South Wales Scorpions take on high flying London Skolars on Sunday at Caerphilly RFC (kick-off 3pm), London being a team who will be under pressure for an away win after beating Barrow Raiders last week.
The Skolars had already taken the scalps of Keighley Cougars in the last month, giving the Yorkshire side a big challenge ahead of their iPro Sports Cup Final win, and are now in prime position for a top eight finish after their win over the Cumbrians.
It’s set to be an exciting clash at Virginia Park with the result capable of going either way.
South Wales Scorpions lost at Doncaster last week but are in good spirits after training and recovery this week, knowing that recent history is on their side against the Skolars.
Scorpions’ coach Phil Carleton said: “I think we’ve won two out of our last three games against Skolars and we’re hoping to repeat that at Caerphilly. It’s a big ask, they’ve been having some great performances and they’re high on confidence and we’re probably a little bit low on confidence but everyone has their bogey teams. Again we’ll try to right our wrongs and if we get those right, we’ll be close – it’s just a case of making sure we do.
“Last week, the result itself was disappointing but I was more disappointed in the performance. I’ve mentioned before that we didn’t want to concede before and after half-time and the first thing we did in the second half was concede two tries in five minutes. That’s simply not good enough. We’ve made that known to the boys and we expect better than that.
“Take nothing away from Doncaster they were professional, they took their chances well. We were just far off the mark again and it’s something we’ve got to keep addressing.”
Half-back Paul Emanuellli comes back into the squad this week with hopefully more returnees to be confirmed.
London Skolars, who won 42–34 last week, to beat Barrow for the first time in their history, will be wary of their trip to Wales.
Skolars’ coach Jermaine Coleman said: “I was particularly pleased with the performance of our middles. I gave them quite a lot of criticism the week before after the Hunslet game and for them to come out and put in a performance like they did against Barrow – hats off to them, they showed a lot of character.
“South Wales have been a little bit of a bogey team for us over the last couple of years. A few times they’ve put Skolars to the sword so they’re certainly not a team to be taken likely. They beat us at home last year so we’ll be giving them the utmost respect. Phil’s doing a fair job down there, every week they’re competing for longer and doing a lot better.
“We have to turn up there and perform in the same way we did for Barrow because if we don’t, we could be in for a little bit of a banana skin.”
Forward Toby Everett is doubtful with a calf injury while James Woodburn-Hall and Sam Druce are both on duty with the England Students squad.
Tickets costing £8 for adults, £5 concessions and £1 for juniors can be bought by going to www.scorpionsrl.com.
What do you think?
Post on our forum – http://swscorpionsrl.proboards.com/
Help keep news FREE for our readers
Supporting your local community newspaper/online news outlet is crucial now more than ever. If you believe in independent journalism, then consider making a valuable contribution by making a one-time or monthly donation. We operate in rural areas where providing unbiased news can be challenging. Read More About Supporting The West Wales Chronicle
