London will be looking to register their first points of 2014, as they take on Castleford Tigers in front of the Sky cameras this Thursday evening.
Both teams are coming into the game on the back of losses – but their overall form is remarkably different. That 23-16 defeat at Salford was the Tigers’ first defeat of the season, whilst London’s heavy defeat at Leeds was their sixth straight reverse of the campaign.
The Tigers will have to make some changes though, after it was revealed centre Jake Webster will miss the next couple of weeks due to injury. He is one of two changes to the 19-man squad, after Richard Owen drops out. They have been replaced by James Clare and Brad Day – who could debut for the club.
The Squads
London Broncos: Bishay, Caton-Brown, Cook, Cunningham, Drinkwater, Farrar, Foster, Greenwood, Griffin, Krasniqi, Macani, McMeeken, Minns, Moore, O’Callaghan, Slyney, Solomona, Vea, Wallace.
Castleford Tigers: Shenton, Carney, Dorn, Sneyd, Lynch, Milner, Huby, Millington, Hauraki, Massey, Clark, Holmes, Mariano, Ellis, Channing, Clare, Fleming, Finn, Day.
The Stats
London Broncos are undefeated against Castleford since the club’s re-branding to begin the 2012 season – having won three matches and drawn one. The Tigers’ last victory against the capital side was a 56-24 home win on 29 May, 2011.
London Broncos/Harlequins are also undefeated in their last four home meetings with Castleford – having won two and drawn two. The Tigers’ last away victory against the Broncos was 48-0 on 6 September, 2009 – at the Twickenham Stoop.
Weller Hauraki needs one appearance to reach 100 whilst in the British game. Hauraki, in his second season with Castleford, has played 32 games for the Tigers – and was previously with Crusaders (28 games, 2010) and Leeds (39 games, 2011-2012).
The Prediction
It is hard to see where any kind of victory is going to come from for the Broncos – expect Castleford to bounce back from their disappointing defeat at Salford with a win here.
