Castleford Tigers vs London Broncos Predictions: 7/1 for Senior to kick-start Tigers

Two of the Betfred Super League strugglers meet in a huge battle on Friday night at The Jungle as London Broncos' pursuit of that elusive first victory of the season takes them to a Castleford Tigers side only one win better off following the opening eight rounds of action (kick-off 20:00 BST, live on Sky Sports Mix).

Mike Eccles' outfit ran Salford Red Devils close last week but fell to a narrow 12-4 loss to their 12-man visitors, while Cas suffered a second straight defeat to Wigan Warriors after being pummelled in the Challenge Cup the previous weekend. Here are my Castleford Tigers vs London Broncos predictions...

Team news

Castleford’s depleted squad has been significantly bolstered this week by both returns to fitness and new signings.

Tex Hoy arrives following his release from Hull FC, Sam Eseh comes in on loan from Wigan and Corey Hall is straight into the squad following his swap deal from Hull Kingston Rovers which saw Jack Broadbent go the other way. That move also extended Louis Senior's stay with Cas until the end of the season and he features again following his tryscoring debut at the DW Stadium. Experienced pair Joe Westerman and Paul McShane are also back from injury.

Josh Simm is still out, Sylvester Namo continues to sit out due to his five-match suspension, while Josh Hodson and Daniel Hindmarsh-Takyi drop out of the squad.

London name Ethan Natoli in the squad for the first time this season and that is the only change to the squad narrowly beaten at home by Salford this week.

Handicap 2-way Castleford Tigers -16.5 @ 10/11

I actually think this is a tough one to call. Castleford are rightly big favourites and this is probably the strongest squad that boss Craig Lingard has been able to name all year. But such a huge number of changes always carries the risk of a disjointed performance against a Broncos side that has gelled into a tight unit and pushed an exciting Salford team all the way last week.

I do think this will be a home win, but the margin is tricky to decipher. Should Cas get the good start and manage to provide their outside backs with quality ball, then a three-score win seems distinctly possible. The odds imply a 52.4% probability that the Tigers will outdo the handicap.

Innes Senior first tryscorer @ 11/2

Senior has been prolific in a losing side for the Tigers this year, scoring seven tries in the first eight rounds to lie just two behind the Betfred Super League's leading scorers, Adam Swift and Liam Marshall.

As such his anytime odds are difficult to touch this week, so let’s take a punt on him to cross for the game’s opening score instead at a far more tempting 11/2.

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