Castleford and Catalans have both announced their 21-man squads for Thursday night’s round 11 fixture at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle (KO 7:45pm).
The Tigers come into the game having had an eight-day break, with their last outing being an 18-12 win over local rivals Wakefield last Wednesday.
The Dragons, meanwhile, have been out of action for a couple of weeks after their home clash against Leeds was postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests in the Rhinos’ camp.
It will be the first time this season they enter a game as Super League leaders, having moved above Wigan and St Helens after winning their last five league matches.
Castleford Tigers
There’s five changes for Castleford, with England representative Paul McShane dropping out alongside Peter Mata’utia, Suaia Matagi and Gareth O’Brien (leg). In their place, Adam Milner and James Clare return, while young trio Lewis Bienek, Sam Hall and Brad Graham are called up. Daryl Powell remains without Jake Trueman, Cheyse Blair, Greg Eden (hamstring), Grant Millington (knee) and Sosaia Feki (achilles).
21-man squad: 1 Niall Evalds, 2 Derrell Olpherts, 4 Michael Shenton, 7 Danny Richardson, 8 Liam Watts, 11 Oliver Holmes, 13 Adam Milner, 14 Nathan Massey, 15 George Griffin, 17 Alex Foster, 18 Jacques O’Neill, 19 Tyla Hepi, 20 James Clare, 21 Jesse Sene-Lefao, 22 Daniel Smith, 25 Jordan Turner, 26 Lewis Bienek, 27 Lewis Peachey, 28 Brad Martin, 29 Sam Hall, 30 Brad Graham, 33 Jason Qareqare.
Catalans Dragons
Catalans make four changes, with Sam Tomkins and Tom Davies called up by England and Michael McIlorum and Benjamin Garcia also dropping out. On the plus side, Gil Dudson, Matt Whitley and Alrix Da Costa are back from injury, while young outside back Romain Franco is included for the first time. Joel Tomkins (suspended) and Arthur Romano (knee) are still unavailable.
21-man squad: 1 Arthur Mourgue, 3 Samisoni Langi, 4 Dean Whare, 5 Fouad Yaha, 6 James Maloney, 7 Josh Drinkwater, 8 Gil Dudson, 10 Julian Bousquet, 11 Matt Whitley, 12 Mike McMeeken, 14 Alrix Da Costa, 15 Benjamin Jullien, 16 Paul Seguier, 17 Mickael Goudemand, 18 Lambert Belmas, 20 Matthieu Laguerre, 24 Jason Baitieri, 27 Joe Chan, 28 Sam Kasiano, 31 Cesar Rouge, 32 Romain Franco.
