The opening round of Super 8s matches in the Super League provided some thrilling rugby and some real competitive action and there is no reason why round two of the new format won’t offer the same when it begins on Thursday night.
The next round of matches begin at The Jungle as playoff spot chasers Castleford and Warrington collide in what is a huge game for both. Castleford will jump into the top four with a win while Warrington are running out of matches to push for the top four themselves so both will be desperate to win here.
Castleford opened up the latest phase of the competition with a high scoring win over Hull FC last week and they’ll be looking to take that positive energy and run with it over the next six weeks as they seek a second successive playoff spot.
Warrington were given a good hiding by Leeds last week but Leeds were borderline unplayable at times in that match so we probably shouldn’t use that as a form guide because I can’t believe Castleford will put in a performance as good as the one Leeds did here so the Wolves should be much more competitive.
The Tigers have made one change to their side for this match with Michael Channing returning to the squad. Paul McShane is the man to make way for him. Luke Dorn and Justin Carney are both in the squad and will provide danger.
Warrington will welcome back the extremely influential Ben Westwood for this game. Ryan Atkins and Ben Harrison are back from injury as well so the Wolves are much stronger for this match than they were for the Leeds one last week. Daryl Clark faces his former side.
These two sides met at The Jungle in the final round of the regular season and Warrington ran riot so that will give them some confidence going into this one. Castleford will be looking to put that match behind them and prove they are top four material here.
Warrington have been awful in the last two weeks but as I said there were mitigating circumstances last week and even in the Cup semi-final they suffered injuries regularly in that match which didn’t help their cause. I do think they’re a different, and a much better, side with Ben Westwood in their pack though and his return could well spark them into life.
Castleford do leak points and they might not find this Wolves defence as easy to breach as Hull’s was last week. One concern I had over Warrington was in the halves but Chris Sandow has had a week to settle into his new club and I expect him to make an impact now and that impact combined with the return of Westwood makes Warrington overpriced here. At odds against I’ll side with the visitors in what is near enough do or die for them.
Back Warrington to beat Castleford for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Skybet
