Castleford Tigers coach Daryl Powell insists the game has changed post-lockdown

This afternoon’s Super League home fixture against Catalans Dragons, played behind closed doors at Emerald Headingley in Leeds, will be Castleford’s debut under the sport’s new rules.

Scrums have been abolished, for the rest of this season, on health grounds and referees now restart the tackle count – rather than award a penalty – for infringements in the ruck.

The six-again rule has been operating in Australia’s NRL since that competition returned from its coronavirus lay-off in May and the speed of the action has noticeably increased, which Castleford coach Daryl Powell expects to be the case here.

“The game has changed, the six-again is going to change the way the game is played,” he insists.

Powell added: “If you look at the penalty counts in the game normally, when you are kicking for touch and then you have attacking sets, there are relatively few of those.

“The game is going on in a consistent perspective which is great on the eye, but not so great if you are defending.

“It will create something a little bit different in the game and I think over the fullness of time the players will need to adapt a bit.

“Maybe squads [will] look a bit different.

The really big players will find it difficult and I think it is going to be intriguing to see how it all unfolds.”

Like probably all coaches, Powell is confident the new laws will suit the way his side like to play.

“If you look at the stats in Australia, they are talking about the rebirth of the little man in terms of the way the game is played,” he pointed out.

“Their half-backs are running a lot more and looking at our halves, we have a couple of young half-backs who like to run the ball.

“Danny Richardson and Jake Trueman have a lot of instinct about them in the way they play and the little bloke who plays at nine for us, Paul McShane, has also got a lot of instinct.

“I expect us to have some difficulties getting used to it, but I also expect us to do really well with the new rules.”

Catalans had a taste of the new-style game last Sunday when they lost 34-6 to St Helens at Headingley.

That experience could give the French side an edge, Powell accepts.

He warned: “Potentially [Catalans might have an advantage].

“They have got a game under their belt and had a look at it.

“The difficulty for them is they are on a six-day turnaround.

“They have had to fly back home and then back again here on the day.

“We know from going out to Catalans that is hard and those guys are having to do that consistently.

“That is going to be tough.

“There will be a clear motivation for them to do better this week, that always adds to it.

“From our perspective we are pretty highly motivated to want to do well in this game.

“We finished well before lockdown happened and we want to start well now.”

Tigers beat champions St Helens 28-14 on March 15, in their last game before rugby league was suspended.

They are one of four teams on eight points and, with the others either playing tomorrow or having a bye this weekend, will go top of the table if they beat Catalans and avenge an away defeat in February.

That is an enticing prize, but Powell is simply “pleased to be back”.

He reflected: “It has been an incredibly tough period for everybody.

“When you are used to being in a team environment and you are around people every single day, you become isolated.

“I know so many people have had tougher situations than us, but after not being able to do your job or to train as a team – which has gradually been lifted – to get back to this point now, we just want to get going again and give our fans something to cheer about, hopefully.

“Sport is so massive in the British psyche and I think everybody has missed it.”

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