The marquee Magic Weekend in the Super League begins on Saturday afternoon and it does so with a clash between the Castleford Tigers and the Salford Red Devils in a contest which is huge for the former as they chase a play-off berth.
Castleford head to St James’ Park occupying the final place in the play-offs but there are a couple of sides waiting should they slip up. Salford are playing with a bit of freedom as their season is over from a competitive standpoint.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Arena channel. The short build-up begins at 2.55pm with the match scheduled to kick off at 3pm.
Castleford Tigers
The Castleford Tigers looked like a beaten team when they lost the Challenge Cup final to St Helens six weeks or so ago but to their credit they have found a second wind and have their destiny in their own hands with regards to the play-off spot even allowing for the fact they lost their last match to the Wigan Warriors. It looked from a pretty early stage in that match that it was one too far for a fairly stretched squad in a pretty brutal schedule and that is how it proved.
Nothing went right for Castleford on Monday. Their attack just got nothing going and they looked flat when they were running with the ball. Wigan didn’t really have to work hard for their tries either but I think the Tigers will shrug that one off fairly quickly and go again here. They were on a four match winning streak prior to that so their confidence shouldn’t have been dented too much. The Tigers have a wonderful record at the Magic Weekend which is something else which should inspire confidence.
Salford Red Devils
This hasn’t been a good season for the Salford Red Devils but they can still salvage some pride from it if they can finish the campaign strongly. I think this was always going to be a harder campaign for Salford without Ian Watson but I would imagine they weren’t expecting it to be quite as tough as it has been. There have been mitigating circumstances but six wins from 19 matches isn’t good enough for a squad with the quality theirs has.
Salford do come to Magic Weekend off the back of a fine win over Hull FC on Monday which should have boosted confidence but it needed boosting because prior to that they were well beaten by Leigh Centurions and Catalans Dragons. There were signs last week that their attacking players are starting to find some confidence and if that is the case they could be dangerous on this huge, expansive pitch up in Newcastle.
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Team News
Castleford Tigers will be boosted by the return to the squad of talisman Paul McShane but Danny Richardson hasn’t come through the concussion protocols and Liam Watts begins a two-match suspension so they are both missing here.
Salford Red Devils are picking from a similar squad to the one which they had for the emphatic win over Hull FC on Monday. Kevin Brown will be gracing the Magic Weekend for the final time as he is retiring at the end of the season.
Betting
I expect to see a much better version of the Castleford Tigers here but I do wonder if they will have enough to cover a 10 point handicap against a Salford Red Devils side who are dangerous because they can throw the ball around and give it some air with the freedom of their season not hinging on the result of this match. Hull FC have just found that out the hard way and Castleford might go the same way even allowing for the return of Paul McShane.
This feels like a more competitive match than there to be a 10 point handicap, especially with the struggles Castleford had in attack on Monday, albeit against a tough Wigan defence. I never like it when a team is without their first choice half-back pairing and that is the fate of the Tigers here. That as well as the display on Monday are enough of a concern for me to take Salford to at the very least stay within 10 points even if they don’t cause the upset.
Tips
Back Salford Red Devils (+10) to beat Castleford Tigers for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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