Castleford Tigers: Coach Powell hamstrung by pair's absence

Both players were forced off the field during last Saturday’s 28-18 Betfred Super League win over Hull due to a hamstring problem.

They had each missed the previous match, against Widnes Vikings, for a similar reason.

Powell said the extent of the problems is not yet known, but he confirmed: “They are going for scans. The injuries aren’t great, they are both hamstrings and you know if they have to have scans it is not going to be fantastic news.”

Wardle’s injury was a recurrence of the one he suffered in training ahead of the round one game at St Helens, but Powell said: “Greg’s is in a different place.

“It’s two injuries we could have done without. The grounds at the moment are really heavy and we are making sure we look at everything and if we can avoid them in the future we will do that.”

Despite the fitness worries, Powell feels Tigers will go into Thursday’s game at Hull KR in good shape.

Reflecting on the win over Hull, he said: “We started a bit slowly, it was a battle of a game to start with.

“It took us a while to get into the game and we were 8-0 down, but once we got a bit of fluency we did some really smart things. We were close to scoring a few times, but Hull’s scrambling defence kept us out.

“It was a lot better and Jamie Ellis played really well on the right-edge.

“He created some opportunities with his passing and kicking game and the bench were excellent when they came on, they changed the game and gave us some momentum around the middle of the field.”