Trueman true star of Super League opener

Super League’s first ever double header doubled up as the welcoming party for Toronto Wolfpack’s ascension to the topflight and the eagerly anticipated return of Sonny Bill Williams to rugby league. However, the Tigers were on hand to spoil the festivities and chalk up their first victory of the 2020 season.

Castleford’s stand-off Jake Trueman had an impressive performance and caused Brian McDermott’s side a whole lot of trouble, with his running game especially shining. It also marked the first Super League match that he was partnered up with the Fords’ new #7 Danny Richardson and the early signs are there for it to become a dangerous halfback pairing.

Following the match Jake spoke to castlefordtigers.com and spoke of his delight of getting the win but insisted that there is still plenty of room for improvement after Round One.

“I’m feeling good and happy to get the job done but there was a large spell in that game where we weren’t really good enough so there’s still a lot to work on.

“Working with Danny it felt good, it felt like we combined well but we are still not where we want to be yet it’s only Round One and we’ve only played two games together so we’ve still got to work on our structures and combinations to see the best of us.”

A lot has been made about the Tigers’ halfbacks and questions raised about how well they will work together, but Richardson isn’t the only person Trueman has been working on his combinations with during the pre-season. Named as Castleford’s #1 Jordan Rankin showed signs late last season of a blossoming combination with Jake and they’ve further developed that ahead of the new campaign starting.

“Working with Razor (Rankin) has been good, and we’ve been working on that a lot during pre-season to make sure that our shapes are good enough to break teams down because defenses are getting better, as you saw out there with Toronto. As a left edge we’re feeling great we played pretty well in periods in both attack and defence.

“I still had Paul McShane and Jordan Rankin last year to help me, I think it was a big thing last year still finding our spine after pre-season and in training as the season was starting which was hard to do. Now we’re in a lot better place because of the solid pre-season we’ve had.”

Grant Millington notched his first points of the season on the board off the back of a short smart pass from Trueman who on numerous occasions in the match managed to cut through Toronto’s defensive line.

 “It’s probably my strength is running the ball and playing what I see and with Danny in the team it allows me to do that because he’ll organize us with the ball as well, so I can play my natural game and it felt good.”

Castleford play at home for the first time in Super League 2020 on Friday night against Wigan and it should be an electric atmosphere on the back of both the Tigers and the Warriors winning their opening fixtures. It’s only a five-day gap between matches for Cas but Trueman can’t wait to play back home at The Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

“It should be a good one after our win, we’ve shown at times that we can be a good team this year and hopefully when we’re back home we can get another win. It’s a short turn around but we can’t wait to play at home and of course we want the fans there, so I hope they all turn up and get down to the ground.”

JOIN US AT THE JUNGLE – BE THERE FOR OUR FIRST HOME MATCH OF THE SEASON!

***Junior Season Ticket holders can also bring a friend to the Wigan game FOR FREE. Check inside your season ticket pack for full details!***

TICKET INFORMATION

Adults: £22
Junior: £14
Concession (over 60s): £14
Student (with valid student ID): £14

Purchase match tickets anytime online on the club's website.

Ticket Hubs
A selection of Castleford Tigers Ambassador Clubs now operate as official ticket hubs for matches, so if you can't make it along to our retail stores we now have a few more venues where you can purchase your match tickets from:

*Hopetown  WMC - Normanton
*Roundhill Sports and Social Club - Castleford
*Glasshoughton WMC
*Cutsyke Sports and Social Club
*Townville WMC 
*Great Preston Sports and Social Club
*George V WMC
*The Railway Inn/Hope and Anchor
*The Singing Chocker
*The Prince William