

A dominant second half saw Castleford cruise to victory at The Jungle, with Daniel Smith and Greg Eden showing their class, but it was a day to remember for Junior Vasuitoga registering a hat-trick and our young guns stepping up for a big win.

Castleford Tigers: Will Groves, Jason Qareqare, Greg Eden, Sosaia Feki, Elliott Wallis, Charlie Harris, Jaiden Tang, Daniel Smith, George Hill, Kieran Hudson, Alex Sutcliffe, Danny Attley, Tyler Walton

Interchanges: Callum Beety, Junior Vasuitoga, Phoenix Tooala, Caleb Stanley, Abdullah Balogun, Josh Thornton

Tries: Feki (2), Vasuitoga (3), Smith (2), Eden, Hill, Groves, Wallis, Harris,

Goals: Smith 7/10, Eden 2/2

Bradford Bulls: Joseph Burton, Coby Nichol, Rhys Evans, Samuel Arundel, Jayden Myers, Taylor Mail, Lewis Camden, Dan Fleming, Matthew Scott, Marcus Green, Michael Hoyle, Harry Gray, Jaden Barraclough

Interchanges: Bradley Wheeler, Bradley Ho, Brenden Santi, Jack Toulson

Tries: Camden, Mail

Goals: Camden 2/2