Saturday’s Super League: Powell’s Cas returns and will Leeds feel the heat?

We look at what is being said and team news ahead of Saturday’s Super League games, including Castleford Tigers against Warrington Wolves, live on Sky Sports…

Castleford Tigers vs Warrington Wolves (3pm, live on Sky Sports)

Daryl Powell is not letting emotion get in the way as he prepares to return to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for the first time with Warrington since leaving Castleford last year.

Powell’s time in charge of the Tigers included winning the League Leaders’ Shield in 2017 and guiding the club to a maiden Grand Final in the same year, as well as finishing runners-up in the Challenge Cup twice.

The 56-year-old is now over midway through his first season in charge of the Wolves and while he is looking forward to being back at Castleford, his focus is only on ensuring his current side build on their 36-10 win over Catalans Dragons at Magic Weekend.

“I’ve thought about it a little bit, but I’m just desperate to win the game,” Powell told the Warrington Guardian ahead of the match, which is live on Sky Sports.

“It’s like when you move from one house to another, within three months or so you feel like you’ve been there forever.

“It’s really strange but I loved my time at Castleford. I’ll go back there and hopefully I can enjoy the day, which I will if we get a performance and a result.

“Hopefully it will be more enjoyable for me than it will be for the Cas contingent, whether that be players I coached or the fans.”

The only change to the 21-man squad named by Warrington for Saturday is Tom Whitehead coming in following the potentially season-ending shoulder injury suffered by Gareth Widdop.

Castleford, meanwhile, welcome captain Paul McShane back along with Gareth O’Brien, but Liam Watts starts a two-match ban which he picked up following the 34-20 defeat to Leeds Rhinos in Newcastle last weekend.

The Tigers are just two points ahead of the Wolves in sixth and head coach Lee Radford is eager to maintain the home record which has seen them lose just twice on their own patch this year.

“This will be a big game for them,” Radford said in his pre-match press conference. “They’ll want to kick on from their last result, but we want to respond because of our result and our performance – even more so because we’re at home.”

Named squads

Castleford Tigers: Niall Evalds, Derrell Olpherts, Jake Mamo, Bureta Faraimo, Danny Richardson, Paul McShane, George Lawler, Kenny Edwards, Adam Milner, Joe Westerman, George Griffin, Mahe Fonua, Alex Sutcliffe, Daniel Smith, Greg Eden, Cheyse Blair, Suaia Matagi, Brad Martin, Gareth O’Brien, Jason Qareqare, Alex Mellor.

Warrington Wolves: Matty Ashton, Joe Bullock, Daryl Clark, Jason Clark, Ben Currie, Matt Davis, Riley Dean, James Harrison, Oliver Holmes, Peter Mata’utia, Greg Minikin, Tom Mikaele, Robbie Mulhern, Matty Nicholson, Stefan Ratchford, Josh Thewlis, Danny Walker, Jake Wardle, Tom Whitehead, George Williams, Connor Wrench.

Toulouse Olympique vs Leeds Rhinos (7pm UK time)

Rohan Smith is preparing his Leeds side to feel the heat in Toulouse with the temperatures set to rise over the weekend.

Kick-off has been put back to 8pm local time in the south of France and the Rhinos have adjusted their own training plans to try to get ready for the extremes they will face at Stade Ernest Wallon.

The Rhinos are aiming to build on their win over Castleford and as well as facing a team boosted by their 38-26 Magic Weekend win over Wakefield Trinity in the battle of the bottom two, it will be a challenge for other reasons.

“With the temperatures that are forecast, I don’t think anyone gets used to playing in those conditions but it’s the same for both teams,” Smith said in his pre-match press conference.

“We’re doing what we can to educate our players on how to deal with the heat and how to effectively hydrate.

“We’ve been trying to train in the hottest parts of the day. We’re out in the sun and we’ve been doing some work indoors in heated facilities.

“It’s important to actually get out in the heat at times and briefly get used to the conditions. We will be getting out and about into the furnace.”

Loan signing Yusuf Aydin comes into the squad for the first time after joining from Wakefield in the week, but Matt Prior joins the list of suspended players and Aidan Sezer is sidelined due to injury which sees Jack Sinfield return to the 21-man squad.

Toulouse, meanwhile, have Mathieu Jussaume and James Cunningham back in their 21-man squad and a win over Leeds would move them level on points with 11th-placed Wakefield, at least until Sunday’s games have been completed.

Named squads

Toulouse Olympique: Latrell Schaumkel, Mathieu Jussaume, Paul Marcon, Corey Norman, Lucas Albert, Romain Navarrete, Harrison Hansen, Dominique Peyroux, Joseph Bretherton, Joseph Paulo, James Cunningham, Ilias Bergal, Chris Hankinson, Justin Sangare, Guy Armitage, Matty Russell, Olly Ashall-Bott, Nathan Peats, Lambert Belmas, Tony Gigot, Daniel Alvaro.

Leeds Rhinos: David Fusitu’a, Liam Sutcliffe, Ash Handley, Mikolaj Oledzki, James Bentley, Rhyse Martin, Brad Dwyer, Richie Myler, Cameron Smith, Bodene Thompson, Morgan Gannon, Sam Walters, Jarrod O’Connor, James Donaldson, Corey Johnson, Max Simpson, Liam Tindall, Jack Sinfield, Zak Hardaker, Yusuf Aydin.