Castleford Tigers coach Andy Last issues 'best of Leeds Rhinos' warning ahead of Magic Weekend derby

Leeds have been beaten in four of their last five games and will be without several key players, but Tigers coach Andy Last reckons that is irrelevant going into a huge game for both clubs.

“We are expecting the best version of Leeds,” Last said of the Magic Weekend derby at St James’s Park.

“We will need to be good ourselves to get a performance. If we get a performance, hopefully we’ll get the right result.”

Last admitted Castleford will take “a little bit of confidence” from their 14-8 win over Leeds and the Jungle in March.

That was one of only two victories this season and he stated: “We know on our day we are capable of beating them, but it’s all about the 80-minute performance.

“The work you do during the week gives you confidence leading into the game, but we need to perform well, take care of what we need to do well and hopefully that will allow us to neutralise the threats Leeds have got.

“They are a very dangerous team and it’s going to be a really challenging game, but one we are looking forward to.”

Assessing Rhinos, Last described Saturday’s opponents as “a difficult team to preview, very athletic”.

He noted: “They play very front-foot, very eyes-up. They move the ball and take risks and challenge you from tryline to tryline, so defensively it’s really important we are fully switched on and try and neutralise those individual threats they’ve got.”

But the Tigers boss stressed: “The way we’ve been performing, we can’t look too much at the opposition.

“We’ve got to make sure we perform well ourselves and do what needs to be done - complete high, kick well, defend well, be connected and play with the intent and energy required to beat a Leeds team, regardless of who’s playing for them.

“If you look at their 21 and potential starting team, they are still littered with internationals so we are not looking too much at them, we just have to make sure we perform the best we can and we put in a solid 80 minutes.”