Super League: Hull FC take on Castleford in their first Super 8s match

Hull FC are 15/8 with Coral to beat Castleford Tigers in the first round of the Super 8s and, having beaten them towards the end of the regular season, they will be confident of doing the same.

Tom Lineham bagged a brace in that match and Super League’s second highest try-scorer has been in prolific form of late, so could definitely be worth a bet at 8/11 in the anytime market.

Winger Justin Carney is the biggest threat for home side Cas, and is 6/1 to score first. However, new signing at hooker, Paul McShane has been talking about his decision to join the Tigers and has described it as the ‘Daryl Effect’, as he paid tribute to Cas coach Dayl Powell.

“It all happened very quick,” said the 25-year-old speaking of his move to Wheldon Road. “We’d agreed a deal for next season on the Monday and I was due to go training (at Wakefield) on the Wednesday but got called in.

“We decided to make the move now to bring some fresh faces in and boost the squad,” Powell continued, who is 2/1 in the anytime market.

“I was totally committed to Wakefield’s cause whichever situation they ended up in. But the opportunity came to work under Daryl and my manager and myself are big admirers of him. To see what Daryl does with the players he gets is good.”

However, he will come up against the irrepressible, no-nonsense Danny Houghton, who is 9/2 to score anytime for Hull, and McShane has said how impressed he is with the top tackler.

“Danny’s one of those 80 minutes players of non-stop running, tackling, everything,” McShane said of his teammate. “He’s a great player and a bit unfortunate not to be in the international fold with England.”