Another week of Super League XXVIII action begins on Thursday night when another Yorkshire derby takes place as the Castleford Tigers play host to the Leeds Rhinos in a standout fixture in front of the TV cameras.
The Tigers have made a rotten start to the season and will be looking to get off the mark here while Leeds have picked up over the last couple of weeks and will be out to show that they are title challengers once again.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Arena channels with the build-up starting at 7.30pm and kick off at The Jungle at 8pm.
Castleford Tigers
This has been a wretched start to the season for the Castleford Tigers and there doesn’t appear to have been any immediate improvement from the departure of Lee Radford as head coach. Andy Last has only had one game in temporary charge but his side were torn apart by the Huddersfield Giants and you just wonder whether the Tigers will be able to turn things around ahead of this one. They are clearly better than what they have shown but so were Warrington last season and it never happened for them.
It is hard to find a positive for the Castleford fans to cling to which is a problem. The only time in their four matches that they haven’t conceded 30 points was against a jaded St Helens side who were getting over their World Club Challenge exploits Worse still, the only time they have scored double figures was at Hull FC when the match was over after an hour with the Tigers only having six points to their name before Hull ran out of juice in the last 20. Improvement all round is needed.
Leeds Rhinos
The Leeds Rhinos began the season in indifferent fashion although a lot of that was because of injuries in the skill positions. They turned things around when they went to the champions and avenged their Grand Final defeat before easing past Wakefield Trinity last week so there is a feeling that Leeds have warmed into the season and are just beginning to approach their best form, which is about right given we are a month into the campaign.
We saw last season what sort of a run of form the Rhinos can deliver under Rohan Smith and there are early signs that the key combinations are beginning to click and that spells trouble for the other teams because Leeds certainly don’t lack for talent. The one thing Leeds have shown in recent weeks is a good patience. They had to play tough and win late at St Helens and all 26 of their points in the win at Wakefield last week came in the second half.
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Team News
Castleford Tigers will have former Man of Steel winner Paul McShane back for this contest but they are going to be without Jake Mamo who suddenly retired from the sport earlier in the week. Alex Sutcliffe is missing as well.
Leeds Rhinos are going to be without Ash Handley for this encounter after he picked up an ankle injury last week. The squad will be boosted by the return of Justin Sangare and Kruise Leeming who both missed the Wakefield win.
Betting
It is hard to be positive about the Castleford Tigers right now. They have massive issues at both ends of the field. Huddersfield looked like they could go in at will the longer the match between the two went on last week while in attack Castleford look toothless, which is amazing really when you consider that Gareth Widdop and Jacob Miller on paper are a standout half-back pairing. Castleford are in urgent need of some real direction but they need a competitive performance before worrying about winning.
Leeds Rhinos were slow out of the starting traps this season but are building nicely through the gears and while the absence of Ash Handley isn’t ideal, they still have enough in the backs to convert chances which the form of the likes of Justin Sangare, Cameron Smith and Zane Tetevano will create for them. You sense that if Leeds get in front early in this match Castleford could crumble once again. I’m surprised based on what we’ve seen this season that Leeds are only giving up a converted try. I expect a more comfortable win than that.
Tips
Back Leeds Rhinos (-6) to beat Castleford Tigers for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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