Castleford Tigers will be without star centre Krystian Mapapalangi next week, after he failed a head injury assessment in defeat to St Helens.
The Tigers exited the Challenge Cup at the hands of the Red Vee, after losing out 32-8 to Paul Rowley’s side.
Ashton Golding and Jason Qareqare crossed for the home side, but it is yet another defeat for Ryan Carr’s men, who this week will take on Warrington Wolves away from home.
As well as exiting the Cup competition, another blow suffered by the West Yorkshire side on Saturday evening was that the club’s stand-out player in 2026, Mapapalangi, suffered a head knock.
As part of one of few Tigers attacking plays on the night, the ball was shifted left through the hands, and after taking a ball in from Daejarn Asi, quickly managed to find winger Qareqare who converted the opportunity.
However, after releasing the ball he was met by the shoulder of Saints winger Kyle Feldt, who had rushed out of the defensive line to put pressure on the centre.
Feldt hit the head of Mapapalangi, and saw yellow, leaving Saints down to 12, however the Tigers came off worse, given that they lost their star man for the remainder of the game, and he will be missing next week too.
In fact, the entire of Castleford’s left edge went off for HIA’s at some point in the game, with Carr explaining post-match how much of an effect that had on his side.
“We lost George Hirst [back row] to a head knock. He got smacked straight across the face. We lose him for 15 minutes yet we don’t even get a penalty.
“‘Gary’ [Qareqare] I don’t know how many times he got hit in the head. The poor kid kept getting up, kept trying to play and do his best.
“‘Maps’ [Mapapalangi] obviously failed his HIA on the try assist where we set [Qareqare] up.
“It was a disruption. I said to the group that the try from Feldt down that left edge when we had Ashton, poor Ashton [Golding] on the wing and we had Jordan Lane at three-man, it was just a shambolic edge from us, if you’re looking at it from the outside in.”
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