Castleford confirm three positive Covid-19 tests

Three Castleford players have tested positive for Covid-19, the club have confirmed.

The tests came about from this week’s round of testing conducted by all Super League clubs.

The three squad members are now self-isolating for a minimum of 10 days in line with Government guidelines, while a further six players have also been stood down following track and trace analysis.

The positive tests throw Thursday’s Super League clash with Leeds into major doubt, with the Tigers claiming only 14 fit players are now available for selection, with a further three to undergo fitness tests on Thursday morning.

“This has really rattled us as a group,” said Tigers head coach Daryl Powell. “We are in a bit of trouble. We have a significant number of players who are injured, some long term, some medium term.

“We have 14 fit players. We have three who will be looked at in the morning who are real doubts.

“It is a really tough situation to be in. Obviously, we want to play the game. We have had to do all sorts to keep our season going.

“How this is going to pan out in the morning, I do not know.

“We have serious doubts over three players who are battling through injuries and we have been rattled from all sorts of angles here.”

The RFL’s threshold to allow postponement of a fixture is the non-availability of seven or more of a club’s top 25 salaried players, however clubs can still choose to play games in these circumstances.