Castleford Tigers: Andy Last says Challenge Cup date at Hull KR is 'relief' ahead of Easter Super League double-header

Tigers’ Betfred Challenge Cup quarter-final at Hull KR will be played on Friday, April 8, six days before their Betfred Super League derby away to Wakefield Trinity.

Wakefield’s Cup tie at home to Wigan Warriors has been chosen for live coverage on the BBC and will be played two days later, meaning they have a shorter than normal four-day turnaround leading into the holiday period.

Both teams are also in action on Easter Monday, April 18, when Tigers play host to Leeds Rhinos and Trinity visit Wigan.

Castleford assistant-coach Andy Last admitted it was a relief not to be chosen for the Sunday Cup game.

Their tie will be televised live on Premier Sports and Last said: “It gives us a week’s turnaround and then an extra couple of days to recover and review leading into the Easter period, which is always challenging.”

Tigers will be without prop Daniel Smith for Friday’s visit of Toulouse Olympique and he could also miss the Cup tie and Easter double-header.

Smith was injured in last Saturday’s Cup win at Leeds and Last revealed: “Dan has picked up a bit of a calf [strain].

“He will get that scanned and we are waiting on a timescale for that.

“He’s probably not going to be available for selection for the next couple of weeks, but everybody else has come through unscathed which is great for us with a busy period coming up.

“We’ve got some big games, none more so than Friday against Toulouse.”

The newly-promoted French side are bottom of Super League, one place behind Tigers on points difference, but did not play last weekend and beat St Helens in their most recent league game two weeks ago.

“They are very flamboyant and they’ve got some guys who can cause you problems if you give them time and opportunity,” Last warned.

“We will need to be on red alert and make sure we take care of what we do well.

“A big challenge for us is making sure we get our attitude right defensively and build on what we did well against Leeds Rhinos.”

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