The Betfred Super League fixture between Castleford Tigers and St Helens scheduled for Wednesday night (June 30) has been cancelled, because an unusual range of circumstances have left Castleford unable to field a 17-man squad for the match.

In addition to a lengthy injury list among their senior squad, the Tigers have a number of young players with first team experience unavailable for selection as close contacts of a single Covid-19 positive – and separately, their Academy squad have all been advised to isolate as a result of two further positive tests.

The match has been awarded to St Helens with a 24-0 victory because Castleford do not meet the threshold for a postponement under the Covid-19 framework of seven senior players unavailable as a direct result of positive tests or as close contacts.

Man we live in strange times!

We certainly do and this is just another stick to beat the sport with. If the Cas have genuine reason why a number of the first team squad can not play such as injury and the academy players can not help fulfil the fixture due to covid protocols then surely the game should be re arranged rather than awarded. Was it St’s that had a game awarded last season too?

I find it strange the statement says a set of unusual circumstances???

So what’s the difference with Rovers postponing the Derby; the recent postponements with Cats, Leeds etc; and last Friday’s match with Hudds when both teams had very depleted teams?

Also, I wonder how they’d deal with this situation if it happened in the lead up to the Cup Final? Saints awarded the Cup with a 24-0 win and the BBC show a re-run of the Watersplash Final?

The difference is Rovers, Leeds, etc, used the covid protocols, I think Cas are saying they can’t field a team, subsequently losing the points.

I was just looking forward to watching or listening to the game, as it was a dress rehearsal for the cup final, it’s a real shame we are actually losing games, that’s the killer for me, our game may be run by muppets, but I still enjoy watching as many as I can.

Just wondering how many years it will take the sport to get over the last two seasons? If that is indeed possible?

Certainly going to be a catalyst for change, good or bad.

I hope the next time we have a deadly global pandemic that leaves millions dead Superleague tweaks the rules to prevent this type of situation from happening again.