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Powell “praying” that star is ok after leaving field distraught with injury

Daryl Powell was happy with the win against Wakefield, but was hoping for good news on the injury front with Gareth O’Brien after the halfback limped off.

“Matty Crowther (Castleford’s physio) checked his ACL, but that was alright and that’s always the worst case scenario,” Powell said.

“He felt a little bit better after the game, but he was so disappointed and I’m praying that he’s alright and he can get back out there as soon as possible.

“He’s picked up injuries a fair bit and hasn’t been able to get a run together, but he also he takes injuries pretty badly.”

The Castleford boss also had an injury concern with Jesse Sene-Lefao whilst Paul McShane is unlikely to be available for next week’s trip to Catalans.

“Jesse has tweaked his hamstring, so we will get him checked, but he’s hit a decent period of form, so it would be a blow if he’s out for a while.

“Next week we will probably be without Paul McShane because of the international game so I would expect him to be in and around the England setup which will leave us with another reshuffle.”

Powell praised his side for the way they combatted the heat and the reshuffle following O’Brien’s injury.

“It was hard work and a tough game and you could see it was attritional with the heat which the players aren’t used to and then obviously we lost Gaz and were forced to reshuffle.

“I thought the boys did really well to win the game; we’re not all singing and dancing, we lacked fluency but we were better defensively which was important.

“We won the game and that’s the most important thing for us at the moment.

“We’re tough to watch at the moment, we hurt ourselves significantly all the way through.

“We started pretty scratchy and ended up consistently coming off our try-line – then at the end they get that try and it’s all on and we don’t get that drop goal.”

Powell did have great words to say about one of his players in particular.

“I thought Peter Mata’utia was big tonight, his carries had a lot of punch.

“I thought they defended him pretty well initially, but that adjustment to come on the inside for that try was really good.

“I thought he had a really strong game on both sides with and without the ball.”

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