Castleford clash with Leeds in doubt after three positive coronavirus tests at Tigers

The Tigers say three players have tested positive for Covid-19 and are self-isolating in line with Government regulations.

With a further six ruled out as part of track and trace and another 11 injured, Castleford coach Daryl Powell says he has just 14 players available but will check on three more on Thursday morning before making a final decision on the game.

Rules introduced since the start of the pandemic state a club can postpone a fixture if seven or more players are unavailable for ‘Covid-related reasons’.

Powell said: “We’ve up to 20 players unavailable for various reasons, which is unprecedented across rugby league I think.

“It’s really rattled us as a group. We’re in a bit of trouble here, obviously with Covid and we’ve got a significant number of players who are injured.

“We’ve got 14 fit players and three who will be looked at in the morning who are real doubts. In a normal week, they wouldn’t play. It’s a really tough situation to be in.

“Obviously we want to play the game. We’ve had to do all sorts of things to keep our season going and have just got on with it.

“How this is going to pan out in the morning I just don’t know. Clearly we can’t go into a game with 14 players.

“It looks an impossible task at the moment, but we’re leaving it as late as possible.”