A spot at Old Trafford is at stake on Thursday night when the Castleford Tigers host St Helens in the first Super League semi-final. All eyes will be on the home side to see if they can transfer their dominance in the league phase of the campaign into a Grand Final appearance.
St Helens have flown home and have already won at The Jungle this season so this one is really nicely set up for what should be a fantastic night of rugby league.
Castleford Tigers
Castleford have been miles clear of the rest in the Super League this season but amazingly that counts for nothing now. They have to see off one of the most experienced sides in these matches over 80 minutes if they are to claim their rightful place at Old Trafford next weekend. They do at least have home advantage.
The Tigers will look to their attacking prowess to get the job done in this semi-final but I’ve said all season that their defence has been underrated. They will need to defend better than they did last week but we shouldn’t look too much into that match as they clearly had more than one eye on this match.
St Helens
When the Super 8s began it did not look likely for St Helens to make it into the semi-finals but credit to them where it is due they have put together a really good run of form and deserve their place in this contest. They will hope the plethora of semi-final experience that they have will serve them well and assist them in getting to Old Trafford.
Saints have really sorted out their away form in recent times, which they had to do to make it into this semi-final and they will hope they have one more away win in them. Their attack has improved markedly over recent weeks too which has been important and you get the feeling they will head to Yorkshire high in confidence.
Team News
Castleford Tigers rested a number of their stars for their final league match last week but the likes of Michael Shenton, Zak Hardaker, Junior Moors and Grant Millington will all return here. Luke Gale faces a fitness test after an appendix operation.
Saints coach Justin Holbrook has named the same squad which saw off Salford relatively comfortably last week and barring any late news he is expected to send the same 17 men into action.
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Betting
It would be something of a travesty if Castleford Tigers don’t make Old Trafford this season. I appreciate that the rules are the rules but when a side has been as dominant as they have been this campaign they deserve to be playing in the final match of it.
Thankfully for those of us with my way of thinking the Tigers face a St Helens side who are the worst of the four left in the competition and I expect the home side to make it through and book their place at Old Trafford. I expect this to be a tough battle though and a low scoring match as a result.
Both defences will know this is the night they have to step up to the mark and I think that will happen so rather than risk Cas covering a converted try I will take them to win by no more than two scores.
Tips
Back Castleford Tigers to win by 1-12pts for a 4/10 stake at 2.90 with Betbright
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