Danny McGuire has described Castleford Tigers’ defeat to Hull FC as a ‘game of two halves.’ The Black and Whites ran out 16-10 winners at Wheldon Road on Saturday afternoon, having had the better of the second half.

However, it was Castleford who led 10-4 at half-time following a decent first-half display. The home side built on a strong start and had a deserved lead, with Hull standing tall after the break.

The former Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR half-back praised Hull for their showing, saying there were signs that the team looked a better side than they did last year. However, there was also some disappointment aired, even if the performance was better than last week's 32-8 defeat at Wakefield.

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Speaking post-match, McGuire said: “I thought it was a game of two halves. We were strong in the first half and did some really good things that we’ve been working on. Defensively, we were physical. Hull have got a big pack, and I thought physically we were pretty good. We did some nice things with the ball and created some opportunities.

“The first half team talk was pleasing, and then we started the second half really poorly. We were offside from a kick, and then we couldn’t defend our line. We conceded two really soft tries that were criminal, really, with a barge over and one pass off the ruck. That was really disappointing, but there’s definitely improvement from what we dished up last week.”

McGuire continued: “I thought Hull were good. They looked a lot better than they probably were last season. They’re a bit more experienced, and the young players looked strong for them at the end. We’ve got to give them some credit, but we are disappointed with our last 30 minutes. We need to learn now, work harder, and get better.”

However, while acknowledging the disappointment of defeat, McGuire isn’t caught up with the result, with the Tigers opening their competitive account at Bradford Bulls in the Challenge Cup next week.

“It’s hard,” he continued. “When you play this game, you want to win; you want to be successful. Your ultimate aim is to win even though it was a friendly.

“Again, we’re disappointed that we didn’t quite get that result. There are some areas for improvement, and we need to fix up some areas, but there are some signs there. We’ll iron out some problems, but we can talk about some things we did really well as well. There are some things that we’re happy with, but there are some things where we need to get better.”

McGuire also confirmed that Castleford came through the game with a clean bill of health. He added: “We have come through okay; there are the usual bumps and bruises, but we can’t afford any more injuries. I will be praying I won’t get any calls from the physio later.”