South Wales Scorpions are looking to brush themselves off from their dramatic last minute defeat at North Wales Crusaders last week, as they host Newcastle Thunder at Virginia Park in Caerphilly on Sunday (kick-off 3pm).
Half-back and co-captain Paul Emanuelli is away this week while Jamie Stringer is also unavailable, so Ian Newbury and Jake Thomas return to the squad.
They are the only potential changes to the side that ran Crusaders close last Saturday.
Speaking about last week’s game, Scorpions’ coach Phil Carleton said: “We made it tough. Fair play to Crusaders, they did what they had to do and basically it was a side that has won games and a side that hasn’t. We choked and they showed a little bit of quality and assurance and belief in themselves and they did the job.
“We’ve watched it over, licked our wounds and are ready for another tough test this weekend. Newcastle have won their last three games by 50 points, and one of those was against us, so they’re obviously high on confidence. They’ve got to travel to us and it’s not an easy journey, we’re confident we can have a good go at them.”
Newcastle Thunder had an impressive 50-24 home win over University of Gloucestershire All Golds last week. Their coach Mick Mantelli said: “If we get the attitude right for the next six games, we won’t have a problem.
“I thought South Wales had a decent game last week but again it’s going to come down to us. We’re taking it seriously, we’re going down overnight. We respect the opposition but I’m sure if we played like we did at the weekend there’ll be no drama.”
Back rower Rhys Clarke, stand-off Benn Hardcastle and Corbyn Kilday come back into the Newcastle squad.
| SCORPIONS (from) | SPONSOR | |
| 2 Ian Newbury | NatWest | @iannewbury |
| 3 Kyle Scrivens | Body Balance Sports and Hollistic Therapies | @scriv15 |
| 7 Rhys Gant | Partnership of Care | @RhysGant1 |
| 9 Connor Farrer | Gareth and Julie Laugharne and OJH Building Services | C Farrer |
| 10 Izaak Duffy | Duffy and Co Solicitors | @IzaakDuffy |
| 13 Chris Vitalini | www.ianlovell.com | C Vitalini |
| 14 Osian Phillips | 9-3 Change Management | @Osian_Phillips |
| 15 Jordan Sheridan | Cardiff Drain Cleaning Co | @JSheridan112 |
| 19 Kristian Baller | Mirmidon Ltd | @kballer1987 |
| 20 Anthony Symons | King Construction Consultants | A Symons |
| 22 Christiaan Roets | United Konsultants Ltd | @roetsy458 |
| 23 Barrie Phillips | United Konsultants Ltd | @bizzalkicks |
| 24 Zak Williams | AG Williams Building Maintenance and Forces Fitness | @wzak77 |
| 25 Sion Jones | Statstoner Cardiff | @Sionjon1997 |
| 26 Jamie I’Anson | United Konsultants Ltd | @bonsaivintage |
| 27 Courtney Davies | United Konsultants Ltd | @CourttDavies7 |
| 28 Alex Davidson | On loan from All Golds | @AlexDavidson29 |
| 29 Jake Thomas | Carter Lauren Construction | @jakewthomas6 |
| 30 Jamie Murphy | On loan from All Golds | @themurphyman |
NEWCASTLE THUNDER (from)
Tom Reudiger
Zach Clark
Derrell Olpherts
Dan Parker
Peter Fox
Benn Hardcastle
Lewis Young
Vincent Rennie
Evan Simons
Mikey Wood (DR)
Rhys Clarke
Harry Aldous
Sam Luckley
Ben Thorburn
Jason Payne
Corbyn Kilday (L)
Gioele Celerino
Aaron Teroi
What do you think?
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