Castleford coach explains why “French food” cost them last week

Castleford Tigers may have come close to Catalans Dragons last week and they weren’t helped by diarrhoea in the camp.

Illness is the reason why Gareth Widdop is still absent.

Last said on BBC Radio Leeds:

“It is getting easier. Last week away in France we had a little bit of disruption due to a little bit of diarrhoea in camp.

“The French food obviously played some tricks on our tummies which wasn’t ideal, and unfortunately we lost Alex Sutcliffe in the warm-up so we had to make a quick adjustment and move Alex Mellor into centre and Muizz Mustapha into the pack.

“That’s the second time he’s done that, being named as 18th man and coming in and doing a really good job.

“Gareth Widdop is obviously still not available for us., he’s still suffering with this viral infection so he’s a little bit under the weather so we’re monitoring him and keeping a close eye on him.”

He also spoke highly of young Jack Broadbent who filled in for Widdop:

“We’ve got the likes of Mahe Fonua, Jack Broadbent and Jordan Turner so there’s some options for us in the centre spots.

“Broady did a great job for us at half-back and that allowed him to get his hands on the ball a little bit more, so that’s something I’m considering continuing with.

“He was so effective for us last week, it’s somewhere where he gets his hands on the ball a little bit more and he’s such a good running threat that he can showcase it by being one pass closer to the action.”