Giants opposition guide: Castleford Tigers

Jun 19 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CASTLEFORD TIGERS are going through something of a blip.

After securing a narrow win at Celtic Crusaders on April 26, Terry Matterson’s men have suffered a run of five successive Super League defeats, the latest of which was a 50-10 thrashing at the hands of St Helens at Knowsley Road a week ago.

That’s seen the Tigers slip to 10th in the top-flight table with seven wins and nine defeats from their opening 16 League games.

And during this current lean spell they have, of course, also bowed out of the Challenge Cup at the quarter-final stage as they were narrowly beaten 16-14 by the Giants at the Galpharm on May 31.

The start of their slump coincided with the loss of inspirational captain and former Giants hooker Ryan Hudson, who is sidelined with a badly-broken arm and is not expected to return in the immediate future.

That’s also the case with star Australian half-back Brent Sherwin, who suffered a broken ankle a month ago and remains potted up.

Key losses for Castleford in their big defeat at Saints were centre Michael Shenton and loose-forward Joe Westerman, who were on England duty in France.

But both men are back tonight.