Championship One preview: York v Gloucestershire

York City Knights coach Gary Thornton has major concerns over James Ford (hamstring) and Jonny Presley (hamstring), while Jack Aldous is unavailable due to suspension.

Thornton said: “We’ve been very encouraged by what we’ve seen in pre-season. We took Sheffield very close, had a good win against York Select and beat Gateshead, so I’m delighted with the way our pre-season has gone.

“We’ve worked really hard and that delayed start has prolonged pre-season to the point where we can’t wait to get going.”

He added: “We are excited about it this year. We realise what the pathway is to the next level and that’s important.

“We don’t know much about the teams we’re going to be playing against, but we’ll make sure we’re ready and we can’t wait to get started”.

Gloucestershire All Golds have boosted their squad on the eve of their second season in the Kingstone Press Championship One.

Former Hull FC, Sheffield and Toulouse hooker Craig Cook has joined the club along with winger Reece Rance.