It’s the Daryl Powell derby this afternoon as his Castleford side take on his future team Warrington with a place at Wembley up for grabs. Since 2009, the Wolves have owned this competition. This will be their 10th semi-final in 12 seasons as they look to make it to their 7th final in that time. As for Powell’s current team, the last time they played at Wembley was in his first full season back in 2014. In his final year, can he take the Tigers back to the capital?
After a few weeks of struggle, Castleford welcome back some of their star players. Adam Milner, Alex Foster, Gareth O’Brien and Niall Evalds are all available again after injury. That said, the Tigers will be without the likes of George Griffin and Danny Richardson. Nonetheless, Powell has some positive selection headaches for a change. He has options in the halves thanks to O’Brien’s return whilst Greg Eden, James Clare and Jordan Turner could all feature on the left wing. There will also be a tussle for the forward spots with the likes of Cheyse Blair and returning duo Milner and Foster fighting it out for a place in the side.
For Warrington, they should have Mike Cooper back in the team giving them more punch down the middle. He’ll ameliorate the loss of Jason Clark through injury whilst Steve Price will also be sweating on the fitness of Joe Philbin. It will also be interesting to see who features on the wing. Until last Thursday, youngster Josh Thewlis held the spot but last week Tom Lineham returned the side.
Castleford
1 Niall Evalds
2 Derrell Olpherts
3 Peter Mata’utia
4 Michael Shenton
25 Jordan Turner
6 Jake Trueman
31 Gareth O’Brien
8 Liam Watts
9 Paul McShane
14 Nathan Massey
11 Oliver Holmes
21 Jesse Sene-Lefao
18 Jacques O’Neill
Substitutes
12 Cheyse Blair
13 Adam Milner
22 Daniel Smith
24 Suaia Matagi
Warrington
1 Stefan Ratchford
2 Tom Lineham
18 Jake Mamo
4 Toby King
5 Josh Charnley
6 Blake Austin
7 Gareth Widdop
8 Chris Hill
9 Daryl Clark
10 Mike Cooper
11 Ben Currie
12 Jack Hughes
15 Matt Davies
Substitutes
13 Joe Philbin
16 Danny Walker
19 Rob Mulhern
20 Sitaleki Akauola
