Rugby team hails camping as a reason for their success

• 16th Jun 2014

Camping has been given as the reason why one rugby league team manage to upset the form book and finally beat Wigan at home.

The Wigan Warriors have had a formidable run in the Challenge Cup, having not lost a game at home since 1986 - which was before many of the current Castleford team were even born. This run of form came to an end on Saturday 7 June, though, after Castleford put in a staggering defensive shift to rack up a 16 - 4 victory, bbc.co.uk reports.

Now, with the dust having settled on the run-ending victory, Castleford's winger Kirk Dixon has put the result down to the team's relatively recent camping trip, which helped the players bond. Despite feeling a bit unsure of the trip at first, the team ended up talking - which fostered a belief among the men that this team was capable of success.

It proved to be very beneficial indeed, after this trust helped Castleford link up on the pitch to hold off Wigan's sustained attacks.

Explaining the trip, Dixon told yorkshirepost.co.uk how it was one of the first decisions made by new coach Daryl Powell after he took the reins at Castleford.

"One of the first things Daryl did was take us all camping in the North Yorkshire Dales," Dixon recounted.

"Some of the boys were wondering 'camping, what's the point of that?' but it was a great few days. We got to spend time with each other and talked. There was nothing else to do. What he's instilled in us is mainly the belief that we are a good team...we're seeing the benefits of it now."