Castleford Tigers vs Leigh Centurions
Venue: Mend-A-Hose Jungle
Kick-off: Friday 17th April, 18:00 BST
Head-to-Head
Last Five Results: Leigh 0-38 Castleford (29/05/17), Castleford 44-16 Leigh (10/02/17)
Team Lists
Preview
The winless Leigh Centurions travel to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle to take on the unbeaten Castleford Tigers.
Sam Hall comes in for the hosts in place of Danny Richardson in the relatively injury free Castleford squad.
Leigh come into this off the back of a third straight loss but are boosted by the inclusion of late pre-season signing, Nathan Peats. Leigh have also named James Bell and Josh Simm in the 21-man squad, while new signing Anthony Gelling is left out while he completes a quarantine period.
Prediction
Leigh Centurions’ woes look set to continue as they take on a jubilant Castleford side who come into this off the back of a golden point comeback win against Hull KR in the Challenge Cup. Castleford overcame a 16-point deficit to win by a point in extra time, however they will have expended a vast amount more energy and experienced greater fatigue since, which may play a part in the opening stages of the game.
Leigh will need to take advantage of any under-cooked or slugish start from the Castleford side before the class void between the two sides will tell, and if they do so, they may be able to complete the upset that Hull KR failed to close out last week. That said, Castleford have been extremely impressive in their two super league starts, knocking off Leeds and Warrington with good defensive efforts.
If Nathan Peats is ready to start, the battle between the two hookers will no doubt be the highlight of the game. Peats brings great NRL pedigree and Paul McShane is reproducing the form that won him the 2020 Man Of Steel; the wiley McShane should edge the battle as Peats adjusts to the league, and in doing so, he should guide his team to a comfortable win against the newly promoted Centurions.
