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12 hours ago
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It is fair to assume neither Castleford Tigers nor Bradford Bulls will be in title contention later this year, not least based on what we saw here from both teams. However, in terms of an appetiser to set the scene for Super League’s 30th anniversary weekend, this West Yorkshire derby was about as entertaining as you could have hoped for if you were a neutral.
The beauty of early-season games like these is that narratives that have been formed can be quickly dismantled in the blink of an eye and, given defensive displays they have put in so far, it was hard not to feel that was perhaps the case on this occasion.
With three wins from their opening five since promotion, Bradford have rightly been heralded as a major positive of 2026. In contrast, Castleford have won only once and arrived at this game off the back of a 72-6 defeat at Warrington, one of their heaviest in the Super League era. Another loss here, and the pressure on new coach Ryan Carr could have boiled over.
However, there are just two points between these two sides after Castleford’s attack, which Carr had promised would click, did exactly that here. “How we played tonight is how we want to play our rugby,” Carr smiled after a performance which still showed up some defensive frailties that will prevent the Tigers from going toe-to-toe with the best, but which offered plenty of positives too.
“It’s been a big week for us as a group and a club,” Carr added. “We needed a response after what was a bad day last week, but one game doesn’t define us. I’m really proud of them. This is a group of people who care deeply about this club.”
Super League success has been scarce for Castleford but perhaps it was fitting that on the competition’s birthday weekend, the Tigers displayed hallmarks of the side that finished top and reached a Grand Final in 2017; built on attack, entertainment and throwing caution to the wind.
That was underlined in a sensational 10 minutes either side of half-time, in which Castleford scored 28 unanswered points to transform a nervy, see-saw game that the Bulls led 16-12 into one that was decisively going the way of the Tigers. You could feel the tension inside Wheldon Road when Bradford scored after two minutes through Esan Marsters’s opening try.
When they led again after half an hour thanks to Luke Hooley’s try and four goals, the prospect of Castleford going to one win from six, with two defeats to promoted teams in there, felt eminently possible. But what happened next was remarkable, as the hosts came alive.
Darnell McIntosh’s try 90 seconds from the break looked as though it would send the game into the interval level. But from the resulting kick-off, Castleford surged downfield and cut Bradford open, with Jason Qareqare scoring a sensational long-range try to complete his hat-trick, having earlier scored the two tries that kept the Tigers in contention.
Suddenly Castleford were ahead: and they weren’t done. Two more eye-catching tries in the five minutes after the restart from Tom Weaver and George Lawler moved them further in front before McIntosh’s second made it 40-16 in what felt like the blink of an eye. It was the style of rugby which had earned the Tigers plenty of admirers in their pomp around a decade earlier.
“It’s the one game I’ve been nervous going into,” Bradford’s coach, Kurt Haggerty, said post-match. “There’s no doubt we can attack but systematically we didn’t get it right. You shouldn’t score 28 points in a game and lose.” His side had their moments here but the manner of how they fell apart in that period after half-time will be of significant concern.
The four-time Super League champions were never expected to push for the playoffs in their first season back among the elite, but three wins from three at home coupled with three straight losses on the road suggest there is a problem that needs fixing if they are supersede the expectations of many in 2026.
The Bulls briefly threatened a comeback when Hooley scored his second but by the time Marsters did the same in the dying embers, the contest was done.
