Cas look to put cup final disappointment behind them as they welcome Huddersfield Giants

Play-off chasers Castleford Tigers make their long-awaited return to league action tonight. Huddersfield Giants make the 27-mile journey across the county to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

Since defeat to St Helens at Wembley in the Challenge Cup final 16 days ago, Daryl Powell’s Cas side have suffered from COVID within their camp and haven’t played a game of any kind. As per the Super League protocols in place to counter the virus, the Tigers have had numerous fixtures postponed and are now trying to get themselves going again.

They currently sit eighth in the league, having won six of the 14 Super League fixtures which they have played, leaving them with an all-important win percentage of just over 42%.

Hull Kingston Rovers – who currently occupy sixth and the final play-off spot – have a win percentage of around 54%, so the Tigers need to have an impressive end to the season if they are to have any hopes of  making the playoffs.

Meanwhile, this evening’s opponents Huddersfield haven’t enjoyed much success of their own this season either, winning just four league games so far and having a win percentage of circa 26% sat in tenth place.

Ian Watson’s men were victorious last time out, winning 40-26 at home to Hull FC. They can now  start looking up the table with any potential threat of relegation now gone. That said, a play-off push is now probably a stretch too far for the Giants, so it’s fair to say that trying to build some momentum ahead of next season is now the priority.

Squads

As seen far too often across Super League in recent times, both clubs have been unable to name a full complement of 21 for this game and have instead chosen squads of 19. That comes as a result of missing players for various reasons including COVID isolations, injuries and suspensions.

In their first match back since the cup final, Cas boss Daryl Powell has confirmed that several first team players are still unavailable due to the COVID outbreak at the club, with the Fords having to draft in players from other teams to be able to get a squad together.

Centre Jimmy Keinhorst is with the Tigers on a two-week loan from Hull KR while Championship outfit Featherstone Rovers have sent duo Jake Sweeting and Loui McConnell to the Jungle for this week only. All three of those are named in Powell’s 19-man squad.

In the opposition camp, no new additions have been made externally, though academy prospect George Roby has been included in the squad by manager Ian Watson for the trip across Yorkshire.

Fellow youngsters Oliver Russell, Robson Stevens and Will Pryce also retain their respective spots, so the Giants could have a youthful look about them on Monday evening. That isn’t helped either by the absence of experienced forward Josh Jones through suspension.

After the hooter in Huddersfield’s last outing at home to Hull FC, he received a straight red card from referee Chris Kendall for throwing punches with FC’s Andre Savelio and will miss the trip to Castleford.

Head-to-Head

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the COVID issues faced by both Castleford and Huddersfield already this season, Monday night’s clash will be the first meeting of the pair in this campaign.

The reverse fixture – scheduled to take place in early July – was postponed as at the time, the Giants were suffering heavily from an outbreak at their training ground.

So, for the last fixture between the two, you have to go back to September 2020 when Huddersfield were victorious by a scoreline of 31-19 away at the Jungle. Three unanswered tries in the final 20 minutes earned the Giants the win on that day after a tight affair in the first half.

As for Cas, they last got the better of Huddersfield in August 2019 courtesy of a big 24-0 win at the John Smith’s stadium with tries from James Clare, Adam Milner, Mike McMeeken and Jesse Sene-Lefao. All of those scorers – barring McMeeken – are still with the Tigers two years on.

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