Castleford Tigers head coach Ryan Carr has explained his decision to drop winger Mikaele Ravalawa for Thursday’s 40-28 win over Bradford Bulls.
Ravalawa was a notable omission from the squad on Thursday night with the ex-NRL winger the main casualty from the side that lost 72-6 to Warrington Wolves in round five.
Instead, Semi Valemei moved to the wing with centre Krystian Mapapalangi returning, helping set up winger Jason Qareqare for a hat-trick with that left edge pair coming in for huge praise from Carr when he spoke post-match.
“He’s a real talent is Maps. I’m happy to see him playing some good rugby,” the Tigers’ head coach said in a video shared on the Castleford YouTube channel.
“We missed him last week a bit there and Gary (Jason Qareqare) is backing himself, which pleases me. He always held back a bit but now he’s backing himself, his speed and his ability and that sort of goes for all of them.
“I just want them to back themselves and be confident because they’re all good players, I just want to make sure they understand that.”
Castleford Tigers boss reveals Ravalawa injury
That duo’s success further highlighted the decision to leave out Ravalawa, however, Carr explained that it was not solely down to performance as he revealed the ex-NRL man has been struggling with a leg injury.
Asked about his omission, Carr said: “Couple of reasons, he’s carrying a leg complaint that we need to get to the bottom of and figure it out so we’re doing a bit of an investigation around that, which you would have seen in his running pattern at the end of games.
“He starts off alright but then it wears down on him and also we were disappointed and he was disappointed with the performance last week, so we just felt like that was the best combination.”
Carr did conclude with support for the winger, stating: “I’ve still got full confidence in him to do a job but we’ve just got to make sure that we get him fit and healthy and at his flying best, which he can be.”
Having praised Wigan Warriors’ loanee Tom Forber when speaking to Sky Sports, Carr was asked again about the youngster and if there would be a prospect of a longer deal than the initial month.
“I think we’ve used five hookers now in six rounds,” he said, before hailing the Wigan man.
“We love having him. He’s fit in really well with the boys over the last 48 hours and I just want what is best for him. If he gives us that attitude and that level of effort then that’s all we can ask for and whatever happens, happens after that.”
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