Castleford Tigers head coach Daryl Powell insists his side are more than capable of ending St Helens’ unbeaten start to Super League XX tonight – and bring the curtain down on an unfortunate hoodoo of their own.
The Tigers haven’t won at St Helens in the modern era, which includes defeats at four different grounds: Knowsley Road, Anfield, Widnes and Langtree Park.
But Powell believes that despite a difficult start to 2015 for the Tigers, there is nothing stopping them going to the home of the champions and causing a major upset, just as they did at a number of grounds last year.
“It’s more about us than them,” Powell said. “It’s tough going there anyway, as Cas haven’t won there for 25 years – but we’re capable of doing that. It’s all about us and getting our performance levels and intensity right, we don’t worry too much about Saints.
“We know what they are; a threat everywhere across the field, and they are an outstanding team – but for me it’s just about us. We’ve been pretty close in our first two games, disappointingly close and although we’ve not quite got the result and this is an opportunity to show what we’re about this year.”
Powell has also put his faith in the Tigers pack, who impressed against a physically imposing Catalans side in Perpignan two weeks ago.
“You look at Saints, and they probably have the biggest pack in the comp. Them and Catalan are massive physically and we’ll probably have to go again. I think our boys are ready to do that. We’ll find out on Friday night but I’m confident we’ve got what we need to go and really challenge them. I believe we can do it.”
