Powell condemns ‘crusher’ tackle on Clare

Castleford’s James Clare lies injured before being stretchered from the field

Castleford coach Daryl Powell urged officials to clamp down on “crusher” tackles after winger James Clare was injured during his side’s 30-22 Super League defeat by Wigan.

The game at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium was held up so that Clare could have treatment on the pitch for the injury before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Wigan loose forward Morgan Smithies was sin-binned for the tackle but Powell believes he should have faced more severe punishment and claims referee James Child failed to pick up on another ‘crusher tackle’, in which a player’s neck is bent forwards, earlier in the game.

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Wigan remain top of the Super League table after beating Castleford 30-22, despite being 12-0 down early in the first half

“It’s a crusher tackle, isn’t it?” Powell said. “It’s a really poor tackle.

“There was another one early on which got missed by the ref and we’re trying to get them out of the game. You can see the impact on the player when it happens.

“He’s gone to hospital, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that he’s OK.”

Wigan coach Adrian Lam said of the incident: “I haven’t seen it close enough but I was surprised he was sin-binned for it.”

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Wigan Warriors coach Adrian Lam says he was proud of his side’s performance to beat Castleford in Super League

Castleford were not due to have a game this weekend but filled a hole created by Catalans Dragons’ enforced absence due to positive Covid-19 tests and played their part in an entertaining contest.

They led 12-0 after 20 minutes thanks to converted tries from Gareth O’Brien and Nathan Massey but conceded two in the last quarter and have lost all three matches since the restart.

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Castleford boss Daryl Powell speaks of his disappointment after losing out to Wigan

“I thought we were really poor today,” Powell said. “There were some big turning points. We’re 12-0 up and make an error from the kick-off and they they score from it.

“I thought we were way off, it was a disappointing effort today and we’re going to have to respond quickly. I thought we stepped back a fair bit from our effort against St Helens.”

Joe Burgess and Ben Flower scored on their first appearances since the resumption as Wigan strengthened their position at the top of the table with a third straight win.

The Warriors were boosted by the return of veteran half-back Thomas Leuluai and he demonstrated his value to the team with an influential performance on his 300th Super League appearance but Lam was more delighted with the display of teenager Ethan Havard.

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Ethan Havard put in a man-of-the-match performance for Wigan

“Ethan Havard played 80 minutes in the front row and he’s a 19-year-old so I’m really proud of his efforts,” he said

“It was a really tough game and we had our backs against the wall for a long time at the start. We fought hard to get back in the game and managed it really well.

“Cas were great but we found a way to win today. I’m just really pleased and proud. We were brutal in defence at times.”