Preview: 2024 Super League Round 17: London Broncos vs Castleford Tigers
The London Broncos have their ninth Super League home game of the 2024 season on Friday as we face off against Castleford Tigers for the second time this season. When the Broncos and Tigers met earlier this season (Round 9) in Castleford, the home side finished the game 40-0 victors. Check out the video below to see the highlights of our earlier matchup in April. The Broncos have taken on Castleford at home on 26 occasions, with London picking up 7 wins and scoring 548 total points. Click here to read the full in-depth history of the Castleford Tigers vs London Broncos fixture.
The Broncos have had a difficult 2024 Super League campaign so far, winning 1 game vs Hull FC (34-18, click here to read the full match report) & losing 14 games to St Helens (40-4, click here to read the full match report), Catalans Dragons (0-34, click here to read the full match report) Hull FC (28-24, click here to read the full match report), Wigan Warriors (22-60, click here to read the full match report), Warrington Wolves (4-58, click here to read the full match report), Huddersfield Giants (6-26, click here to read the full match report), Hull KR (50-10, click here to read the full match report), Salford Red Devils (4-12, click here to read the full match report), Castleford Tigers (40-0, click here to read the full match report), Leeds Rhinos (46-8, click here to read the full match report), Hull KR (14-64, click here to read the full match report), Salford Red Devils (34-4, click here to read the full match report), St Helens (6-52, click here to read the full match report), Wigan Warriors (36-0, click here to read the full match report) & losing out in Golden Point Extra Time to Leeds Rhinos (17-16, click here to read the full match report). The Broncos currently sit 12th in the Super League with a points difference of -459.
Castleford Tigers have also played sixteen games so far this season and are currently sat in 10th place after winning 4 (24-36 vs Salford Red Devils, 40-0 vs London Broncos, 30-22 vs Hull FC & 6-8 vs St Helens), losing 11 (4-32 vs Wigan Warriors, 26-22 vs Salford Red Devils, 30-8 vs Warrington Wolves, 8-50 vs Huddersfield Giants, 40-14 vs Catalans Dragons, 6-26 vs Leeds Rhinos, 36-14 vs Wigan Warriors, 4-60 vs St Helens, 32-4 vs Leeds Rhinos 8-10 vs Wigan Warriors & 12-13 vs Hull KR) & drawing 1 (28-28 vs Leigh Leopards) games so far this season.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s fixture, Broncos director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles says ““It’s been a brisk turnaround. A six day one, and with the travel as well so we just had to respect that at the start of the week and make sure that the boys were recovered.
“We are fighting fit, we practically have everyone fit other than the long standing one with Bill (Leyland) and Dan Hoyes has got a tweak in his calf but other than that we’re fully fit.
“There was obviously an emotional dip after the game, wasn't there after the physical and emotional output which went into it. We’ve made sure we’ve recovered from that for 48 hours after the game and we’ve gently lent into the week ready for tomorrow as it’s important that we make sure that’s the new us. We have had a lot of meetings, a lot of time together talking about what we want to stand for for the backend of this season. Have we learnt from the games that have gone before or have we not learnt? That was the question that was posed to them.
“It was a vast improvement in terms of performance. It was the best performance of the year in terms of an 80 minute performance. The Hull game, obviously we got the result there, but in terms of an 80 minute performance that was probably the best we’ve been. It’s really important that we stick to that performance level and that’s what we will be looking to do tomorrow.”
See the full interview with Mike here:
Ahead of our return to Ebbsfleet we also caught up with Kent born Rob Butler who says “It’s a really good one. It’s an exciting game as it is whether it’s local or not. It’s a great ground, we have a good record there in previous years so hopefully we can carry that record through.
“(The good record) is something you’re aware of. It’s not something we think about- you just have to turn up on the day whether it’s at Wimbledon or Ebbsfleet it doesn’t matter but the fact that it is Ebbsfleet hopefully we can continue that record.
“(Castleford) have come on leaps and bounds but we’d like to think we’ve done the same. We know the results haven’t reflected that but there has been a lot of learning curves. We believe we can win it, we wouldn’t be going out there otherwise!”
See the full interview with Rob here:
Please see below the Broncos 21-man squad ahead of tomorrow’s game:
Please see below the Castleford 21-man squad ahead of tomorrow’s game:
Ways to watch/listen to the game!
TV: Super League+ & Sky Sports Arena!
Live match updates: Twitter (@londonbroncosrl)
