Salford welcome Castleford to AJ Bell in big game for Super League’s top-six chasers

Two play-off hopefuls meet at the AJ Bell Stadium this evening as Salford Red Devils welcome Castleford Tigers.

As we tick over the halfway point in the Super League season, hosts Salford sit ninth, four points outside the top six. Meanwhile, Cas occupy sixth – and the final play-off – spot sat on 12 points heading into their trip to Greater Manchester.

For all clubs, ending the season in with a chance of reaching the illustrious Grand Final is of course the ambition if not the aim, but now is the time to build up a head of steam and secure a place in the play-offs.

Both of tonight’s side have gone through rough patches already this term with Cas winning just one of their opening six matches and Salford losing five in a row recently.

However, both got the win last time out and another two points tonight really could be a catalyst for the remainder of the campaign and how the pair fare. Given the standings at present, it’s fair to say that defeat tonight for Salford could dispel their hopes of a top-six finish for good.

Similarly, defeat for Castleford could easily see them drop out of the top six by the end of the weekend with Hull KR sat on the same points and breathing down their necks.

New Faces in the Driving Seat

Both clubs appointed new head coaches ahead of this season, though neither are any strangers to the sport of rugby league.

Ex-hooker Paul Rowley now heads up Salford having played for and managed hometown club Leigh Centurions. He also played for both Halifax and Huddersfield Giants before making the transition into coaching.

Following his departure from Leigh in 2016, Rowley went onto head up Canadian outfit Toronto Wolfpack, and after three years out of the game, he returned with Salford in a ‘Head of Rugby Development’ role. Rowley then stepped up to the plate when Richard Marshall left his position at the Red Devils’ head coach at the end of last season.

In the opposing dugout tonight meanwhile is someone with even more experience at Super League level in Lee Radford.

Like Rowley, Radford played for his hometown team in Hull FC on two separate occasions before eventually taking up the head coach role at the MKM Stadium in 2014. There for six years, Radford was memorably handed his P45 live on Sky Sports straight after a defeat to Warrington Wolves in March 2020.

A short spell with American expansion team Dallas Jackals followed before he took up the reigns across Yorkshire with Cas.

Before this season, the pair had only met once on the touchline previously in a pre-season friendly ahead of the 2017 season. At that stage, Rowley’s Toronto were about to join League 1 while Radford’s Hull were preparing for another top-flight campaign. Remarkably, the Super League side – at home – only won by six points (26-20).

Reverse Result

With their freshly-ironed shirts getting their first outing, the two head coaches met on the touchline in the opening round this year.

It was Rowley who got off to a flying start – inflicting a first defeat on home turf on Radford – at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle with his Red Devils running out 26-16 winners.

King Vuniyayawa crossed for his first try in a Salford shirt while Marc Sneyd hit three second half two-pointers with his boot to seal the victory. Derell Olpherts was the main man for the Tigers, scoring two tries on the day.

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