Leigh head coach Neil Jukes promises improvement after defeat by Castleford
Monday 13 February 2017 15:26, UK
Leigh head coach Neil Jukes said his side got what they deserved after watching them go down 44-16 to Castleford in their first game back in Betfred Super League.
The Centurions, returning to the top flight after a 12-year absence, held their own for the first quarter before succumbing to the extra class of the Tigers, who ran in seven tries to live up to their pre-season billing as dark horses for the title.
"I thought the first 20 minutes were pretty good," Jukes said. "We went toe to toe and stayed in it.
"But our kicking game let us down on too many occasions and, when they made their changes, they went up a new level. Grant Millington came on and started challenging us a bit more. We probably didn't get that same impact.
"It was expected if you don't turn up with the right intent. We spoke about staying within our structures and believing in what we have been practising for a long time - we did that for 18, 20 minutes and then went away from that and started doing some stuff individually.
"Our kicking game was poor and ultimately defended our line far too much against a very good Cas side. With some of our kicks we did not find touch - we got away with that in the Championship but not at this level.
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"I've just said to the boys that we needed to get a feel as to where we are at and we have a lot of learning to do. We will break it up in the morning and be honest with each other.
"We knew we had to perform very well here to give ourselves a chance - we didn't and ultimately we got what we deserved.
"We've got to get better in certain areas and we've got seven days to do it because we have a big game against Leeds next week. We'll make sure we're a lot better."
Out of the blocks
Castleford coach Daryl Powell was pleased that his side came away with the win but says there is plenty to work on after a scrappy second-half.
"I would have taken that at the start of the game, then it got a little bit scrappy in the second half and we could have done a little bit better," admitted Powell.
"Conditions were not fantastic and we got a little bit too loose. But we needed to get out of the blocks and it was always a dangerous game - I am glad we won it.
"Leigh will be happy with the start and the end I would have thought and will get some confidence from that, but for us we needed to stop a couple of their tries."
