Castleford lose Raper to injury

the australian hooker, Aaron Raper, has left Castleford after conceding that a neck injury would keep him out for most of the season. The brother of the former Castleford coach, Stuart Raper, he has played 59 times for them in his three seasons at The Jungle, but has been out for the past two months and medical advice is that he could be missing for as long again.

"I am very disappointed to be leaving the Tigers, and I should stress that it has nothing to do with Stuart leaving the club. I actually suffered the injury whilst he was still here," he said. "I've had a great time with the Tigers and enjoyed working with the players and I'm sad to be leaving in these circumstances but my neck injury isn't going away."

Cas have reached a severance settlement with Raper, who plans to travel in Europe before trying to find a place in country football in Australia. Castleford, who lost the elder Raper to Wigan last month, appear to have no plans to bring in an instant replacement for the younger bother and say they will now give an extended opportunity to Aaron's stand-in, Andy Speak, with the highly-rated former Academy hooker, Wayne Godwin, also available.

The Sale and England rugby union winger, Steve Hanley, has started training with St Helens in an effort to revive his career after missing out on representative selection this summer. Hanley, who played Academy rugby at Whitehaven in his teens, would be available for Saints if selected, but will return to Sale in time for the start of their pre-season training.