Huddersfield Giants officials say they are working with Ukuma Ta’ai to resolve his RFL clearance to enable him to play against Catalans this weekend. The Tongan forward is working with a specialist lawyer to resolve the issue, which stopped him playing for the Giants in their opening-round defeat against Salford.
A club spokesman described the process as “extremely complex and frustrating for all concerned but especially Ukuma who has been away from his family now for some time trying to resolve this matter.”
The possibility of gaining clearance for this weekend is described as 50/50.
The club have been hit by a further blow, with head of performance Mark Andrews returning to Australia over the weekend to be with his family. He will continue to work for the club remotely, however, in a similar fashion to Simon Woolford before he arrived in the UK last year to take up his role as head coach.
However, although he had to return to Australia over the weekend to be with his family, Andrews is expected to return back to the UK in early April.