St Helens v Castleford Tigers: 'massive blow' as star suffers long-term injury in 'embarrassing' England Test
Castleford Tigers have suffered a huge blow with a key man ruled out for the rest of this season.
Centre Sam Wood suffered a shoulder injury on England duty against France last weekend and won’t play again in 2024, coach Craig Lingard revealed. “He needs a reconstruction on his shoulder,” Lingard said.
“As great as the international recognition was for Sam, it has not been great news for us. It is a massive blow, he has probably been our most consistent player - or one of them.”
Lingard added: “He deservedly got that recognition playing for England on the back of the form he showed for us. Even in games when we weren’t playing particularly well, he was one of the players - stats-wise and performance-wise - who was always at the top of the pecking order.
“It was a good boost and recognition for him to get that international cap and hopefully it’s the first of many, but unfortunately we have lost him not only for this week, but the rest of the season.
“If he carried on playing and made it worse, it could potentially be seven months. The three or three and a half months it’s going to be is the best-cast scenario and he will be back for pre-season.”
England recorded a routine 40-8 win against France in front of a paltry crowd in Toulouse and Wood’s injury adds to doubts whether the mid-season Test was worthwhile. Lingard insisted: “I want players to play for their county.
“It benefits us because it shows if you come to play for Castleford you’re not putting yourself out of international recognition. I’d certainly not hold any players back and want to do as much as I can to make sure the international game grows, but it has got to be better than it was.
“The pinnacle of anybody’s career is representing their country. We’ve got to make sure the spectacle represents that as well. I don’t think [last weekend] did any good for the game, at all.
“As a sport we need to grow the international game. I’ll be fully supportive of it as a club coach, but it’s frustrating when you lose a player who’s been so influential for us in a game of the magnitude that one was. I think it was a bit of an embarrassment for the game.”
Potential replacement Josh Hodson suffered an injury in the reserves last week, so Alex Mellor will switch to centre for Friday’s trip to St Helens. A jaw injury in training means Sylvester Namo also drops out of Tigers’ initial squad, along with Nixon Putt (quad) and Sam Hall (shoulder).
“We’ve not rested anybody, the 21-man squad is our fit players,” Lingard stated. George Lawler, Daniel Hindmarsh, Luis Johnson, Samy Kibula and Liam Watts are the men back in contention.
St Helens: from Welsby, Blake, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Lees, Mata'utia, Mbye, Bell, Sironen, Paasi, Delaney, Davies, Royle, Burns, Ritson, Vaughan, Stephens, Cowen, Robertson.
Castleford Tigers: from Hooley, I Senior, Miller, Watts, Lawler, El-Zakhem, Mellor, Westerman, Horne, Griffin, Milnes, Mustapha, Qareqare, Robb, Kibula, Hill, Johnson, Hindmarsh, Hoy, C Hall, English.
Referee: Tom Grant (Leeds). Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.