Joynt denies injection caused collapse

Chris Joynt, the St Helens captain, is to undergo tests to identify the medical problems that have seen him collapse twice this season.

Joynt is also considering legal action following suggestions on Sky TV that his latest attack, before the game at the London Broncos on Sunday, was caused by taking a pain-killing injection.

"It's totally untrue," said Joynt. "I've never taken a pain-killing injection and the club doesn't condone them. I've been a professional for 12 years and the reason I've played for so long is that I've not had needles. The matter is in the club's hands now and something will be done about it."

Joynt's coach, Ian Millward, backed up his captain. "I'm very unhappy about such unprofessional comments being made on TV," he said. "They are very damaging to the player, the club and to our doctor."

Joynt collapsed while in camp with the Lancashire County of Origin squad this summer and suffered an allergic reaction before Sunday's game at Brentford, originally thought to be linked with a mouthwash he used.

"This was completely different from the first case," he said. "I was three and a half hours in hospital while they sorted it out. It could have been thousands of things – the mouthwash was just the last thing I used. It's no exaggeration to say I could have lost my life."

Despite that, Joynt hopes to feature for Saints in their first Super League play-off game, against Bradford a week on Saturday.

The Hull captain, Jason Smith, has ruled himself out of the play-off meeting with Leeds on Friday, despite intensive work on his elbow injury. The second-rower Sean Ryan should be fit to play against Leeds.

Castleford's Dale Fritz has been cleared to play against Wigan on Saturday after being told he has no case to answer over a suspected spear tackle for which he was placed on report at Salford on Sunday. The Wigan coach, Stuart Raper, says he will have Andy Farrell, Terry O'Connor and Julian O'Neill backfor that match.

Karl Harrison, the coach of relegated Salford, says he will decide this week whether to remain in the job.