Easter is pretty much here which means that it is time for Rivals Round in the Super League XXX season and it gets underway on Thursday night with a Yorkshire derby when Wakefield Trinity play host to the Castleford Tigers.
These two sides have made different starts to the season with Wakefield more than competitive so far and Castleford finding the going a little tough so the Tigers will be hoping the derby brings about a change in fortunes to kick start their campaign.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Action channel with the relatively short build-up beginning at 7.55pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
Wakefield Trinity
When you consider that this is the first season back in the Super League for Wakefield Trinity, you would have to suggest that this has been a perfectly acceptable beginning to the campaign and if they can put a derby win on top of it and make it four wins from their opening eight matches they will be in a solid position. It would also put them level with the Leeds Rhinos in sixth place ahead of the remainder of the matches this weekend.
Wakefield have just tailed off a little bit in recent times with three defeats in their last four if you include the Challenge Cup loss against Leigh. The other two losses were against Hull FC and St Helens so neither can go down as a bad result really. One area of concern would be that Wakefield have lost their last four at home in all competitions but losses to the two Hull sides, St Helens and Leigh aren’t exactly terrible results for a newly promoted side. They won’t want to lose this one though regardless of the derby nature to the game.
Castleford Tigers
It looked like the Castleford Tigers were light on quality personnel going into the season. That was the case last term and they didn’t really strengthen much in the close season, although with no relegation anymore there probably wasn’t the incentive to do so. The end result is that seven rounds into the season they only have one win to their name and that came against the Salford Red Devils and we all know the issues that they are facing currently.
The big problem that the Tigers have, besides not really looking strong enough on paper compared to a number of the other teams in the competition, is that they are conceding almost twice as many points as they are scoring and whenever that is the case you are not going to be high up the table. They are yet to score 100 points after seven matches and any team averaging under 14 points per game in this competition is going to struggle. Castleford need to improve defensively but that won’t matter if they don’t start scoring points.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS MATCH! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Team News
Wakefield Trinity will welcome Josh Griffin back for this match with the back rower now back from injury. He comes into the 21-man squad at the expense of Jordan Myers who misses out. Daryl Powell has named an unchanged party apart from that.
Castleford Tigers made three signings in the last week or so but Tom Amone hasn’t arrived in the country in time to feature in this one. Jordan Dezaria and Hugo Salabio have both joined on loan and they are in the squad for the match.
Betting
This is a bit of a weird match to bet on because Castleford Tigers only have one win all season and Wakefield Trinity have lost every home match so far this term. I was a little bit surprised that bookmakers had this as a 13.5 point game given the struggles that Wakefield have had at home this season. Admittedly they have played good sides in the main but these rivalry matches are usually tighter than normal ones so I was expecting a single figure handicap.
I wouldn’t say I am massively sold on Castleford Tigers but to their credit they have kept Catalans, Hull FC and Leigh to 26, 24 and 20 points in their last three matches and they are all going along quite nicely. They haven’t been able to put points on the board but with a couple of forwards coming in to pep up their middle and get them up the pitch a lot more it would be a surprise if they aren’t in positions to create more point scoring opportunities. With a 13.5 point start, Castleford might only need to get to double figures to cover and that feels achievable to me.
Tips
Back Castleford Tigers (+13.5) to beat Wakefield Trinity for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with 888sport
Back them here:
