Castleford Tigers v St Helens: Super 8s preview
Last Updated: 10/09/15 7:43pm
Castleford coach Daryl Powell is confident his players can stand the test as they reach the defining moment of their season.
Back-to-back away defeats by Catalans Dragons and Huddersfield have left the Tigers struggling to make the Super League semi-finals and Powell knows they need a win over St Helens in their final home game on Thursday to keep their campaign alive.
Victory at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle would close the gap on the reigning champions to two points with two rounds left before the play-offs and Powell, whose side go to Leeds and Wigan in the final two weeks, admits: "It's an easy equation, we need to win all three.
"We're four points behind and our points difference is not great but we need to start reeling one of the teams in. This is a defining moment in our season.
"It's going to be a tough challenge, there is no question about that, but we've beaten all the sides we're playing against so we can do it. The challenge is to do it under pressure. It's do or die for us and I hope our performance reflects that."
Castleford have yet to announce a resolution to the situation involving winger Justin Carney, who was suspended a fortnight ago pending an internal disciplinary investigation but forward Andy Lynch says, if anything, the controversy has had a beneficial effect on the team.
"I thought we responded really well at Huddersfield to what happened over the last week and a half," he said.
"Things like that bring you closer together. We are a close-knit team, it's the way Cas have always been.
"It's semi-final football every week. We've got to win all three and I think if we do that we'll be in the top four."
Castleford captain Michael Shenton and Will Maher return to their 19-man squad but they are without Nathan Massey and Jake Webster, who have both been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Saints halted their four-match losing run with a 32-18 win at Leeds last week but head coach Keiron Cunningham remains wary of the Tigers following their last-second 25-24 defeat by them in June.
"They will come at us as they are a proud team, coached by a great coach," Cunningham said. "They played well against Huddersfield and were unlucky at times.
"It will be a tough battle with plenty of points scored as seems the case in our games. We created a lot of our own success last week and we need to do that again. We need to worry about ourselves rather than the opposition."
Castleford Tigers: Ryan Boyle, Michael Channing, Luke Dorn, Liam Finn, Ashley Gibson, Oliver Holmes, Andy Lynch, Will Maher, Mike McMeeken, Paul McShane, Grant Millington, Adam Milner, Junior Moors, Ben Roberts, Michael Shenton, Denny Solomona, Gadwin Springer, Scott Wheeldon.
St Helens: Kyle Amor, Travis Burns, Mark Flanagan, Joe Greenwood, Josh Jones, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Tommy Makinson, Mose Masoe, Mark Percival, Adam Quinlan, Greg Richards, James Roby, Andre Savelio, Adam Swift, Luke Thompson, Jordan Turner, Alex Walmsley, Luke Walsh, Jon Wilkin.
Watch Castleford v St Helens live on Sky Sports 1 HD on Thursday from 7.30pm. Catch the match for £6.99 on NOW TV. No contract.
