Paul Vaughan injury latest as York Knights’ star signing misses pre-season clash

York Knights coach Mark Applegarth has confirmed both Paul Vaughan and Josh Griffin will be fit for the opening round of the Super League season after missing the club’s pre-season clash with Huddersfield Giants.

Applegarth watched on as York fell to a 22-4 defeat at the hands of Huddersfield Giants, with two of his new recruits notably absent.

Vaughan has been dealing with a groin injury for several months and has had a disrupted pre-season, but was running as part of his conditioning at the Accu Stadium.

York take on Hull KR in the first Super League game of the year, and providing an update, he insisted he will be good to go.

“I don’t think it was any secret that he was carrying an injury during the back end of his stint at Warrington,” Applegarth told Love Rugby League.

“He’s just building back up into it. He’s an important player for us, and as you’ve seen he’s fully running, I just felt it was too early to drop him into a game environment, but if I needed to play Paul Vaughan today, he could have played. That was just me purely as a coach deciding to not risk him today, similar with Josh Griffin, I know we’ll need big minutes out of them come the Super League season.”

York looked promising with the ball in the outing, but found the going tough on the other side of the game.

Reflecting on what he had seen, Applegarth said: “Some really valuable lessons for us.

“I think the lads who’ve not played as much rugby at this level will understand the pace of the game now and the importance of sticking to systems when you get tired and there’s some really easy fix ups for us when we get back on the field.

“I thought that first half we were allowing it to be too quick and the game doesn’t change, if you get momentum and two or three quick rucks, it’s hard to defend against.”