Castleford Tigers: Boss Powell hoping to get men back for Wolves

Tigers slipped a place to fourth in the Betfred Super-8s after last Friday’s 24-22 defeat by Wigan Warriors.

Warrington moved above Castleford on points difference thanks to their 56-6 thrashing of Ladbrokes Challenge Cup final opponents Catalans Dragons.

Tigers coach Daryl Powell said: “Jesse Sene-Lefao needs a scan on a knee injury and Adam Milner will be checked after his head knock.

“He went off, but came back on.

“They are a couple of doubts for this week, but everybody else is all right and we’ll potentially get a few back.

“Peter Mata’utia (hamstring), QLT (Quentin Laulu-Togage’e, who has a calf injury) and Grant Millington (hamstring) might be available.”

Tigers trailed 20-0 at half-time, but staged a determined rally in the final 40 minutes at DW Stadium to leave the hosts hanging on.

Having watched the game again, Powell felt there were as many positives as negatives and he believes his side could and should have won.

“In the first half we made too many errors and we put ourselves under pressure,” Powell reflected.

“It was frustrating, but I always felt if we got our game together we had a chance of winning it. Really, I think we should have reeled it in.

“It was disappointing, but we responded in a really positive way in the second half – the first half just hurt us.”

Wigan’s only points after half-time came through two penalty goals. Powell said: “I thought we were unlucky with a couple of decisions. The two penalties they kicked weren’t high tackles and at the end of the day they were the difference, but we scored right on the hooter.

“It was always going to be tough going to Wigan, we needed to play well and for 80 minutes we weren’t good enough. There were positives, we’ve reviewed it in a pretty balanced way and we’ve just got to respond in the next six games.”