Fri 22 Apr: SL: Castleford Tigers v St Helens KO 20:00 (Sky)

[John Drake]

Discuss Castleford Tigers v St Helens here.

[Cw25]

Castleford 18-40 St Helens

[Saint Toppy]

As I said on another thread Cas should absolutely romp away with this and come away with at 30-40 point win, a virtually full strength Cas side against a near A Team for Saints. Cas should be disappointed if they don't manage this kind of victory.

Sky must be kicking themselves now picking this game as the televised one

I'd expect Saints line up to be something like;

Bennison, Martyn, Simm, Davies, Sambou, Welsby, Archer, Amor, Lussick, LMS, Wingfield, Royle, Bell - Pemberton, Baxter, Delaney, Norman

Edited April 21, 2022 by Saint Toppy

[Jughead]

Cas probably win this looking at the two matchday squads. Saints have chosen to rest numerous players, whilst also dealing with 4-5 injuries, after a period of five games in something like thirteen days ahead of a cup semi-final against Wigan in a couple of weeks. 

I completely get why Woolf has chosen to do it, the Easter schedule, as commented on annually, is stupid but that’s been said many times before. 

[Chris22]

With us playing the reserves, anything but a loss would be a shock. I think we'll lose by 3 scores, but don't see a hiding on the cards.

Think Woolf has got this right. We're the only team asked to play 3 times in 7 days and have played 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the league in 9 days, including a tough cup tie in France and a Good Friday derby (and the other match against a side unbeaten at home before we played them).

With a semi final in 2 weeks, this gives us a better chance of winning it. Woolf has shown he has little regard for the Minor Premiership, probably because the league structure gives no material reward for coming first over second.

Looking forward to seeing how out young players get on.

[Loiner]

43 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

As I said on another thread Cas should absolutely romp away with this and come away with at 30-40 point win, a virtually full strength Cas side against a near A Team for Saints. Cas should be disappointed if they don't manage this kind of victory.

Sky must be kicking themselves now picking this game as the televised one

I'd expect Saints line up to be something like;

Bennison, Martyn, Simm, Davies, Sambou, Welsby, Archer, Amor, Lussick, LMS, Wingfield, Royle, Bell - Pemberton, Baxter, Delaney, Norman

You are saying that tongue in cheek I hope. Cas were abysmal against Leeds and against any other team would have lost. Saints by 20+

[Saint Toppy]

17 minutes ago, Loiner said:

You are saying that tongue in cheek I hope. Cas were abysmal against Leeds and against any other team would have lost. Saints by 20+

Are you serious ?

When everyone is fit the only ones of those Saints players guaranteed a place each week are Welsby, Lussick & LMS, everyone else are back-up players like Bell, Wingfield, Amor, Norman & Bennison and the rest are Academy players. There's likely to be 5 teenage debutants and another 3 who have a sum total of 5 games between them. Even the lads with decent 1st team experience are pretty young (Welsby -21, Simm -21, Wingfield -20).

Cas should absolutely be racking up a big score against such a young & inexperienced team

 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Saints by 6.

[Gates1]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

As I said on another thread Cas should absolutely romp away with this and come away with at 30-40 point win, a virtually full strength Cas side against a near A Team for Saints. Cas should be disappointed if they don't manage this kind of victory.

Sky must be kicking themselves now picking this game as the televised one

I'd expect Saints line up to be something like;

Bennison, Martyn, Simm, Davies, Sambou, Welsby, Archer, Amor, Lussick, LMS, Wingfield, Royle, Bell - Pemberton, Baxter, Delaney, Norman

Is Sambou a winger?  Could be good value in the try scorer markets, especiallyif left edge, (12/1 first St's try scorer), hes listed on Saints site as a second rower? 

[Jughead]

25 minutes ago, Gates1 said:

Is Sambou a winger?  Could be good value in the try scorer markets, especiallyif left edge, (12/1 first St's try scorer), hes listed on Saints site as a second rower? 

Yes, he’s a winger now. Has played for the reserves this year on the wing having played in the Academy in the back row previously. 

[GeordieSaint]

I’ll be gobsmacked if Saints get within 20pts… big loss expected.

[Saint Toppy]

44 minutes ago, Gates1 said:

Is Sambou a winger?  Could be good value in the try scorer markets, especiallyif left edge, (12/1 first St's try scorer), hes listed on Saints site as a second rower? 

Ha ha just noticed that on the Saints website, someone's had to hurredly add him onto the 1st team player squad list and made a mistake - he's definately a winger, played the occasional game at centre and filled in once or twice in the 2nd row to cover for injuries at Academy level, but almost exclusively on the wing. His younger brother also plays in the U18's as a centre. 

[johnh1]

I wonder how often the commentary team will be able to say 'St Helens' without adding the word 'young'.

[Agbrigg]

Was looking forward to this match on sky but having seen the Saints side will not bother. Cas by many and final margin will depend if they are totally ruthless or just cruise to any easy win.

[Human Punk]

Time for Sean Long to put a bet on!

[Eddie]

Sky Bet have given both teams 10/11, those of you above who are certain Saints will lose can make a tidy profit there. 

[Fevrover]

6 hours ago, Cw25 said:

Castleford 18-40 St Helens

Not with the team Saints are putting out by sounds of it.

[Jughead]

10 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Sky Bet have given both teams 10/11, those of you above who are certain Saints will lose can make a tidy profit there. 

They normally do in Super League games with the handicap, it’s rare that they deviate from those odds. 

Sky were on of the last bookmakers to release odds for this game, with a few bookmakers getting caught by some quick very people. I did manage to get in myself at just below evens. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Jughead

[clogdance]

Lucky Cas 

[Saint Toppy]

18 minutes ago, clogdance said:

Lucky Cas 

Not sure Saints would have gone with such a weakened team had they not beaten Wigan & Hudds over Easter. Barring a massive win for Wigan and a massive win for Cas, Saints will still be top of the league by the end of the weekend.

[corvusxiii]

A recent post on the Cas forum:

 

wouldn't be confident even if Saints sent over the ladies team the way we played on monday.

[Magic Superbeetle]

8 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

As I said on another thread Cas should absolutely romp away with this and come away with at 30-40 point win, a virtually full strength Cas side against a near A Team for Saints. Cas should be disappointed if they don't manage this kind of victory.

Sky must be kicking themselves now picking this game as the televised one

I'd expect Saints line up to be something like;

Bennison, Martyn, Simm, Davies, Sambou, Welsby, Archer, Amor, Lussick, LMS, Wingfield, Royle, Bell - Pemberton, Baxter, Delaney, Norman

Judging by Woolfs interview I expect Hill to play, presumably at centre

Bennison

Martyn Simm Hill Sambou

Welsby Archer

Amor Lussick LMS

Davies Royle

Bell

Pemberton Wingfield Norman Baxter

compared to;

Hopoate

Makinson Hurrell Percival Grace

Lomax Dodd

Walmsley Roby Lees

Matautia Batchelor

Knowles
 

Sironen Paasi Foster Sumner

who are on the sidelines

[bamfordsbeans]

Is it any wonder Sky are offering much less to televise our games.

[yipyee]

3 hours ago, bamfordsbeans said:

Is it any wonder Sky are offering much less to televise our games.

They should show the big 4 pointer for relegation places. 

Mondays game should have been huddersfield vs Saints.

They should wait to announce the games and pick the ones that will be closest.

At least its not the channel 4 game.

[StandOffHalf]

Is it too late for Sky to pack up and re-locate to Headingley for the relegation 4-pointer?

The Saints youngsters should give Cas a good game and I'm actually quite looking forward to seeing their backline. I have no idea about a score, but I wouldn't be shocked if Saints came away with the 2 points. I think Woolf's coaching will have rubbed off on these young guys coming through.

Cas were far from great against Leeds and if Saints can repel Cas in the opening quarter it'll be set up for a good contest.

My prediction (in the dark to an extent): Cas to win 28-22