Hull 36 – 18 Castleford

A five-try blitz in the second half moved Hull to within two points of the Super League play-off places, while Castleford are just as close to the drop zone after a third successive defeat; Adam Swift and Cameron Scott both scored doubles for the Black and Whites

Hull FC heaped the pressure on relegation-threatened Castleford with a convincing 36-18 home win.

A five-try blitz in the second half moved Hull to within two points of the Super League play-off places, while Castleford are just as close to the drop zone after a third successive defeat.

Story of the game

Hull, on the back of a derby victory against Hull KR last week, made a strong start as Adam Swift opened the scoring within seven minutes when Davy Litten knocked back a Jake Clifford kick.

However, the lead lasted only five minutes as Castleford responded through Elliot Wallis, who had already been denied a try by a great Litten tackle but was too easily allowed to score in the corner this time.

The Tigers lost Riley Dean to a head injury and conceded almost immediately after his withdrawal on the 20-minute mark, as Carlos Tuimavave – who himself later came off injured – ran onto a Jake Trueman pass and scampered to the line.

Clifford failed to convert either Hull try so the hosts only led 8-6, and that score was soon level as Gareth Widdop added a penalty to his earlier conversion when Hull were caught offside.

Castleford’s Jacob Miller had a drop-goal attempt in the final seconds of the half blocked by Brad Dwyer, ensuring it would remain 8-8 at the break.

Hull came to life at the start of the second half with back-to-back tries, the first from Chris Satae charging onto a Brad Fash pass and stretching to ground on the line.

Straight from the restart, Satae got the ball again and burst through numerous Castleford challenges before finding Swift to complete a thrilling breakaway try.

Liam Sutcliffe took over kicking duties and converted both tries for a 12-point Hull lead, which was halved when Joe Westerman was put through the middle of the home defence and Jack Broadbent supported the run to score.

Adam Swift touches down for one of his two tries for Hull against Castleford

But Broadbent knocked on from the subsequent restart and Litten eased over, before Cameron Scott benefitted from more poor Castleford defending to make it 30-14.

Scott scored for a second time before the finish, brightly ducking under tackles, while Bureta Faraimo scored the final try for the beaten Tigers.

What they said

Hull FC head coach Tony Smith:

“Big Chris (Satae) was fantastic with the way he ran the ball and the work that he did for us. At times he was almost unstoppable. He certainly lifted us.

“Brad Dwyer did too, it was another really energetic performance and he may well have turned the game on its head a bit with that energy he injected into the match.

“The people who are coming on for us are making a big effort to lift us when we need it. They’re so important, these bench boys.”

Castleford head coach Andy Last:

“It’s really frustrating. We felt in a good space going into half-time. There were a couple of things we just needed to touch on at half-time but we didn’t go out and execute what we spoke about, like tidying up our ball control.

“The Satae barge-over try is very dubious, whether he got it down. But we have to show more resilience. There’s a little bit of negativity and a feeling that everything is against us. We need to be better than that.”

What’s next?

Hull FC are next in action against Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium in the Super League on Thursday July 27, a clash you can watch live on Sky Sports from 8pm, while Castleford Tigers also have a week off before returning to Super League action at Hull Kingston Rovers on Friday July 28 (8pm).