Whitehaven will have to give late fitness tests to some of their key players in the hope that they will be able to take on Batley Bulldogs on Saturday.

Director of rugby James Robinson says there are question marks over Louis Jouffret, Ugo Perez and John Paul Brocklebank ahead of the crunch tie at the Recreation Ground, ko 6.30pm.

And Robinson says this is a game they must win after last weekend’s defeat at Oldham pulled them right back into the relegation dogfight.

“We are still carrying a few knocks and we are hoping that they will pull through but we are struggling a little bit,” admitted Robinson.

“Louis, Ugo and Brocky will all need late fitness tests and if they are not ready then we will have to reshuffle and play people in different positions.

“We were beaten twice by Batley by just one point but now we just need to concentrate and get the two points on offer as they are vital.”

Robinson admitted that the loss at Oldham was disappointing for everyone involved with the club.

“Getting beat last week at Oldham pulled us back into the relegation battle which we wanted to avoid,” he added.

“I think we just took it for granted that we would go down there and turn them over. But what we have to remember is that every game in this league is a tough one.

“It was a pretty hard result to take to be honest, it was probably one of our easier games over the next few weeks so it’s disappointing to get beaten.”

Robinson did welcome the news that the RFL has launched a new, independent Match Officials Standards Panel to look more closely at the officiating of the game.

The panel members include Whitehaven-born former referee Stuart Cummings, ex-St Helens star Chris Joynt, mind coach Jeff Pettitt, general manager of Badminton Wales Sue Maughan and chair Janie Frampton, the former chief executive of Sports Officials UK.

The panel will be an independent audit system to assess the quality of refereeing and will report back to the RFL board and stakeholders as to whether the standard is improving, staying level or declining.

Robinson said: “We were winning by a point at Batley when the linesman came on and gave a penalty against us which wasn’t a penalty and we lost the game.

“They admitted it wasn’t a penalty afterwards but by then the damage is done. It can be the difference between a club staying up or going down so it has to be a good thing that they are looking into it further.”

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