Castleford forced to forfeit fixture against St Helens

The Betfred Super League fixture between Castleford Tigers and St Helens scheduled for Wednesday night (June 30) has been cancelled, because an unusual range of circumstances have left Castleford unable to field a 17-man squad for the match.

In addition to a lengthy injury list among their senior squad, the Tigers have a number of young players with first team experience unavailable for selection as close contacts of a single Covid-19 positive – and separately, their Academy squad have all been advised to isolate as a result of two further positive tests.

The match has been awarded to St Helens with a 24-0 victory because Castleford do not meet the threshold for a postponement under the Covid-19 framework of seven senior players unavailable as a direct result of positive tests or as close contacts.