Doncaster v Scorpions preview

By Ian Golden,

South Wales Scorpions travel to Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium this Sunday with another tough task to overcome a Yorkshire side who will want to virtually seal their top eight place.

The Scorpions lost a competitive Welsh derby to North Wales Crusaders last week and coach Phil Carleton knows what’s needed for improvement.

He said: “We started well but we seem to have a black patch, just before half-time or just after half-time. It’s mental more than physical I think, we just seem to down tools when it gets close to half-time. We’ve been working on trying to eradicate that this week because we’ve been losing games in 10 to 15-minute spells three or four weeks on the bounce now. Credit to Crusaders they played well, got themselves back into the game and held onto it.

“We’ll be going up to Doncaster positive and looking to improve again. We’ll be looking to maintain the good points from last week and improve in those areas before and after half-time. It’s about staying competitive for as long as we can. We’ve got to make sure we’re losing games at the end, not in the middle or the beginning.. We’re under no illusions, we’re a couple of boys down this week with injuries so it is going to be a big ask but we’re not daunted by the task.”

Due to injuries and unavailabilities, Carleton’s 19-man squad for the trip is very different to that who lined up against North Wales Crusaders last week with Jordan Sheridan, Ian Newbury, Mike Connor, Paul Emanuelli, Chris Vitalini, Anthony Symons and Barrie Phillips all out.

However winger Dai Evans makes a return from injury and there are opportunities for under 20s players Ben Jones, Jake Thomas and Rhys Gant, who is line for a potential first team debut.

Luke Nelmes, Elliot Morris and Martyn Reilly are the Halifax dual registered players named, whilst Richard Jones and Jamie Murphy continue their loan from Gloucestershire All Golds.

Izaak Duffy will captain the Scorpions side.

Doncaster lost 46-26 at Toulouse Olympique last week. Coach Gary Thornton said: “I was pretty pleased with our second half performance, it was 28-22 at one point and I thought we were going to roll them over, but it wasn’t to be.

“They’re a good side and have the added benefit of being full-time. They’re a tough side to beat over there. Some of the tries we conceded were pretty poor but I thought we had a real dig in the second half and tested them quite a bit.

“South Wales are down there at the bottom but I don’t think you can take any team lightly. We’ve played a couple of development sides in Gloucester and Coventry and to be fair they’ve given us a good test for 60 minutes or so. We know they will be enthusiastic, they’ve got nothing to lose.

“The thing about these teams is that they never give in, so we’ve got to be really professional. Everybody’s expecting us to win, but we’ve got four games until we get to the play-offs and it’s four cup finals really because we want to finish as high up as we can and it starts on Sunday.

“We’re mindful of the fact that we haven’t got the best points’ difference but first and foremost it’s about getting the two points. I know that Phil will bring a team that will be competitive and they will be very encouraged by their performance last week against North Wales. I’ve watched the game and I thought they did pretty well, North Wales had to be at their best to win it. We’re going to have to make sure we don’t slip up.”

Prop Makali Aizue is a doubt with a knee injury but he has been named in Doncaster’s 19-man squad.

DONCASTER (from)

1 Tom Carr

2 Sam Doherty

3 Jason Tali

4 David Foggin-Johnston

5 Louis Sheriff

6 Jordan Howden

7 Jordie Hedges

8 Connor Scott

9 Kyle Kesik

10 Zach Braham

11 Brad Foster

12 Liam Welham

13 Makali Aizue

14 Mark Castle

15 Brad Nicholson

16 Ryan Wright

17 George Milton

18 Matt Nicholson

19 Jack Walton

What do you think?

Post on our forum – http://swscorpionsrl.proboards.com/