WAKEFIELD TRINITY look likely to lose forward Renouf Atoni for several weeks after he limped from the pitch in Perpignan during Saturday night’s 24-20 golden-point defeat to Catalans Dragons.
The 29-year-old Kiwi pulled up in the second half at Stade Gilbert Brutus and spent the rest of the game on the sidelines with his lower leg wrapped in ice packs.
“It doesn’t look great for Renouf,” said coach Daryl Powell after the match.
“He has a calf injury and (Australian prop) Caleb Hamlin-Uele couldn’t go back on with an arm injury, so we’ll get them checked out but Renouf clearly won’t be available next week.”
Powell will have to rejig his pack for Sunday’s Magic Weekend closing game against local rivals Castleford Tigers. But the Trinity boss is confident that his team is progressing nicely despite the narrow defeat to the Dragons.
He said, “It’s disappointing but we’ve got a fair team here, we compete every single week and we’ve gone close today.
“There’s an argument to say we could have won that game; we get to golden-point and go down to twelve men (after Mason Lino’s sinbinning) and that makes it so tough.
“I’m really proud of the boys and the effort tonight, we’ve got to learn lessons from it but we’re a pretty courageous team, plenty come here and cave in but we’re not one of them, which is pretty pleasing.”
Powell said he hoped strong ticket sales at Newcastle from Trinity supporters will be an “extra man” for his side on Sunday.
He added, “Our supporters have been outstanding all the way through for us; we met a few of them around town in Perpignan which was great but at the end of the day you want to win the game for them and we haven’t been able to do that.
“That’s the real disappointment. I thought we put enough in there today to get the win but sometimes that’s just the way it goes.”
