Wirral preview (h)
Huddersfield Rugby Union will be hoping to make it 20 league wins in a row, when Wirral visit Lockwood park on Saturday. (Kick-off 3pm)
After another eye-catching win, last week beating Ilkley 59-7, Head Coach, Gareth Lewis praised the performance of his side. With Huddersfield continuing their unbeaten season.
Lewis said “To score 59 points last week was impressive. I thought we stuck to the game plan and we scored some well worked tries.”
After close analysis of the match, there are aspects to the game which can be improved. “When we looked deeper into the performance quite a few of the player goals were not achieved which shows we have certainly got room for improvement both individually and collectively.”
Captain Alex Battye starts in the front row. Austen Thompson will be joined in Second Row by Adam Malthouse who will be hoping to replicate his two tries he scored last week.
Prop, Adam Tamanis remains on the bench after an impressive performance in the scrummage last week, whilst he gets back to full fitness after his recent injury. Fellow Prop, Callum Thompson starts. Francis Entressengle also starts, with Ben Morrill as a replacement.
In the reverse fixture, Huddersfield narrowly won 16-10, with Austen Thompson getting their only try of the game. Despite the win, Field left Wirral disappointed with their performance and are motivated to improve on Saturday. Lewis expressed “In training this week the lads spoke very honestly about how poorly we performed at Wirral earlier in the season and are determined to put that right-on Saturday”. Lewis praised the Wirral’s Half-backs. “They have very good Half-backs who challenge the line so we will need to close down the space in that area.”
Wirral have had an extra week’s rest after their game with Firwood Waterloo was cancelled last week. They currently sit fourth in the table, but suffered a heavy defeat when they last played losing 38-5 to Hull. They will be hoping to close the gap on Huddersfield with a win this week.
Starting XV
15. Lewis Workman
14. Kristian Sharples
13. Brandon Conway
12. Tom Owen
11. Elliot Knight
10. Chris Bell
9. Joel Hinchliffe
8. Nick Sharpe
7. Ben Hoyle
6. Lewis Bradley
5. Adam Malthouse
4. Austen Thompson
3. Alex Battye (captain)
2. Fran Entressengle
1. Callum Thompson
Replacements:
16. Adam Tamanis
17. Ben Morrill
18. Danny Grainger
