York v Scorpions and Bridgend v Scorpions U20 previews and squads

By Ian Golden,

South Wales Scorpions travel to York City Knights this Sunday (kick-off 3pm) knowing that it will be one of their toughest away trips of the season.

 

The Scorpions lost at home to Hemel Stags last week and coach Phil Carleton is looking for a big improvement in regards to effort in this week’s game.

 

“We were poor,” he said. “However we had prepared well so only had ourselves to blame. Fair play to Hemel, they did exactly what they had to do and did it well.

 

“We’re a little bit sore this week and we’ve got a tough test up in York. We had a good training session in midweek so we’ll be okay.

 

“I’ve picked a few boys who haven’t played much in the last few weeks to give then a go and a chance to prove a few points, so I’ll be watching them closely.

 

“We’re under no illusion about the task at hand and with injuries to a few key positions, I’m great full to Rich and Martin at Halifax for helping us out again. I’m sure the boys involved will fit straight in.”

 

Scorpions make a number of changes from last week’s side. Jordan Sheridan, Barrie Phillips, Nick Rawsthorne, Aiden Hema and Kristian Hawkes are all unavailable, while Rhys Davies picked up a shoulder injury in training.

 

Mike Connor, Billy Gaylor and Kristian Baller all return and there are two potential debutants.

 

Former Gloucestershire All Golds full-back Joe Martin is named on dual registration from Halifax, whilst, six years after first signing with the club, Loren Quick could make his senior debut!

 

25-year old centre / second row Quick, a former Celtic Crusaders and Warrington Wolves academy player, played in just friendly matches in his first spell with the Scorpions. The Wales and Great Britain under 18 international then played against the Scorpions while at Warrington before going back to Cardiff and playing rugby union locally for the past few years.

 

York City Knights lost 30-16 at Dewsbury Rams in the Challenge Cup last week. Their coach James Ford said: “We took plenty from the game. We went toe-to-toe with a good Championship team for long periods and came away with a lot of credibility. The game was much closer than the scoreline suggested.

 

“It will be a different kind of challenge this week and one that we need to approach professionally. Teams at the bottom of the table are desperate to turn clubs like us over. They’ll come full of energy so we need to make sure we approach it like any other game.

 

“We’ve got high standards in this club and in one or two areas last week we didn’t quite hit them. This week we’ll be looking to make sure we hit them across the board.”

 

South Wales Scorpions’ second team travel to Pyle RFC on Sunday to face Bridgend Blue Bulls in a pre-season friendly (kick-off 3pm).

 

Bridgend will use this game as important preparation in their defence of the Welsh Conference title whilst for the Scorpions youngsters, it will be great experience playing against an established community side.

 

The two clubs are officially linked and this is the first historic game between them since the partnership commenced.

 

Blue Bulls’ team manager Steve Smith said: “Our game all the way back in January in the Challenge Cup was an historic moment for the club. A spirited performance and a never say due attitude ended with a hard lesson learned, but we had a great experience and has given us the motivation to get to the second round next year.

 

“Developing links between Bridgend Blue Bulls and South Wales Scorpions is a great opportunity for both teams and It’s a fantastic opportunity for the bulls players to have a competitive start to pre-season and a potential pathway to a higher level of the game .

 

“It will be a change for both squads to have game time. Pressure is on us to defend the title for a third year but we will be up for the challenge.

“In other club news, recruitment in our junior section has been overwhelming player wise, we just need a few volunteers to help run the game day operations. The future is looking strong for the Bulls.”

 

Scorpions’ head of youth Paul Emanuelli and captain Zak Williams will both miss the game as they’ll playing for the first team at York, but the side will be in good hands with Dai Goddard and Tarek Hussein taking charge off the field and Ben Jones set to lead the side on it.

 

Emanuelli said: “Everyone is really looking forward to Sunday’s game, we’ve not had a fixture for the last few weeks so the opportunity to play Bridgend has come at the right time for us.

 

“The boys have had a spring in their step this week and are looking forward to getting some game time.

 

“Having played against the Blue Bulls many times as a player I know that they’ll really bring a big challenge for us on the weekend.

 

“I’m going to be missing a handful of lads due to Wales students training and captain Zak Williams being with the senior squad but our squad is full of talent and we have an exciting looking side ready to take Bridgend on at the weekend.”

 

SCORPIONS (from)

FIRST TEAM SQUAD	SPONSOR	TWITTER
3 Kyle Scrivens	Body Balance Sports and Hollistic Therapies	@scriv15
4 Yannic Parker	Court House Care Homes	@yannicparker
5 Dai Evans	Solvitall Ltd Caerphilly	@DaiEvs5
7 Paul Emanuelli	Sian Golden Translation and HG Landscapes Ltd	@10PAULO
8 Chris Davies	D & B Builders	C Davies
10 Izaak Duffy	Duffy and Co Solicitors	@IzaakDuffy
11 Bradley Hill	Body Balance Sports and Hollistic Therapies	B Hill
13 Chris Vitalini	www.ianlovell.com	C Vitalini
14 Osian Phillips	9-3 Change Management	@Osian_Phillips
17 Mike Connor	J.Beechey Carpentry Building & Roofing Services	@MichaelConnor06
19 Kristian Baller	Mirmidon Ltd	@kballer1987
21 Scott Gregory	Castle Health Ltd	@scottgregs12
22 Christiaan Roets	King Construction Consultants	@roetsy458
24 Zak Williams	AG Williams Building Maintenance and Forces Fitness	@wzak77
26 Luke Nelmes	Dual reg with Halifax	L Nelmes
30 Billy Gaylor	Dual reg with Halifax	@Billy97Gaylor
Joe Martin	Dual reg with Halifax	J Martin
Loren Quick	King Construction Consultants	@lorenquick1

 

YORK (from)

Richard Wilkinson
Ben Dent
Tyler Craig
Brad Hey
Austin Buchanan
Pat Smith
Danny Nicklas
Brett Waller
Harry Carter
Jack Aldous
Josh Tonks
Jack Anderson
Mike Emmett
Kristian Brining
Mark Applegarth
Ross Osborne
Jordan Crowther
James Morland
Jonny Presley

 

 

BRIDGEND (from)

1 Nathan Hawkins

2 Gareth Howells

3 Scott Johnson

4 Kieren Tomlin

5 Lloyd Allen

6 Lewis Allen

7 Tom Ansen

8 Jack Dryden

9 Daniel Forrester

10 Lloyd Giles

11 Dai Griggs

12 Rhys Haines

13 Aaron Harries

14 Kerian Hooper

15 Lewis Hughes

16 Nathaniel James

17 Thomas “Shinko” Jenkins

18 Gareth Lewis

19 Nathan Morgan

20 Joe Morgans

21 Joe Symons

22 Josh Tame

23 Marcus Thomas

24 Owen Thomas

25 Brodie Watkins

26 Owain Williams

27 Dale Wood

28 Issac Morris

29 Matthew Tame

 

SCORPIONS U20 (from)

1. Ben Jones (Captain)
2. Paul Edwards
3. Josh Stafford-smith
4. Shane Lee
5. Rhys Gant
6. Jake Thomas
7. Josh Williams
8. Rhys Finney
9. Tom Plance
10. Sam Buckthought

20.Matt Williams

24. Josh Bardon
25. Macauley Harris

28.. Liam Silver

31. Liam Maule
32. Huw Parks
33. Fraser Stroud
34. Rhys Davies

 

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