Another round of matches in the Super League gets underway on Thursday evening and it does so with a repeat of the Challenge Cup final from last month as the champions St Helens welcome the Castleford Tigers to the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Saints won that cup final at Wembley and will be expected to dominate the re-run of that contest. Castleford certainly shouldn’t lack for motivation as they seek revenge but this is a season that hit the buffers quite quickly.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Arena channel with the build-up to the contest getting underway at 7pm and the match kicking off at 7.45pm.
St Helens
Including that Challenge Cup final win, St Helens have now won their last six matches in all competitions and will be chasing what would be a pretty historic treble given the times that we are in. Their win over the Catalans Dragons last weekend propelled them to the top of the table so they are on course for the League Leaders’ Shield and from there they would be favourites to win the Grand Final so this is a big couple of months for St Helens.
The really impressive thing about St Helens is their defence. They still haven’t conceded more than 20 points in a Super League match this term and this far into the campaign that is a pretty strong effort. That takes the pressure off their attack but they don’t really need that to happen because they are perfectly capable in that department as well hence why they are competing for the three trophies available to them this term.
Castleford Tigers
It is the exact opposite from a form point of view in terms of the Castleford Tigers. Their win over the Leeds Rhinos last week ended a miserable run of five successive defeats so they will be hoping that the victory at Headingley inspires a burst of form that can see them end the season strongly. If the Tigers can finish the season with a flourish then they could still make the top six given that the two sides above them in the table look to be plateauing at the present time.
In order for that to happen they are going to have to find some confidence in attack from here on in. To be fair to the Tigers, they have been decimated by injuries at time which certainly hasn’t helped their cause, but even so they would have expected to be more competitive than they have been. The real disappointment for them has been in defensive areas where they have been exposed a little too often. With revenge in their sights here though you’d think they would be up for the battle.
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Team News
St Helens have James Bentley back in their squad after he has recovered from injury while Matty Lees has overcome all of the concussion protocols to be available. Saints will be without Morgan Knowles though as he is out.
Castleford Tigers will be without Jake Trueman who has been ruled out for the remainder of the season as he is to undergo back surgery. Michael Shenton is another who is out but Liam Watts and George Griffin are a couple of returning players for Daryl Powell’s men.
Betting
St Helens won the Challenge Cup final a month or so ago but there was an air of fortune about their victory as Castleford Tigers were well on top in the match until an absolutely horrendous video referee call went against them and they collapsed a little from there. I expect a bit more from the Tigers here, who although they have lost their last two visits to St Helens without scoring in either, have only been beaten by 14 points in total over the two matches.
If there is a side in the league who are going to test and trouble this St Helens defence it is the Castleford Tigers. They play a brand of rugby that is nice on the eye and while it would be a real superhuman effort to win this match, I don’t see any reason why they can’t remain competitive in the game. St Helens go into this one off the back of a bruising encounter with Catalans last week and Morgan Knowles is a big miss for them so winning might be the order of the day rather than putting the Tigers to the cleaners. I expect Saints to win but it is asking a lot for them to cover 14 points.
Tips
Back Castleford Tigers (+14) to beat St Helens for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
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