IT was a classic case of `After the Lord Mayor's Show' as Huddersfield Giants suffered a 38-4 Junior Academy defeat at Castleford Tigers.
The week before, the McAlpine club's Under 18s were celebrating a 34-18 victory over Bradford Bulls.
Yet despite the match taking place at The Jungle as a curtain-raiser to the Sky TV Super League clash between Castleford and Wakefield, the young Giants were unable to rise to the occasion.
The visitors started brightly enough, with prop Jason Southwell crashing over in the corner to give his side a fifth-minute lead.
But following the withdrawal of the in-form Southwell with a calf injury 10 minutes later, the Giants lost their momentum.
By half-time, the Tigers had clawed their way into a 12-4 lead and Huddersfield were struggling.
Yet it wasn't until the final quarter that Castleford ran away with it, with two of their tries coming in the final three minutes.
Even in defeat, there were some encouraging displays from some of the younger Giants players, most notably Chris Clarke and Simon George.
For Cas, unbeaten in three games so far, Michael Shenton and John Astbury each scored two tries.
* Castleford were today set to end Graham Steadman's three-year reign as coach.
The Tigers, beaten by the Giants in round one, are bottom of Super League after losing all seven games so far.
