Super League Preview: Castleford v Widnes (Sat)

James Gordon

Danny Orr will take charge of his first game as Castleford’s stand-in head coach for Saturday’s visit of Widnes.

The Tigers dispensed of the services of head coach Ian Millward and assistant Stuart Donlan earlier this week following their seventh straight defeat against Huddersfield on Saturday.

Orr makes one change to the 19-man squad, bringing Kirk Dixon in for James Clare.

The stand-in coach said: “We know that we can play well, we’ve proved that against Leeds Rhinos, Catalan Dragons and Wigan Warriors this season, but the good teams do it week in, week out and we know that is where we need to get to.”

Widnes, who are four games unbeaten at home, haven’t won away from the Stobart Stadium since the opening round victory at London Broncos.

They have been dealt a triple injury blow in their back-row, with Gareth Hock, Dave Allen and Hep Cahill all missing from Denis Betts’ 19-man squad.

Castleford 19-man squad: Owen, Shenton, Dixon, Chase, Ellis, Walker, Clark, Huby, Gilmour, Hauraki, Milner, Massey, Holmes, Thompson, Tansey, Fleming, Martin, Mason, Boyle.

Widnes 19-man squad: Ah Van, Brown, Clarke, Dean, Flynn, Gerrard, Gore, Hanbury, Joseph, Kavanagh, Lawton, Leuluai, Mellor, O’Carroll, Owens, Phelps, Pickersgill, White, Winterstein.

Prediction: An ideal home game for Danny Orr‘s first in charge, and he’ll be hoping to inspire victory – home win.

Last 10 meetings:

Widnes 40, Castleford 10 (SLR19, 2/7/12)
Castleford 36, Widnes 12 (SLR13, 7/5/12)
Castleford 42, Widnes 10 (NL1GF, 7/10/07) (at Headingley Carnegie, Leeds)
Castleford 26, Widnes 8 (NL1QSF, 20/9/07)
Widnes 18, Castleford 24 (NL1R16, 16/8/07)
Widnes 18, Castleford 12 (NRCSF, 24/6/07)
Castleford 20, Widnes 44 (NL1R6, 17/5/07)
Widnes 14, Castleford 4 (CCR4, 2/4/06)
Widnes 6, Castleford 7 (SLR27, 11/9/04)
Castleford 42, Widnes 8 (SLR21, 31/7/04)

Super League summary

Castleford won 5
Widnes won 5
Castleford highest score: 42-8 (H, 2004) (Widest margin: 40-2, H, 2003)
Widnes highest score: 40-10 (H, 2012) (also widest margin)

Super League Castleford Tigers