Castleford Tigers handed injury blow - Liam Watts set for spell on sidelines

Watts was hurt in the first half of Thursday’s 22-8 success at Hull KR, which was Daryl Powell’s 300th career victory as a coach.

Tigers’ fourth win in five matches this year took them two points clear of Huddersfield Giants and Wigan Warriors, who meet on Sunday.

Of Watts, Powell confirmed: “He has ruptured tendons in his finger, it kept dislocating.

“It’s a similar injury to one he did in his other hand which kept him out for five or six weeks. It’s not great for a player to get an injury he knows is going to keep him out for a bit, but we’ll see what the surgeon has to say.”

On a happier note, Powell described Tigers’ Victory at Hull College Craven Park as a “carbon copy” of last week’s win against Wakefield Trinity.

Tigers trailed 15-14 at half-time against Wakefield and were 8-6 down at Hull KR, but kept both times their opponents scoreless in the final 40.

“We didn’t start that great, our kick-chase and kicking game were a little bit loose,” Powell reflected

“We gave them a bit of a sniff and I thought they were very good in the first half. They played with a lot of energy and the game was really fast.

“We didn’t really have any control over what was going on out there for the first 20-25 minutes, then we started to really bust them up around the ruck.

“Mike McMeeken drops the ball over the line, we get straight through and Jordan Rankin drops the ball - we created opportunities, but we didn’t really have any field position in the first half.

“It is pretty similar to last week, a carbon copy of the Wakefield game.

“We come out and have an awesome set at the start of the second half, they have a guy sin-binned - same as last week, in pretty similar circumstances - and then we gradually took control.

“It took ages ages really, it wasn’t our best performance, but I thought it was full of character in the second half and control and we were a lot better, while never fantastic and there’s still loads to come from us.

“We have a few lessons to learn. I don’t think we were ever at a point where we’d say we were at our best.”

But Powell said he is not concerned about Tigers’ slow starts, insisting they are “in a good place”.

He stated: “The boys are good, they are enjoying what we are doing.

“We have won four out of five games so we are in a good place, but you’ve got to recognise there’s some lessons to be learned from every game.

“We are not starting great, I would have to say that, but our second halves have been awesome, the last two in particular.

“I am not really concerned. While you are winning if you can fix things up it is pretty handy.”

Powell stressed there are two sides to every game.

He added: “Hull KR were fantastic at the start and we just didn’t handle it well.

“We’ll learn the lessons of teams playing well against you, being able to go toe to toe and not completely lose your marbles, which we perhaps did a bit in the first half.”

Of Cas’ start to the season, the coach said: “It’s really pleasing, I always thought the first block of games was going to be really difficult logistically, with short turnarounds.

“Now we have two really tough games, Warrington away and St Helens at home. I am looking forward to those.

“It’s a couple of great opportunities to see where our players individually and us collectively are at.”