POWELL DELIGHTED WITH TIGERS’ COMMITMENT
LORRAINE MARSDEN
►MARTYN SADLER reflects on the Tigers’ unbeaten start to the season and the Rhinos’ first defeat
THIS
game was the only one in Round 2 that was contested by two teams that both won their opening Super League fixtures in Round 1 the previous weekend.
In Round 1 the Tigers had been the only team to beat a team that had finished above them in the Super League table in 2020.
So the question was whether they would be able to do it again at St Helens on Friday, this time against the Rhinos.
I’ve been watching games between these two clubs for as long as I can remember, and for as long as I can remember I’ve seen Castleford regularly rise to the occasion against their big-city rivals.
Having said that, the two sides came into this game with Leeds having won 33 of their previous Super League encounters, while Castleford had won 23, with three matches drawn, so perhaps I’m suffering from false memory syndrome.
But on Friday there was little doubt that Castleford were up for the game and that they had no intention of gifting Leeds the points.
There’s been a lot of talk about the longer pre-season than we normally have and the impact this has had on the players.
One player who appears to me to have benefited is the Tigers’ Oliver Holmes, who has now scored their first try in both their opening matches and looks to me to be superbly fit and well conditioned, as are many other players from every Super League club.
I really do wish that the Super League clubs would realise that starting the season in late March is infinitely preferable to starting it in late January and that they would be able to compensate for having fewer matches by drawing bigger attendances in a shorter but more intense and exciting season.
But back to Friday’s game.
The player who shone was Jake Trueman, whose brilliant footwork when he created Niall Evalds’ try was a delight to see.