Super League: Castleford v St Helens preview
Watch the match live on Sky Sports Arena from 7.30pm on Thursday
Last Updated: 24/05/18 10:19pm
Castleford coach Daryl Powell hopes his team have learned the lessons from their recent Challenge Cup defeat to St Helens as they prepare to take on the Betfred Super League leaders again on Thursday evening.
Saints triumphed 36-18 in the sixth-round tie at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle on May 12, with Ben Barba scoring a hat-trick of tries, and they return to West Yorkshire seeking a fifth successive league win.
The Tigers bounced back from that defeat with a 38-10 victory over Leeds in Newcastle on Saturday, while St Helens defeated Widnes 38-18 in their Magic Weekend contest.
Powell is keen to build on the win over the Rhinos, but knows Castleford need to be more durable against a team of the quality of Saints.
He told his club's official website: "Thursday night's game against St Helens comes super quick after our recent Challenge Cup tie against them.
"I thought in that game we competed massively especially in the first half. We will, however, have to be more durable over the 80 minutes to contain St Helens' attack at the moment. We will also need to put enough pressure on them to score points as they are also defended very well as a team.
"We are aware of the many outstanding players that are playing for St Helens at the moment and the fact that we will need to perform at the top of our game to come out on top.
"We are looking forward to playing against the best team in the competition this season so far and looking forward to giving our best effort of the season to date."
Powell has made two changes to his 19-man squad after the trip to St James' Park with Ben Roberts and James Green replacing Joe Wardle and Jake Webster.
Saints coach Justin Holbrook has made just the one change to his squad with prop Kyle Amor, who was suspended for the victory over the Vikings, returning at the expense of Matty Lees.
Holbrook's side also beat Castleford 46-6 at home in the opening game of the season, but is not expecting an easy night after being impressed with the Tigers' performance against Leeds.
He told his club's official website: "Castleford certainly bounced back from their cup loss with a great win on Saturday. They were really dominant over Leeds. They will put up a good test and we know we will have play really well.
"They may play slightly differently with not having Luke Gale but they still have good halves in Jamie Ellis and Jake Trueman - and they showed that at the weekend against Leeds.
"They are a very dangerous team, we know that and we are once again looking forward to the challenge."
Castleford squad: Matt Cook, Jamie Ellis, Alex Foster, James Green, Kieran Gill, Jy Hitchcox, Oliver Holmes, Nathan Massey, Mike McMeeken, Paul McShane, Grant Millington, Adam Milner, Greg Minikin, Junior Moors, Ben Roberts, Jesse Sene-Lefao, Michael Shenton, Jake Trueman, Liam Watts.
St Helens squad: Jonny Lomax, Tommy Makinson, Ryan Morgan, Mark Percival, Adam Swift, Theo Fages, Matty Smith, James Roby, Kyle Amor, Zeb Taia, Jon Wilkin, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Luke Douglas, Morgan Knowles, Luke Thompson, Dom Peyroux, Danny Richardson, Regan Grace, Ben Barba.