Castleford Tigers boss gives injury roll-call as they lose THREE players before kick-off

The West Yorkshire club saw full-back Niall Evalds pull up with a sore calf in yesterday’s team run, England second-row Oli Holmes was ruled out this morning and Pete Mata'utia was named in the starting line-up but then withdrew due to a back issue before kick-off.

Castleford lost 38-14 with Gareth Widdop’s hat-trick doing much of the damage but they had been just 16-10 behind approaching the hour mark.

James Clare switched to full-back to replace Evalds and second-row Jesse Sene-Lefao had to move to centre to take Mata’utia’s spot with youngster Brad Martin getting a rare start.

Powell explained: “Pete (Mata’utia) came to the game today.

“I only really found out about it (injury) when I got to the ground.

“He’s got a back issue but I don't think it will keep him out any more.

“We lost Niall Evalds in the team run yesterday so that causes more trouble than anything losing your full-back and Gareth O’Brien’s injured as well.

"Niall’s calf tightened up yesterday.

“It’s a big issue with five-day turnarounds as they have so little recovery especially for players like him doing so much work.

“It can have a big impact on being able to play. That’s what affected Niall yesterday. We’re hopeful he won’t be too bad.

“He’ll have a scan and we’ll take it from there.

“Oli (Holmes) had a trapped nerve in his neck that he woke up with this morning and he could hardly move.

“He’s been playing fantastic for us so he was a big loss but I think he’ll be alright next week. He just couldn’t take to the field this afternoon.

“We had 11 or 12 players out today and they all get into the 17.

“It’s a tough one but sometimes you just have to cop it and move on.”

Man of Steel Paul McShane came off late on with as triceps injury but Powell does not feel it is a serious issue.

Stand-off Jake Trueman was also a doubt up until shortly before kick-off but he excelled for Castleford scoring one try and kicking wonderfully.

Suaia Matagi, the on-loan Huddersfield Giants prop, finally made his debut and impressed while makeshift winger Jordan Turner scored another two tries.

Powell said: “At half-time, we’d done some really good things and were in with a good score but Warrington just had too much for us in the end.

“There were some really good performances from our boys but as a team we looked a bit clunky as you’d expect with so many positional changes.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got Leeds next week and then Warrington again in the Cup semi so it’s a couple of big weeks for us.

“Sometimes you get these periods where you have a lot of injuries and it’s happened to us all in one day really.

“We’re disappointed but Warrington were just a bit too good.”