Castleford could lift the League Leaders’ Shield tonight with a victory over Wakefield in Thursday night’s fixture. Wakefield will want to build on last week’s emphatic win against Leeds to prevent their neighbours from claiming the trophy.
LAST TIME OUT
Castleford extended their gap at the top of the table to ten points after a Zak Hardaker-inspired win saw them beat Salford 23-4 at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Hardaker scored the first two tries of the evening so the Tigers led 12-0 at the half-time break. Salford replied shortly after the break with a Manu Vatuvei with Todd Carney missing the conversion. Sadly, that was the end for Salford as they could not get through the Tigers defence. Further tries from Mcshane and Hitchcox sealed the victory for Castleford.
Wakefield pulled off an impressive win against Leeds, beating the Rhinos 38-6 at the Beaumont Legal Stadium.
Jacob Miller was so influential in his return to the side as Trinity scored 6 tries against a lacklustre Rhinos side. Arundel opened up the scoring for Wakefield before Adam Cuthbertson levelled the scores in the tenth minute. Further tries from Jones-Bishop, Grix and Miller meant Wakefield lead 26-6 at the break.
Ashurst and Tupou finished the scoring for Trinity as Leeds looked for a way back into the game but it was too little too late for the Rhinos.
KEY BATTLE
With the return of Greg Eden into the Castelford side, he and Minikin will face up against Jones-Bishop and Tupou; Eden has scored 34 Super League tries this season in a bid to beat Denny Solomona’s record of 37 in a season. All four men have been in great form this season so we could see a try-fest between them tonight!
SQUAD NEWS
Castleford are at full strength once again with returns fromย with skipper Michael Shenton, Junior Moors, Greg Eden and Andy Lynch. Gadwin Springer, Joel Monaghan and Tom Holmes drop out.
Wakefield welcome back Mason Caton-Brown and Craig Huby in the place of the injured Joe Arundel and James Hasson.
SQUADS
Castleford: Hardaker, Minikin, Webster, Shenton, Eden, Roberts, Gale, Millington, McShane, Sene-Lefao, Holmes, McMeeken, Massey. Subs: Lynch, Milner, Moors, Foster.
Wakefield: Jowitt, Jones-Bishop, Lyne, Caton-Brown, Tupou, Miller, Finn, Fifita, Hadley, England, Ashurst, Kirmond, Arona. Subs: Williams, Huby, Annakin, Hirst.
MATCH DETAILS
Venue: The Mend-A-Hose Jungle
Referee:ย James Child
Date/Time: Thursday 17th August 2017, 8pm, BST