Castleford Tigers v Wigan Warriors - Stobart Super League XVII Round 3.
Sunday 26th February 2012. Kick Off 3:30pm at Probiz Coliseum.

Match Preview

Ian will obviously be absent for this game, so Stuart Donlan and Danny Orr are taking charge of what will obviously be an emotionally driven Castleford side. In theory this should make it a tougher afternoon for Wigan but Castleford has never really been an easy trip so it shouldn't be a surprise. It's up to us to just go and do a professional job and get the two points.

After our trip to Bradford, I came off the park with one big question. How the bloody hell did Castleford lose to them the week before? They did put up a damn go show in France last week however. It took a three try recovery for Catalan to beat them 28-20.

Now, you all will have your opinions over the Rangi Chase man of steel award but if that award is for "most valuable player" then perhaps their is no argument. This year his stats match that of Sam Tomkins despite him being in a far poorer team but with one added bonus..............a quality kicking game. Its a kicking game that leads the league. He is also the top try assister so far. It perhaps points to them being a one man team? So its our job to get him stopped!

Veteran ex Wigan player Danny Orr still remains alongside Chase in the halves, but at almost 34 it'll be interesting to see how effective he can still be. The rest of the Cas squad seems pretty young this year with a hefty chunk having progressed through the clubs youth system.

Wigan in comparison cannot move for experience and that should be enough to take us to victory. I think our pack should roll over this opposition and if that happens our triangle in the backs of Sam Tomkins, Josh Charnley and Pat Richards could have another field day.

It'll be interesting to see if the forwards can keep up their ratio of try scoring so far this year. Very early days still but they have scored 7 between them so far, which is 43.7% of our overall total. That is a significant increase from the 26.6% of tries scored by forwards last year. I hope they can keep that up! I think we tended to over rely on tries from the two wingers and full back under Madge, so if we can prove more potent up the middle it'll be a good feather to our cap. Too early to say though whether that'll be the norm or just the fact Bradford were so bloody awful last week it fudged the figures but we shall see.

Anyway got to be honest, I will be disappointed if Wigan don't win. They looked to be hitting their straps after a sloppy start last week at Odsal and I'm hoping for more of that. Lack of funds means it's still up in the air whether make the game. If I do it'll be updates as usual - if not it'll be the radio for me and I'll need a trainee match reporter!!!!

19 Man Squads

Castleford

IN:l	(No Changes)
OUT:l	(No Changes)
Fulll19:l	Richard Owen, Joe Arundel, Kirk Dixon, Josh Griffin, Rangi Chase, Danny Orr, Jake Emmitt, Daryl Clark, Brett Ferres, Jonathan Walker, Steve Snitch, Stuart Jones, Adam Milner, Lee Mitchell, Oliver Holmes, Nathan Massey, Ryan McGoldrick, Steve Nash, James Grehan.

Match Referee

Thierry Alibert (France) - Age 41
First Pro Game: Northern Ford Premiership Match - 2001
First Super League Game: Leeds 46 Huddersfield 8 - 11th July 2008
First Wigan Game: Harlequins 18 Wigan 24 - 28th February 2009

Wigan's Record when this referee is appointed

Wigan have Won 12 and Lost 3 from 15 appointments.
This Season: Won 1 and Lost 0 from 1 appointment.

Video Referee

Not in use for this fixture

Current Super League XVII League Positions

Wigan v Castleford Player Stat Leaders

Super League Era Head to Head Record including Play Offs

Super League Era - Average Final Score

Last Six Meetings at Probiz Coliseum

Ticket Details

UK TV Coverage

Radio Commentary

BBC Radio Manchester (95.1FM) - Main Commentary Match whilst also covering Warrington v Hull KR from 3pm.

Bilko's Statistical prediction.

The stats suggest a Wigan Win by 16-18 Points.

Weather Forecast

Clear Day. Not too cold.