Castleford Tigers v Wigan Warriors: Why Cas are in play-off mode even without key man McShane

Tigers’ fourth-successive win - three of them away to teams in or around the play-offs places - lifted them to sixth in Betfred Super League and came despite the loss of McShane after just 10 minutes.

Coach Daryl Powell said: “It looks like it’s a muscle injury around his rib area.

“He is going to need some further tests.

“He will be missing on Monday and we’ll see where we go from there.”

Powell paid tribute to his players for the way they coped with the loss of their inspirational No 9.

“It was a tough game,” Powell reflected.

“It ebbed and flowed in the first half.

“I thought we had control and then lost it completely and then got it back again.

“I thought we were a little bit untidy with the ball in good attacking positions, but we were so tough.

“It was a courageous effort and a big win for us.

“We’ve been putting in big performances at places that are difficult to go to, so I am really pleased with our resilience.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but there’s still some work to be done.”

Tigers have turned their season around since last month’s Challenge Cup final defeat by St Helens.

That was their seventh defeat in nine games and they were beaten in their first match afterwards, but have since won at Leeds Rhinos, St Helens and Hull and at home to Wakefield Trinity.

“We refocused after Wembley,” Powell said. “We spoke about the opportunity we had in front of us. I felt we were good enough to have a crack at it, the boys agreed and we have really knuckled down.

“We’re not training much, it’s pretty much team run and play so the boys have done a great job.

“They have stuck together really hard after the disappointment of Wembley and we feel like we’ve got plenty in us and we are a difficult team to play against.

“We play Wigan on Monday which is another big game and we are almost in play-off mode now, which is a good way to look at it.”