Injuries biting hard for Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity

JUST NAMING a 19-man squad for Easter Monday will be a challenge for both Castleford Tigers boss Daryl Powell and Wakefield Trinity’s Chris Chester.
Castleford's Jesse Sene-Lefao is helped off the pitch after dislocating his shoulder against Wakefield yesterday.Castleford's Jesse Sene-Lefao is helped off the pitch after dislocating his shoulder against Wakefield yesterday.
Castleford's Jesse Sene-Lefao is helped off the pitch after dislocating his shoulder against Wakefield yesterday.

The sides went into their derby yesterday, which Castleford won 28-26, with lengthy injury lists and suffered yet more fitness blows.

Tigers face Catalans Dragons in Perpignan on Monday when Trinity have a home derby against Leeds Rhinos and both will be without key men from yesterday’s clash.

Wakefield's David Fifita injured his calf against Castleford.Wakefield's David Fifita injured his calf against Castleford.
Wakefield's David Fifita injured his calf against Castleford.
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Castleford forwards Jesse Sene-Lefao and Oliver Holmes failed to finish the game as did Trinity centre Joe Arundel, prop Dave Fifita and second-row Matty Ashurst.

“Our injury list at the moment is pretty ridiculous and we’ve lost two more,” Tigers coach Daryl Powell confirmed.

“Oggy [Holmes] has got a knee injury, we think it’s cartilage, but not sure. Jesse dislocated his shoulder and went to hospital at half-time. He looked in a fair bit of pain, he was sedated.

“They had to put him to sleep to put it back in. In 2016 we had a pretty horrendous injury run and this is close to it.”

Castleford's Oliver Holmes picked up a knee injury against Wakefield.Castleford's Oliver Holmes picked up a knee injury against Wakefield.
Castleford's Oliver Holmes picked up a knee injury against Wakefield.
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Chester said: “It’s not good with Arundel, it looks like he’s torn a pec’ [pectoral muscle].

“Fifita [has injured his] calf, Matty Ashurst foot. It has been a crazy three weeks, but we’ve just got to get on with it and try and manage it as well as we possibly can until we get some bodies back at the Magic Weekend.”

Tigers led 22-0 after 23 minutes and 28-8 with a quarter of the game remaining, but had to hang on grimly at the end.

Powell described the win as “pretty crucial”. He said: “We have got a real tough battle on our hands in Catalans on Monday so it was important for us.

Injured Danny Brough looks on from the sidelines at Castleford last night.Injured Danny Brough looks on from the sidelines at Castleford last night.
Injured Danny Brough looks on from the sidelines at Castleford last night.
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“The first 50 minutes were outstanding, some of the things we did in the first half.

“Our young half-back pairing handled things really well and Peter Mata’utia – back at full-back – was excellent.

“Some of the things we did were as good as I’ve seen from us for a long time.

“Defensively I thought we were excellent, there were loads of real positives.

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“But when the momentum changed you could almost feel the nervousness in the team.

“They got back at us and we did well to hang on at the end.”

Scrum-half Cory Aston made his long-awaited Betfred Super League debut and Powell felt he handled the step up from League One, where he was on loan with Newcastle Thunder, in good style.

“He started really well,” Powell noted. “I thought he defended well all night.

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“His kicking game was pretty good. He trained well all week and I thought he carried that into the game, he did pretty well.”

Chester felt Thursday was a “missed opportunity”.

He said: “We gave ourselves way too much to do, the first half was probably the worst 40 minute performance from us this year.

“You can’t afford to give a top-four team like Castleford that much ball. We were our own worst enemies and I don’t think we deserved to get anything from it.”

He added: “We lost Danny Brough and Jacob Miller last week and that probably had a big effect, but credit to Ryan Hamsphire and Ben Reynolds, I thought they were good in the second half.”