As ever at this time of year the local derbies take place in the Super League and the first of two rounds of matches over Easter kicks off in Castleford on Thursday night when the Tigers host the champions Leeds Rhinos.
It would be fair to say that neither of these sides have begun the season how they would like to have but a good Easter can get both back among where they want to be so this is a big game for the pair of them.
Castleford will be looking to bounce back from a bit of a beating at the hands of Warrington last week. Their defence leaked some pretty soft tries which won’t have escaped the attention of Daryl Powell and he’ll be desperate for his side to be much more at it from the off in this game.
As a result there are two changes to the Castleford squad with Ben Roberts and Lee Jewitt returning. Roberts will be a boost with Luke Dorn out for the foreseeable future. Matt Cook and Frankie Mariano will sit this one out.
Leeds’ poor start to the season has been well documented and the reason for that has been largely obvious – a nasty set of injuries on top of some high profile retirements but players are starting to come back now and it is time to put all of that behind them and move on and reclaim their new identity.
Danny Maguire was due to return last week but that never materialised. He is going to try again in this match. Tom Briscoe also returns to the side but Ryan Hall will undergo a fitness test after picking up an injury in the win over St Helens last time out.
These two sides go into the match off the back of very different results and performances. Castleford were shocking defensively last week while Leeds finally put a decent all round performance in and were suitably rewarded for it.
Injuries have been a large part of this Super League season so far and these two know all about it but while Castleford are beginning to struggle most with them Leeds are getting back to full strength and I expect them to go on something of a solid run from here on in.
As a result of that we could well look at the six point start Leeds are giving up in this match as way too few when the final hooter goes. All things being equal I would expect Leeds to cover a converted try in this one especially with Castleford leaking points the way they are at the minute.
Back Leeds (-6) to beat Castleford for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Ladbrokes
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