Nah our cup finals are ACTUAL cup finals with trophies on offer like the one we're in the last 4 of now. You should try it sometime.

......having only played lower-league opposition.

I'm sure we would be too with the ties you have had.

Leeds also crumbled in numerous challenge cup finals between 2000 and 2014. Saints did in numerous Grand Finals. In knock out rugby anything can happen. But you have gotta be in them to win them Right? Sadly our cup dream is over but this year, I am still hopefully that we can reach old Trafford and have another crack at a final.

I think its a shame Cas won't get to Wembley as they are easily the most entertaining team to watch, and we need Wembley to be a showcase.

Personally I think Powell is savvy enough to use this to adjust the way the team play (or at least react) in tight games. The main thing they need to learn as a side is patience, keeping calm and sticking to your plan, and not trying to score off every set. It sounds simple but it clearly marks consistently good sides (and players) out and yet is obviously very hard to achieve.

However though Castleford lost the match fair and square, the 8 point difference between the scores of each side was not tries but goals. Castleford gave away too many penalties.

My fear for Cas all year has been that when the big games come round will they be brave enough to still play that ultra entertaining, risk taking brand of rugby league that they've been playing all year. To me that's their game and they should stick to it. They wouldn't be where they are if it wasn't for that attacking style they employ and there's a fine line between them showing more patience and them going away from their style of play by being too reserved.

The brand of rugby league they play can go badly wrong if you have an off day and that's why I say they need to be brave in the huge games. They were on Sunday and it didn't come off but they should stick to it IMO. If Cas start playing for completions and territory in the super 8's and play offs, I think they'll find it tough to get past the likes of Leeds and Hull. We (Wigan) play that way and we've been murdered twice by Cas this season. It looks unlikely we'll trouble the top four but if we did and we played Cas, I'd be delighted if they changed their style of play and reverted to a more patient approach.

The problem with their brand of rugby is that it doesn't work against all teams. They need a plan B and I'm nit sure they have one. Hulls big lads seem to know how to nullify Cas and other teams will start to do the same, Powell needs to work out how to adapt Cas's style in game for these type of games.

And it should never be forgotten that OT, should Cas get there, is more often than not a cold gloomy October night often a damp one too which doesn't really lend itself to a free flowing expansive game. They are often tight affairs, at least for the first hour and Powell rightly eluded to the exact moment his team didn't play the game situation on sunday when they were leading 18-16 after an hour bringing the ball back and gifted the ball and field position to Hull and the game swung on that one instance. That's what it takes, and that is where Cas have to learn. If they do they certainly have the ability to get over the line.

I'm not sure where this impression comes from that it's always cold and wet at the Grand Final.

Is it?

Its in Manchester

So is anyone actually bothered about discussing the CC semi-finals or is this just a thread to inflate the ego of Nottingham's finest "Legal Eagle"? In case anyone had forgotten the two ties are......

Hull v Leeds
Salford v Wigan

Thoughts?