Castleford Tigers: Powell apologises to fans after '˜terrible' display in defeat to Warrington Wolves

The Wolves ran in 11 tries against a poor Tigers side to win 56-12 and maintain their 100 per cent to the season and move joint-top of the First Utility Super League with Widnes.

Powell did not pull any punches in his analysis of his side’s display after the Tigers were ravaged in the first half, shipping in seven tries to trail 38-0, and only marginally improved after the break.

“It was a hugely disappointing night,” said Powell.

“I want to start by apologising to all the Castleford fans for a performance that is so unrecognisable from what we have become.

“There are really no excuses. It was a really disappointing effort from the first tackle.

“I thought Warrington were outstanding across the board. They absolutely annihilated us in every department.

“But for us it was a terrible effort, so soft in every way. We weren’t at the races.

“There needs to be some changes in terms of the way the players are going about their work at the moment. They have to change their mindset and work ethic.”

Opposite number Tony Smith felt his players were due to deliver a big win.

“We were building up for one,” said Smith. “We’ve got ourselves into winning positions by the end of games but we wanted to do it a bit differently and we put some pressure on ourselves to do something like that.

“We felt it was time to have a performance like that. It was very good. It was pretty faultless first half. It is difficult to stop that momentum when it gets going.”

Smith also hailed the performance of Australian scrum-half Chris Sandow, who has been in superb form in the early weeks of the season.

He said: “He was world class, top class, however you want to build it up.

“His family arrived yesterday. He’s been here without them and that’s been hard for him. I think he showed how much he’s enjoyed having his family around him already.

“He has been very good so far but he’s gone from very good to outstanding.”

Smith described the sin-binning of Stefan Ratchford late in the game for a “crocodile roll” as “a nonsense”.

Wolves hooker Brad Dwyer would be sent for X-rays as a precaution after being carried from the field with an ankle injury.

Opposite number Daryl