England assistant Andy Last is getting stick in Castleford ranks about his country’s shock World Cup exit - but insists it’ll eventually work to Tigers’ advantage.
The Castleford No2 is back in pre-season training with the Super League club this week after being on international duty with England chief Shaun Wane. Last was left gutted after last month’s 27-26 golden point World Cup semi-final heartache against Samoa. Having raised hopes with some stellar displays, including a 60-6 thrashing of Samoa in the group stages, sorry England missed out yet again.
Castleford head of analysis Dan Blundell worked for Samoa in the tournament and he’s been winding Last up. But it’ll be even worse when Tigers boss Lee Radford - who also helped coach the Pacific Islanders - returns to take charge next week. Last admitted: “We didn’t play to our best and we know we left 18 points on the pitch in the first half alone. We could easily have been 24-10 up at the break (rather than 10-6 down).
