Wakefield Trinity’s Danny Brough relieved to escape long-term injury woe

The veteran scrum-half injured his knee in Friday’s 30-12 loss at Hull KR and head coach Chris Chester admitted the club feared he had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

That would have meant up to nine months out of action which would have been a savage blow especially given the campaign is only one round old.

However, Brough has had a scan on the knee and medical staff have reported back that it is not as bad as first feared.

“It’s not my ACL,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“It’s the PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) that I’ve done but you can play on with that.

“I could even be back in a week or two but we’ll have to wait and see. It’s alright at the moment and we’ll take it from here but, at the time, I did feel like I’d done something.”

Former Man of Steel Brough, 37, suffered the injury in the first half at Hull College Craven Park and underwent lengthy on-field treatment before carrying on.

He returned for the second period but clearly was not right and came off in the 54th minute.

The ex-Scotland captain explained: “I thought I’d done something but you try and run these things off.

“We were behind at the time as well and we weren’t playing great so I thought I’d stay on.

“I’d also injured my foot at the same time so I think they were taking the pain off each other.

“It was about 10 minutes into the second half, though, that they brought me off to check it further.

“The medical staff made the decision. I don’t think they were too sure about it themselves.

“But it’s been scanned now and it’s not my ACL.

“That’s good news. I’ve never really had any serious injuries in my career. I broke my thumb last year and that’s about it.”

Wakefield host Catalans Dragons on Sunday and Brough, who is still awaiting X-ray results on his foot/ankle, knows there needs to be a vast improvement on what they served up against Rovers.

“We were terrible,” he admitted. “We made 16 errors. We dropped a lot of ball and we have to learn to respect it a lot better than that.”

Trinity are set to use full-back Ryan Hampshire at half-back during Brough’s recovery.

There had been concerns that Brough’s career could be over if he had suffered an ACL rupture given his age and the fact he is out of contract at the end of the season.

However, it looks like he could soon be back in action and the prolific former Hull FC player will be looking to prove he can play on further still into 2021.

Meanwhile, St Helens are reeling after learning their England prop Luke Thompson will leave at the end of the season to join NRL outfit Canterbury Bulldogs.

His contract was set to expire in November and he has decided not to renew his deal in order to test himself Down Under.

Thompson, 24, has helped the club to three League Leaders’ Shields and two Grand Final triumphs in 2014 and 2019 while proving himself as one of the world’s best front-rows.

He also represented Great Britain last autumn and St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus said: “We were informed last week that Luke has decided to join Canterbury Bulldogs next season.

“We accept and totally respect Luke’s decision and wish him nothing but success in his career and life. We are absolutely sure that he will be absolutely committed to the club and to his team-mates for the rest of this season.

“There’s no hiding from the fact this is a bitter disappointment to all of us as Luke has been connected to the club since the age of 11 and developed into an absolute top player at 24 years old.

“If ever he decides to return to England and to Super League then there would be a red carpet waiting for him at St Helens.”

Castleford Tigers centre Peter Mata’utia has been given a two-match ban for a grade B dangerous tackle on former St Helens captain Jon Wilkin during his side’s 28-10 win over Toronto Wolfpack on Sunday.

The Samoan will miss Friday’s visit from Wigan Warriors and also the trip to Perpignan but will be available again when Wakefield arrive at Wheldon Road on February 21.

Warrington captain Chris Hill has been given a three-match ban following his dismissal during his side’s 16-10 Super League round-one defeat at Wigan.

The England prop was sent off 22 minutes into Thursday’s opening game of the season for a high tackle on Wigan hooker Sam Powell and the RFL’s match review panel deemed it a reckless grade C offence.

Hill begins his suspension when the Wolves host reigning champions St Helens on Thursday.

Wigan forward Morgan Smithies has been told he will not face any action over a gouging allegation in last Thursday’s game.

Referee Chris Kendall put an incident on report after Warrington stand-off Blake Austin complained that he had been gouged but the league say video footage is inconclusive and Warrington chose not to submit any further evidence.

Lastly, former Wigan prop Gabriel Hamlin has been given a two-year ban after testing positive for cocaine.

The former South Sydney forward, 23, was suspended by the RFL last April after being charged with a UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) violation and subsequently returned to his native Australia to be with his family.