South Wales Scorpions v Hunslet Hawks – squads and match preview

South Wales Scorpions go into the final home game of the regular season this Sunday against Hunslet Hawks at Caerphilly RFC (kick-off 3pm) fielding their two newcomers who were announced earlier this week.

Former Super League prop Alex Davidson, who is on loan from Gloucestershire All Golds is expected to start, as is Welsh international Courtney Davies who will make his first Scorpions appearance in over three years after rejoining the club from over the border.

The Scorpions will have three more home games this summer on dates to be arranged, as part of the seven-team League 1 Shield competition which starts on the weekend of July 24^th but have three games left in the opening competition first, and will want a home win for a better placement in the final table.

The teams go into the game with different fortunes. Scorpions lost at home last week in a highly competitive game against London Skolars, whilst Hunslet, who alongside London are fighting for a place in the top eight in the final table, won 38-18 at home to Coventry Bears.

Reflecting on the London game, Scorpions’ coach Phil Carleton said: “We had a massive amount of possession and for great parts of the game I felt we were better than them. I think it’s the difference between a side that’s winning games and a side that’s not winning games. They scored two early tries, which were pretty soft, and then we made them fight for everything but they took their chances whereas we didn’t.

“Credit to Jermaine and his boys, they deserved to win but we had a great attitude, defended really, really well for the most part but if you don’t put the ball over the line, you don’t get any scores. With 21 attacking sets you’d expect to have more than six points.

“We’ve been working hard this week and hopefully we can keep the same attitude and defend the same way and improve our attack. Hunslet ran close with Skolars so if we can do the same again, there’s no reason why we can’t have a go this week again.”

Scorpions have made a number of changes from last week’s game. Dai Evans and Bradley Hill are back from injury whilst Sion Jones returns from Wales Student international duty.

However Zak Williams is out with a broken finger and Yannic Parker with a groin injury.

Hunslet coach Matt Bramald said: “We were very good in the first half last week. We conceded an early try but then when we got on track we steamrollered Coventry. We got a little bit bogged down in the second half but there was never any concern in terms of the result. I’m reasonably happy, it’s another two points.

“It’s going to be a different challenge this week. Obviously we’ve got along journey, we’re going there and back in a day, which is a different challenge for the players in terms of their preparation. We’ve done a few things differently to try and combat that fatigue. We’re going to have a team meeting in a leisure centre down there and then go to the ground a little bit later than we normally would.

“We’ve got to be really on our guard. This is a game we’re expected to win, and I expect us to win it but we can’t just turn up and go through the motions. We’ll prepare respectfully in terms of the South Wales players and make sure we’re ready for the game.”

Hunslet full-back Jimmy Watson is out with a groin injury.

Sunday’s match against Hunslet Hawks is the culmination of an exciting afternoon of events which sees a Masters Rugby League festival between teams from South Wales, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Medway Dragons from Kent. The European Cup trophy, won by Wales last year, will also be on display and fans can have their photos taken with this. Tickets for the day, priced £8 for adults, £5 concessions and £1 juniors can be bought by going to www.scorpionsrl.com.

HUNSLET HAWKS (from)

Danny Ansell

Richie Barnett
Austin Bell

Simon Brown

Matt Carbutt

Jack Coventry
Marcus Elliott
Ayden Faal

George Flanagan

Jack Lee
Liam Mackay
Lee Mapals
Jamie Milburn

Mufaro Mvududu

Jake Normington

Lewis Reed

Craig Robinson
Danny Thomas
Danny Williams

What do you think?

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