Wigan Warriors v Castleford Tigers: Squads revealed

Captain Sean O’Loughlin, halfback Thomas Leuluai and full-back Sam Tomkins have, as expected, been named in the 19-man squad having sat out last week’s victory over Hull FC.

Welsh prop Ben Flower has also been included after recovering from a back injury.

Castleford fans are expected to travel in numbers and their coach, Daryl Powell, told the Tigers’ website: “Myself and Shaun Wane have had a real good rivalry over the years and I think some of that has come from my willingness not to accept that we’re going to be beaten by the ‘bigger’ clubs.

“I think it’s great to have rivalry and a competitive nature in sport, that’s what it should be about and we’ve created a pretty special rivalry between our two clubs and this is going to be, as a result of that, an awesome game on Friday night.

“I think there’s going to be a fantastic atmosphere and may the best team win.”

More than 12,000 tickets have been sold and Wigan season ticket holders are reminded they have until 5pm today (Wednesday) to get a £5 discount.

Wigan’s 19-man squad: John Bateman, Tony Clubb, Tom Davies, Morgan Escare, Liam Farrell, Ben Flower, Oliver Gildart, Joe Greenwood, Gabe Hamlin, Tommy Leuluai, Dom Manfredi, Romain Navarrete, Sean O’Loughlin, Sam Powell, Dan Sarginson, Ryan Sutton, Taulima Tautai, Sam Tomkins, George Williams.

Castleford’s 19-man squad: James Clare, Mitch Clark, Matt Cook, Greg Eden, Luke Gale, Oliver Holmes, Nathan Massey, Peter Mata’utia, Mike McMeeken, Paul McShane, Grant Millington, Adam Milner, Greg Minikin, Ben Roberts, Jesse Sene-Lefao, Michael Shenton, Joe Wardle, Liam Watts, Jake Webster