Castleford Tigers boss Craig Lingard expresses England frustration after losing Sam Wood for season

The 26-year-old, who was an ever-present at club level before his international call-up, will be sidelined for three to four months following surgery.

The loss of the in-form Wood is a major blow for Craig Lingard's side ahead of Friday's trip to St Helens.

“Unfortunately he needs a reconstruction on his shoulder and is done for the year," said Lingard, who will replace Wood with Alex Mellor at the Totally Wicked Stadium in the absence of the injured Josh Hodson.

"As great as the international recognition was for Sam, it’s not been great news for us.

"He’s probably been our most consistent player this season, or one of our most consistent players, and deservedly got that recognition playing for England.

"Hopefully it’s the first of many but it’s a blow for us to lose him, not only for this week but the rest of the season as well."

England’s Test against France was played in front of a sparse crowd in Toulouse and there was no television coverage following the decision to stream the fixture.

The low-key spectacle has drawn heavy criticism from around the game, with Hull KR boss Willie Peters warning that some coaches may think twice about sending players on England duty in future.

Lingard has expressed his frustration after losing his form player for the season.

"I want players to play for their country," said the Tigers boss.

"It helps us and benefits us in the long term that we can show players that if you come and play for Castleford, you're not putting yourself out of international recognition.

"I'd certainly not hold any players back from playing for their country and want to do as much as I can to make sure the international game grows – but it's got to be better than it was.

"To echo the comments from Willie and Matty Peet, the pinnacle of anybody's career is representing their country and we've got to make sure the spectacle represents that as well. I don't think last week did any good for the game at all.

"I'll be fully supportive of it as a club coach to release any players that are called up but it's frustrating to lose a player who has been so influential to us this season in a match that was an embarrassment to the game."

Castleford must shrug off the disappointment of losing Wood to take the fight to second-placed St Helens.

The Tigers have lost their last three matches but produced positive performances in the narrow defeats to Wigan Warriors and Hull KR.

"The challenge for us is to maintain what we did in the last couple of games and see if we can get better," said Lingard.

"We only have to go back five or six weeks to when we had 60 points put on us at home by Saints so we need to make sure we’re fully focused defensively."