“What’s the best club in Wakey?” will surely be the shouts this week as the city of Wakefield welcomes the Calder Derby between the Betfred Super League’s bottom-two teams, Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers.
Castleford Tigers vs Wakefield Trinity
Where: Mend-A-Hose Jungle, Castleford
When: Thursday 6th April, 8pm
TV: Sky Sports Arena
Wakefield’s Last Five: 38-0 Loss vs St Helens (Round 7), 6-34 Loss vs Hull KR (Round 6), 14-13 Loss vs Salford (Round 5), 26-0 Loss vs Leeds (Round 4), 0-8 Loss vs Huddersfield (Round 3)
Castleford’s Last Five: 22-18 Loss vs Catalans (Round 7), 0-38 Loss vs Warrington (Round 6), 14-8 Win vs Leeds (Round 5), 36-6 Loss vs Huddersfield (Round 4), 0-36 Loss vs Wigan (Round 3)
Betfred Match Winner Odds: Castleford - 2/7, Wakefield - 11/4, Tie - 20/1
First Try Scorer Odds: Bureta Faraimo - 9/1, Greg Eden - 9/1, Jason Qareqare - 10/1, Niall Evalds - 12/1, Jack Broadbent - 14/1
Previous Meetings:
Castleford 6-32 Wakefield (2022)
Wakefield 4-34 Castleford (2022)
Castleford 23-18 Wakefield (2021)
Wakefield 12-18 Castleford (2021)
Castleford 32-15 Wakefield (2020)
Total Super League Meetings: 58 (37 Castleford wins, 21 Wakefield wins)
Castleford Tigers still find themselves without a head coach going into their eighth game of the Betfred Super League season. Andy Last remains in charge and has added Hull KR back-rower Luis Johnson on a season long loan to his ranks. Johnson came through the Tigers’ academy programme but left for Warrington for a fee back in 2018.
Niall Evalds is set to return to the squad at full-back, and in good time too, as Gareth Widdop has been forced to drop out of the 21-man squad due to illness. Last time out, Castleford lost out in the final minutes to Catalans in Perpignan, with Mike McMeeken grabbing a try late on. It was a competitive fixture to say the least, which is a positive step in the right direction for a side that’s only managed to get one win this season.
On the other side of town, Wakefield are rebounding from a heavy 38-0 drubbing by St Helens going into this week’s derby. It was the fourth game of seven losses in which Trinity haven’t managed to get a single point on the board, and Mark Applegarth has his work cut out for him this season.
There is some positive news for Wakey fans going into this one, however, with Scotland international Liam Hood and prop Renoug Atoni making their way back into the side. Head coach Applegarth said that Wakefield must focus on the ‘short-term survival’ and that’s what they’ve done in terms of loan moves.
Sam Hewitt and Innes Senior were brought in for the season over the last few weeks, and now Huddersfield prop forward Nathan Jones will bring some much-needed firepower to the forward line for the next two weeks.
Sportsman Stat: Wakefield’s 32-6 win last season over Castleford was just their second Calder Derby victory in their last 22 attempts, in a record dating back to April 2014.
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