Wolves

The domestic season will end with the Super League Grand Final on Saturday, 3 October, with England’s first match of the World Cup against Tonga in Perth, Australia scheduled for 17 October.

Williams has been captain of England since 2023.

Brian McDermott, speaking on Thursday after his appointment as England head coach, had said he “did not have any intentions” to change captains prior to the World Cup.

Speaking before kick-off, Warrington head coach Sam Burgess said: “George will probably go for surgery at some point in the next week or two.

“It’s unfortunate for George and the club. There are a number of ways to look at it so we’ve decided to take the positive route. Given the nature of where the injury is, we’re happy that we’ve got hold of it.

“Hopefully he can make a great recovery and we’ll see him back [in action] – if it’s not this year, then hopefully next year.”

Every year when the fixtures are announced you hear the familiar refrain that “it doesn’t matter, you play everyone twice”.

But there is no doubt that when you face a certain team can make a big difference across a 10-month campaign.

With five games remaining Spurs will definitely think their run-in, at least on paper, gives them every chance of staying up.

Next up is a trip to Wolves, whose relegation to the Championship was confirmed on Monday.

A home match against Leeds on 11 May is another Tottenham will view as an opportunity, especially if Farke’s side have ensured their safety by then.

Even a tricky-looking match at Champions League-chasing Aston Villa on 3 May comes at a good time for Spurs, as it falls between the two legs of the Europa League semi-final for Unai Emery’s men.

A visit to rivals Chelsea before hosting Everton on the final day is not a straightforward way to finish, given both teams seem likely to be fighting for European places.

But, given how tight things are, that is something all the relegation candidates will have to deal with.

West Ham host Everton on Saturday before an away game at Brentford – and it only gets tougher with title-chasing Arsenal the visitors to London Stadium on 10 May.

Even with Newcastle enduring a disappointing season, an away game at St James’ Park on the penultimate weekend is far from simple and there could be plenty riding on the home match against Leeds on the last day.

Forest arguably face the toughest last five with away games at Chelsea and Manchester United in May – the former coming just three days before the second leg of the Reds’ Europa League semi-final against Villa.

Home games against Newcastle and Bournemouth, on the last day, could be crucial but getting a result at Sunderland on Friday would help alleviate a lot of stress for Vitor Pereira’s side before the remainder of the run-in.

Even without the obvious emotional attachment, Steve McNamara feels like an excellent appointment for Hull FC; after all there are few coaches on the market who have his calibre, his experience, his list of achievements.

Hull is a notoriously intense place to be involved in rugby league, a goldfish bowl of passion and expectation that McNamara as much as anyone will be aware of and ready for, but also who understands and feels that passion himself.

It is an acquisition for the Black and Whites that makes total sense. John Cartwright has established a good culture at Hull since taking over, but you sense McNamara can take them even further.

He went into Catalans and changed the club from a stop-off point for expensively recruited flawed yet gifted imports into a proper ‘team’. The Dragons won a Challenge Cup and made two Grand Finals, despite all of the trials and tribulations faced by the Perpignan club in terms of travel and financial costs.

After being thrust into the Bradford job as a young coach, taking on England equally in the relative infancy of his career and having developed his coaching as a highly-rated assistant in the NRL with Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Warriors before his Catalans adventure, McNamara has armed himself with a variety of skills and experiences.

McNamara is likely to be backed by co-owner Andrew Thirkill and director of rugby Richie Myler, overhauling the squad in his own manner, but he is also a coach that should instill confidence in Hull’s homegrown talent – Lewis Martin, Davy Litten, Harvey Barron – all players who would find themselves a key part of the future vision.

You only have to look at the improvement at Warrington in 2026, McNamara has bolstered Sam Burgess’ staff, his fingerprints are all over the upturn in fortunes, and the results are tangible.

Importantly, you feel McNamara will have time and tremendous goodwill from the fanbase. Time to build, time to implement and time to get it right.

Of course, that brings extra pressure, being that ‘hometown’ appointment with the expectation he can drive Hull towards becoming a genuine force. McNamara is in the career arc you feel will give him the ability to cope.

There are sure to be plenty more twists and turns in the final weeks of the season.

But, after their hard-fought and well-deserved win against Wolves, West Ham‘s players can at least breathe a sigh of relief as attention turns to their relegation rivals – Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Spurs – for the rest of the weekend.

Up first are Forest, who host Champions League-chasing Aston Villa at 14:00 BST on Sunday, after a gruelling Europa League quarter-final first leg against Porto on Thursday.

Later in the day, Spurs, as mentioned, will have to inflict just a fourth home defeat of the season on an impressive Sunderland side if they are to move out of the relegation zone at the first time of asking.

Leeds – one point and two places above West Ham – round off the weekend’s fixtures on Monday when they travel to Manchester United.

But it will not be easy against one of their fiercest rivals – Daniel Farke’s men have not won at Old Trafford in the league since 1981.

A favourable weekend of fixtures for the Hammers then?

It is little wonder West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen admitted he would be keeping a close eye on the television over the weekend.

“I’ve got three kids to entertain but I will keep an eye on the games,” added Bowen. “We have a bit of time before the game against Palace then go again.

“The spirit, the togetherness is so important in this situation. You can always have quality, but you need grit and desire and a will to win through the whole squad.

“The only thing we know as a club is to keep fighting and doing what we’re doing and take it into the next six games.”

Warrington coach Sam Burgess told BBC Sport:

“It was very clean. Firstly, I liked our physicality early in the game. We were physical when we needed to be and kept hold of the ball – I don’t think we made an error until late in the game so it made it very hard for Castleford.

“The ball bounced our way, we had a few calls so it just fell in our lap. You have those days so we’ll take them but it was a very polished performance and I’m happy with it.

“At half-time we challenged them as we thought they might be complacent and take our foot off the gas but we were very consistent with who we want to be. Today was a good step forward for us as a group.

“Kelepi was nice for us and George [Williams] prefers playing on the left and Ewan [Irwin] slots on the right so the balance of the team was nice, and the control.”

Castleford coach Ryan Carr told BBC Sport:

“It was horrible, not good enough. They played really well, we played really poorly, and that sums it up.

“There are no excuses for it. It hurts you, losing middles to head knocks, but at the end of the day we didn’t make the decision to go out, put our bodies on the line and go after it.

“We’re not going to skim over it. We’re going to have a good look at ourselves. I feel like we have been competing in the last few games but it’s a disappointing day for us.

“It’s embarrassing and not good enough. I feel sorry for our members and our fans and we have to make sure that we fix it.

“The tries they scored were things we had talked about all week, that we’d worked hard on, specific drills to combat what they’re good at, because they’re a good footy team.

“But when they’re making a line-break straight through your middle third that’s nothing to do with personnel, that’s just whoever is in that jersey needs to make that tackle.”