Castleford will be looking for their second successive home win of the season as they welcome the Warrington Wolves to the Mend-A-Hose jungle.

After picking up their first victory of the year last week against the Rhinos, the tigers will face stiffer competition against a table topping Warrington side who have set the pace in the early rounds.

In a game that was devoid of real quality at times Andly Last secured his first victory as Castleford interim head coach, beating Leeds 14-8 thanks to a brace from winger Bureta Faraimo. Faraimo could have had a hattrick but he spilled the ball over the line.

Warrington got off to a flying start to the 2023 season and they continued their unbeaten run with a 38-20 win over the Leigh Leopards. The wolves raced out to a 38-8 lead before two late tries from Leigh reduced the gap to 18 points.

The home side have made three changes to their 21 man squad with the forward trio of George Griffin, Alex Sutcliffe and Jacob Hookem replacing Mahe Fonua, Sam Hall and George Lawler.

Warrington have been forced into one change as Josh Thewlis failed a head injury assessment in last weeks victory against Leigh. Matty Russell is set to take his place on the wing while Gil Dudson is in line for making his competitive debut for the wolves after being in the 21 man squad but not featuring last week.

Last season the sides met three times, with Warrington winning early on during their strong start to the season before Castleford came out on top twice in a month at the back end of the year during Warrington’s horrendous end to 2022.

It is hard to look past Warrington heading into Friday’s clash. Only Hull KR have come within 10 points of the wolves and they beat three of last season’s playoff teams in their first three games of the season.

Thanks to sticking with Daryl Powell, and some smart recruitment in the off season, Warrington have a well balanced side that is dangerous across the park. Sam Kasiano and Paul Vaughan have added some real firepower to their forward pack while Josh Drinkwater is a clever halfback who compliments George Williams.

Williams, off the back of a strong world cup, is playing some of his best rugby since before his move to the Canberra Raiders and he currently tops the try assist chart, averaging 1.4 per game,

If the Tigers are to spring an upset they will have to stop the Warrington pack. The short pitch at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle means that the Wolves forwards could easily roll down the pitch and provide the platform for Williams and Drinkwater to force Castleford to start each set from close to their own goal line.

Like they did against Leeds, the tigers will need to force errors and make the most of every opportunity they get in attack. We saw some of what they can do with the ball, scoring from a slick set play from a scrum and they will need a lot more of that which will be led by the halfback pairing of Gareth Widdop and Jacob Miller.

21 man squads

 

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt