Super 8s Preview: Salford v Castleford (Fri)

James Gordon

Castleford will be looking to bounce back from their first home defeat of the season when they travel to Salford on Friday night.

The Red Devils were the first team to defeat the Tigers earlier in the season, winning 13-12 in a dramatic game at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Ian Watson’s men are on a run of five straight defeats and haven’t won since the beginning of July.

Salford are still without half-back Michael Dobson, while Kris Welham and Josh Wood have been left out of Watson’s 19-man squad.

Tyrone McCarthy and Manu Vatuvei are set to make their home debuts, but Lama Tasi and Mark Flanagan are both missing having been ruled out for the season through injury.

Kris Brining and Ryan Lannon return too.

Castleford welcome back Jake Webster and Gadwin Springer to their squad in place of Andy Lynch and Larne Patrick.

Tigers coach Daryl Powell said: “When you lose you learn a lot about yourselves and your performance levels and we have been winning consistently for a number of weeks, so at some point you are going to get beat and I think we will learn a lot from it, and we look forward to the challenges ahead.”

Stats:

Last ten meetings:

Castleford 38, Salford 14 (SLR22, 14/7/17)
Salford 13, Castleford 12 (SLR5, 19/3/17)
Salford 22, Castleford 18 (SLR20, 1/7/16)
Castleford 32, Salford 18 (CCR6, 7/5/16)
Castleford 16, Salford 32 (SLR5, 13/3/16)
Salford 20, Castleford 22 (SLR12, 26/4/15)
Castleford 30, Salford 16 (SLR6, 20/3/15)
Castleford 14, Salford 10 (SLR18, 28/6/14)
Salford 23, Castleford 16 (SLR6, 23/3/14)
Castleford 44, Salford 30 (SLR26, 1/9/13)

Super League summary

Salford won 11
Castleford won 25
Salford highest score: 36-32 (A, 2004) (Widest margin: 30-14, H, 2004; 32-16, A, 2016)
Castleford highest score: 74-16 (A, 2002) (also widest margin)

Squads:

Salford: Bibby, Brining, Carney, Evalds, Griffin, Hauraki, Johnson, Jones, Kopczak, Krasniqi, Lannon, Lui, McCarthy, Murray, Murdoch-Masila, O’Brien, Tomkins, Walne, Vatuvei.

Castleford: Cook, Foster, Gale, Hardaker, Hitchcox, O Holmes, T Holmes, Massey, McMeeken, McShane, Millington, Milner, Minikin, Monaghan, Roberts, Sene-Lefao, Shenton, Springer, Webster.

Prediction:

Castleford to bounce back and add to Salford’s woe – Castleford by 7.