Castleford cheered rivals St Helens on to World Club Challenge glory but don’t intend handing out any such pleasantries on Sunday.
Tigers captain Paul McShane explained how the squad came together to watch the Super League champions down NRL premiers Penrith Panthers last Saturday. Saints’ epic 13-12 golden point win in Sydney has given the domestic competition a real shot in the arm. Paul Wellens’ side now head to Wheldon Road to make their delayed start to Betfred Super League with England hooker McShane, like many, wowed by their historic triumph.
He said: “It was our team run day but we ended up watching the World Club Challenge before we did our video leading into the Hull game. I just thought it was awesome. Both games they played out there - beating St George Illawarra as well - were a massive effort.
“But it probably wasn’t a surprise either. Saints, for the past four years, have been so consistent. You know what they are going to do. They’re going to give it their all no matter what and that showed. Towards the end, it was exciting and all the lads were fully bouncing that they got the win. It was a great result for Saints and for Super League.”
Castleford could be forgiven for thinking now would be a good time to take on the four-peat champions who faced an horrendous 53 hour trip back from Australia. With jetlag, obvious celebrations and talk of resting some of their stars, Saints may be vulnerable. But Wellens could still name as many as 13 of his Sydney heroes with player of the match Jack Welsby, drop goal king Lewis Dodd and England star Jonny Lomax all included in their 21-man squad.
“We’ve not really looked too much into it - and we’ve got our own problems to fix up,”insisted McShane, after his side lost 32-30 at Hull having initially looked like being blown away at 32-6. We’ve put a big focus on getting our jobs right. Last year Saints had a lot of players missing when they came to our place but they pushed us close so no matter what side Saints have they put in a performance. We know that.”
The former Man of Steel won't, though, be in direct opposition against iconic Roby, the tireless hooker who - at the age of 37 - produced yet another brilliant display against Penrith but is given this weekend off. McShane admitted: “He’s not slowing down is he…? For me, for what he’s done and for how long he’s done it, he’s the greatest Super League player there’s been. It’s 20 years now. It’s freakish what he does.
“But we just need to focus on us and start better on Sunday. Hull went 100m on us in our first set last week and we didn’t quite wake up until the last 25 minutes. We got a bit of respect back by getting a few points on but overall it was way off the standards we’d set in pre-season. Everyone was buzzing going into that game so to start how we did was disappointing."
