Castleford Tigers v St Helens - Preview

I’m not sure there is any point in writing this but like a Brexiteer in full blitz spirit mode I’m cracking on regardless. While coronavirus lays waste to the sporting programme over the coming weeks there is still, at the time of writing, a game at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle this weekend. Saints are the visitors for Castleford Tigers in Round 7 of the Betfred Super League this Sunday afternoon (March 15, kick-off 3.30pm).

Let’s make no bones about it, if this game goes ahead it is due in large part to the financial state of the game. The government’s advice that sporting events should not be cancelled at this stage has been widely ignored by a public which does not trust Prime Minister Boris Johnson despite the fact that they trusted him enough to give him a 50-seat majority in the General Election in December. They know best and they want all sport cancelled, especially if they support a football team that isn’t Liverpool. It doesn’t help that the gaffe-prone PM told everyone to expect the loss of loved ones. This stupefying level of tactless scaremongering is unbecoming of someone in the highest office in the land, but then we are dealing with a man who hides in a fridge to avoid being interviewed by an early morning family entertainment show.

Yet for rugby league the bottom line is their bottom line. Clubs already insist on six extra loop fixtures to keep them financially afloat, so the loss of fixtures due to cancellations related to the spread of coronavirus would have a severe impact. Handily they can continue safe in the knowledge that their decision is backed by the government who in turn have taken advice from health experts rather than Dave on Twitter. Johnson is guilty of all kinds of arsehole-ery, but he is not the architect of the delay strategy.

So back to the rugby then. Coach Kristian Woolf might be glad that the public has other matters on its collective mind. Otherwise he might be a man under a fair amount of pressure after Saints were humbled 12-10 at home by Huddersfield Giants last time out. The Giants midweek Challenge Cup exit to the previously winless Toronto Wolfpack puts that result in an altogether smellier bracket of awfulness. He needs a response from his side this week otherwise the knee-jerkers will have the Woolf Out banners at the ready.

He has made one change to his 21-man squad from the group which toiled so badly against Simon Woolford’s side. Aaron Smith returns from the suspension handed out to him for a dangerous tackle in the 32-0 win over Toronto on February 29. That should offer some relief to James Roby who may be more effective in shorter stints having had no recognised back-up at hooker last time out.

The problem position remains left centre. With Mark Percival still out and James Bentley not yet ready to return there were rumours in the week of a return to the club for the injury-prone Gary Wheeler. The centre was released by the Wolfpack this week as they made room for the return of their first ever Canadian player Quinn Ngawati and it was widely suggested that Wheeler would return to the club where he made 65 appearances between 2008 and 2014. If coronavirus doesn’t scare you then perhaps the prospect of the 30-year-old Mr Glass of rugby league returning to the Saints line-up would have. In the event the move did not happen, probably mostly down to the fact that it was never likely to happen in the first place and someone just had a few column inches to fill. Matty Costello must have been stunned that he did not get the nod to fill in for Percival last week as Morgan Knowles was the man offered up as the sacrificial lamb/fish up a tree in the three-quarter line. Both are included again in the 21 and it is to be hoped that Woolf has learned the lessons from last week and includes Costello while allowing Knowles to revert to loose forward, a move which would have the added bonus of reducing Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s always impactful but often manic contribution.

Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama and Regan Grace look the only safe bets in the three-quarter line. They will hope to operate in front of Lachlan Coote who is again named and again expected to return at fullback. We heard this story before last week, however, so don’t be too surprised if Jack Welsby is expected to continue as the last line of defence. Welsby has had some shakier moments in recent weeks after an excellent start to his Saints career and could do with a spell, but that will almost certainly depend entirely on Coote’s ability to take the field without further risking his fitness following his medial ligament injury in the opening day win over Salford.

Jonny Lomax and Theo Fages are again backed up in the halves by Lewis Dodd, but with Coote and Smith back it means there is no place in the squad for either Josh Simm or Tom Nisbet. Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson operate either side of Roby with Zeb Taia and Dominique Peyroux in the second row. The bench will feature McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Smith and probably Matty Lees with Kyle Amor, Joseph Paulo and Jack Ashworth left to fight it out for the other spot. It would be surprising to see a repeat of last week’s selection which saw Costello make the bench despite not being deemed good enough to start at centre.

Castleford come in off the back of a 9-8 defeat to Warrington last time out. It wasn’t much of a spectacle despite the views of both coaches who were no doubt thrilled to see their sides cut down on the error count. By the end they were like two drunks trying to complete the Krypton Factor assault course in their attempts to land the winning drop-goal. Blake Austin eventually managed it before extra-time took effect, though how Danny Richardson did not beat him to it only he will know.

The former Saint will be highly motivated to perform against the club who let him go at the end of 2019 despite having made the Super League Dream Team in Justin Holbrook’s side of 2018. Richardson now partners the equally exciting Jake Trueman in the halves ahead of a three-quarter line that features ex-Saint Michael Shenton, Cheyse Blair, the returning James Clare and 2019 Grand Finalist Derrell Olpherts. Jordan Rankin or Peter Mata’utia will operate behind them at fullback.

The big boost for Tigers coach Daryl Powell is the return to the fold of Liam Watts who missed the Warrington defeat with injury. He will bolster a pack which features his fellow England squad member Paul McShane as well as former England man and England Knights selection Mike McMeeken, wily veterans Grant Millinton and Nathan Massey and the explosive Jesse Sene-Lefao along with the dependable Adam Milner and another member of Salford’s Grand Final team George Griffin.

At the start of play Castleford sit third in the table, three places and two points better off than Saints but Woolf’s men would jump above the Tigers with a win. Only Catalans and Warrington have managed that in the Tigers’ six outings so far and this is not a Saints side in the peak of its form if last week’s events are any barometer. Castleford is always a tricky away fixture and I can’t help but look at it with a level of trepidation in anticipation of a Tigers win by something in the region of 6-10 points.

Squads;

Castleford Tigers;

1. Jordan Rankin 2. Derrell Olpherts 3. Peter Mata’utia 4. Michael Shenton 6. Jake Trueman 7. Danny Richardson 8. Liam Watts 9. Paul McShane 10. Grant Millington 12. Mike McMeeken 13. Adam Milner 14. Nathan Massey 15. Jesse Sene-Lefao 16. George Griffin 17. Alex Foster 18. Cheyse Blair 19. Daniel Smith 21. James Clare 22. Jacques O’Neill 24. Tyla Hepi 33. Bailey Hodgson

St Helens;

1. Lachalan Coote 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Kevin Naiqama 5. Regan Grace 6. Johnny Lomax 7. Theo Fages 8. Alex Walmsley 9. James Roby 10. Luke Thompson 11. Zeb Taia 12. Dominque Peyroux 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 14. Morgan Knowles 15. Matty Lees 16. Kyle Amor 17. Jack Ashworth 18. Joseph Paulo 19. Aaron Smith 21. Matty Costello 22. Jack Welsby 27. Lewis Dodd

Referee: Liam Moore