Castleford coach: It’s going to be a great game against Wildcats

Daryl Powell expects his Castleford Tigers side to be facing a pumped up Wakefield Wildcats team in Sunday’s Super League derby.
Daryl PowellDaryl Powell
Daryl Powell

The Tigers head coach does not expect financial problems to affect the Wildcats performance on the pitch and is predicting a typically tough derby clash.

He said: “We know that Wakefield have some issues there which are disappointing from a rugby league point of view, but we can’t worry about that too much, we’ve got to make sure we focus on ourselves and try and get the job done.

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“You don’t know whether the off the field problems will have an effect, but I wouldn’t have thought so. You look at Bradford last year and they pretty much shrugged it off and finished the season off superbly.

“Knowing the way rugby league players are I think they will just get on with it. I don’t think they will allow that to worry them too much. They will be as keen as we are to win and it’s going to be a great game.”

Powell is looking for a repeat performance from his team from the last time they met, when the Tigers won 49-24 at Magic Weekend.

He said: “We’ve got quite a few injuries so it’s going to be a tough week for us, but we are into a derby game against Wakefield and that will raise everybody.

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“Last time we played them it was at Magic Weekend and it was my second game in charge and we did well. We want to try and play as close to that as possible.

“It’s important for the team to end the season on a high and important for the fans as well that we finish higher than Wakefield. There’s a fair bit of local rivalry and we know we need to play well.”

Castleford go into the game on the back of three straight wins with Powell happy with the way his side are scoring tries.

He added: “It was topsy turvy again on Sunday. We did some real smart things then lost our way, but found a way to win it in the end.

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“Rangi Chase played particularly well for a 10-minute period, which was a bit of a catalyst for us, and everybody else went with him.

“It was good to see us come out on top in a game that could have gone either way and the win gave us an opportunity to finish ninth – that’s been a target for us since the top eight became unachievable.

“In the last 12 rounds we’d be third in the table in terms of points scored, just behind Huddersfield and Warrington. We’re averaging 33 points a game over the last 12 rounds so we are certainly scoring points.

“Obviously we are still a bit leaky at the other end, but we are playing some outstanding rugby league.”