Castleford hopes Michael Shenton’s facial injury ‘isn’t as bad as it looks’ | Rugby League News

Castleford, who have now lost seven of their last eight Super League games, hoping for good news of captain Michael Shenton’s injury

Michael Shenton was forced to leave the field four minutes after the second half of the Tigers ’34-16 defeat by Super Huddersfield after Huddersfield came out worse trying to cope, and coach Daryl Powell fears X-rays will reveal at least one fracture.

“That’s what it looks like,” Powell said. “He is really very swollen and wounded at several points on his face.

“He’s going to the hospital. I hope he’s fine. He was an amazing champion for this club. I hope he’s not as bad as he looks.”

Already without 15 players due to the Covid-19 outbreak that forced a postponement of the last two games, Shenton’s loss was another blow for the Tigers, who have now lost seven of their last eight league games.

Powell managed to include just seven members of his team for the Cup finals, including Daniel Smith props in the role of improvised hemisphere, and was forced to strengthen his team by adding short-term loan agreements to Jimmy Keinhorst and Jake Sweeting.

“It’s so hard right now,” he said. “We were missing 15 players with Covid and another injured. It’s crazy.

“I thought we fought hard, but losing Shenny was a huge blow. We couldn’t score when we needed to in the second half.

“But I can’t question our efforts. We just can’t get the team together right now. This is hard as far as I’ve seen in business.

“We have six and a half weeks left and we have to find our spirit and our determination and move on.”

Castleford will have a bit of a break as they prepare for the derby with Leeds in Headingley on Friday, but Powell hopes some of the absentees will return to him.

“It will look like a different team,” he said. “We are missing a huge number of players and a lot will come back into conflict. We will have to start winning some games quickly.”

Huddersfield were only slightly better, missing 10 from the first 17 teams due to injury and suspension, but they had enough experience among their strikers to lead their team to a second consecutive victory.

Coach Ian Watson has admitted that the recent arrival of Australian whore Nathan Peats has proved invaluable as the Giants want to build for the future.

“He’s the absolute top nine,” Watson said. “You can see why he played the country of origin.

“He really helps our young halves and gives us a little composure. I rate him there as one of the best nines I’ve had in my teams over the years.”

Watson also sang the praises of rookie rookie Will Pryce, the 18-year-old son of former UK international Leon Pryce, who created Huddersfield’s first two attempts for center Leroy Cudjoe and set up a platform to win.

“I thought we were really good in the first half,” he said. “We controlled the position on the field really well and, when we got the chance, we were very good. I thought Will Pryce would open them a few times.

“There was a mistake in the second half and it got really bad. The first half brought us the game.”