Mark Applegarth issues worrying York Knights injury update as quartet suffer knocks

York Knights could be set to be without key quartet Toa Mata’afa, Sam Wood, Ben Jones-Bishop and Danny Richardson for their upcoming Super League clash with Huddersfield Giants, with Mark Applegarth issuing a concerning injury update.

Mata’afa, Jones-Bishop and Wood all featured in their 26-14 defeat to Wakefield Trinity last night (Friday, 27th March), but were substituted late in the second-half, while Richardson was not included in their match-day 17 despite being named in the extended 21-man squad.

This will come as unwelcome news to the Knights boss, who are also without Liam Harris, Mitch Clark, Kieran Hudson and Kieran Buchanan due to injuries.

Mark Applegarth issues concerning injury update on York Knights quartet

The immediate concerns post-match were for Mata’afa and Wood, who were seen receiving heavy treatment on the pitch following nasty knocks, and Applegarth confirmed they had suffered respective elbow and hand issues.

“It’s a dislocated elbow,” he told Sky Sports of Mata’afa. “He’s in good spirits, so I’ll see what the doctors say when we get in.

Of Wood, he added: “Woody’s got a compound fracture in his hand or finger. I couldn’t quite understand what they were saying at the time, but it’s a compound fracture. We’ll have to see.

“It’s a costly game, but that’s life,” Applegarth continued. We’ll dust ourselves down and get ready for a tough game next week.”

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The injury updates kept coming in his official post-match press conference, in which he detailed that Jones-Bishop was substituted with a foot issue.

“I’ll have to do a bit more digging on that; I don’t know if it’s a cut or something, but he’s got a bit of an issue with his foot. Once I’ve had the medical report, I’ll give more of an update.”

Half-back Richardson was also a surprising omission from the starting group for the clash at the LNER, but Applegarth confirmed he was a late withdrawal due to injury as well.

“He pulled out this afternoon,” he said. “He hurt his quad with literally the last kick of the team run yesterday.

“We left it until this afternoon, but it didn’t get any better.”

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