Castleford Tigers winger Derrell Olpherts pleads for patience for new-look side

The winger scored two tries in a lost cause as Tigers slumped to a tame 26-16 defeat by Salford Red Devils in front of a capacity crowd of 10,500 at Wheldon Road in round one.

The sell-out attendance reflected the high expectations surrounding what the club have labelled their ‘new era’ under coach Lee Radford, who was in charge for the first time in a competitive game.

Despite leading twice in the first half, Castleford failed to deliver on the field, but Olpherts insisted that was down to teething troubles and a lack of match practice, rather than anything more serious.

A trip to Warrington Wolves, under former Castleford coach Daryl Powell, is next up and Olpherts stressed: “With the players we have got we will be better than that, 100 per cent.”

He said: “It is good to be back playing in front of a big crowd, but disappointing we didn’t get the job done, especially for the fans who turned out to watch us.

“There was probably not enough practice games, but still, we should be dishing out better performances than that.

“We have just got to dust ourselves down and go again because it’s a short turnaround and we are back out there on Thursday.”

Salford are one of the teams tipped to struggle this year, but with eight new signings on show and coach Paul Rowley in charge for the first time, they were a cut above Tigers.

Marc Sneyd ran the show, landing seven goals from as many attempts and Olpherts said: “Salford have got some good players.

“Marc Sneyd kicked us to death, he had a great game.

“We will review it and go again, I think we have learned a lot about where we are and what we need to work on going forward.

“There’s good and bad we can take out of it.”

Olpherts’ finishing was one positive, but the player himself took no satisfaction from the game.

“I am not bothered about scoring tries, I am all about winning,” he said.

“It is a team game.”