Castleford Tigers director of rugby Chris Chester admits selecting the club’s new head coach is the biggest decision he’ll make in the job. The Tigers have been without a head coach since Danny McGuire was relieved of his duties a fortnight ago, but it didn’t stop them claiming the scalp of Warrington Wolves on Sunday.
The Tigers beat Sam Burgess’ Warrington 20-14 at The Jungle in a result which lifts the mood and gives everyone associated with the West Yorkshire club a huge boost as they approach the end of the Super League season. Chester has been in charge for two games now and he’ll be the man tasked with selecting the club’s next head coach with interviews to start in the coming days.
Chester revealed to the press after the game that the applicants are mostly based down under, with one UK candidate set to interview for the club. And, the hope is that an appointment can be made within the next couple of weeks.
“That starts on Tuesday,” Chester said when asked about the interview process. “I’ve got the job of speaking to people that haven’t made the cut.
“We’ve had a lot of applicants and it’s only right that I respond in a professional way and thank the applicants for putting their hand up. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday we’ll start the process.
“This is probably the biggest decision I’ll have to make as the director of rugby. I’ve just got to make sure it’s the right person and right fit for this club. I’m pretty confident we will.
“The applicants we’ve got are mostly NRL-based – there’s one UK-based. We’ll take our time with it and hopefully over the next couple of weeks we can make an announcement.”
Speaking on his side’s win over Warrington, Chester outlined his pride in the result: “I’m super proud.
“We spoke all week about confidence and belief and our effort levels need to be of a high standard. I thought we got that in abundance. The confidence that we showed to go through with a pass, especially in yardage, there was a few there, we sent Louis Senior down the sideline, that’s something we practised during the week and we could have easily held onto that ball.
“That’s what I want my players to do, we’ve been lacking belief and confidence. Really pleased they got the result and we deserved it, we out-enthused Warrington. We came up with some really good offensive plays and it’s good to see those little things come to fruition. Really really proud of the guys efforts this afternoon.”
