Injury report: Leeds Rhinos star set for week on sidelines and big Ryan Hall update

Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards might face off today but last night rugby league fans were treated to St Helens against Leeds Rhinos live on Sky, whilst Hull KR also hosted Castleford Tigers away from the television.

Saints entered the game short on man power in their pack after their horrific injury crisis during the Leigh Leopards Challenge Cup semi-final battle but a young pack did plenty of work and helped secure the victory.

Despite the ground work and the grunt of the pack it was the moment of brilliance from Jack Welsby that secured the win for Paul Wellens side as they edged out 22-18 winners, the first of these two sides meetings in Super League this season that weren’t settled by a solitary point.

As for injuries accrued last night all of St Helens men held up fine which will be a huge relief for Paul Wellens given his thinning squad.

The only concern may have been whether Will Hopoate’s hamstring held up but the centre put in a ‘Rolls Royce’ performance as described by many fans on social media, and played the game at a brilliant level of itnensity.

As for Leeds though they couldn’t say the same as they saw one man depart the field and not return and that was winger David Fusitu’a whose attempted dive over try in the corner saw him pick up a head knock, after which he was visbily shaken.

To nobody’s surprise the former New Zealand Warrior failed his HIA which will mean he is guaranteed to miss next week’s fixture given the RFL’s policy surrounding HIA and return to play procedure.

In the immediate press conference Rohan Smith did confirm that Fusitu’a was okay.

Smith told Leeds Rhinos Youtube channel: “Yeah he was fine, he didn’t pass the protocol but shortly after he was fine and he’s feeling fine in there. His health is number one and we’ll go through the process there.”

As for the other match it seemed that whilst Castleford fell to another damaging defeat that was the only blow they suffered, with the 17 men seemingly making it through the game okay barring Liam Watts, however Andy Last provided an update.

“He just went off with a head bang at the end,” Last told the Castleford Tigers Youtube Channel.

“It’s not a HIA but obviously he went down with his head so he got the green card and had to spend two minutes off the field.”

When questioned about Warrington loanee Riley Dean holding his arm, Last confirmed he hadn’t yet spoke to the physios so it’s potentially one to watch.

As for the victorious Rovers they had two men removed via substitution who didn’t return but Willie Peters provided an update on them whilst speaking with KRTV.

“Yeah, well, Minnie (Elliot Minchella) is carrying that neck so he’s still struggling with that so I wanted to get him off and then Tom just before half-time was pretty similar to Ryan Hall.

“Obviously he was not as bad because we didn’t have to pull him out but he’s got a hip pointer and he’s been hit there. So that was started to hurt him and cause a bit of grief, so that’s why we got him off.”

That seemingly suggests there are no further injuries for the Challenge Cup Final in two weeks time with Peters also providing an update on Ryan Hall, who was withdrawn from the warm-up ahead of last week’s semi-final.