Kingstone Press Championship preview: Whitehaven RLFC v Sheffield Eagles

Newly appointed Whitehaven coach James Coyle has seen improvements in his side over the last two weeks despite the losses.

“We always knew it was going to be a tough one at Odsal,” he said. “But I think we took some massive strides forward from the Halifax game. A lot of things we worked on during the week we put into practice.

“I think the fact that we’ve got 12 new players in the squad and had quite a few dual registration lads coming in at the last minute didn’t help with cohesion but they started to gel as we got further and further into the game.”

On Sheffield’s 40-6 victory over London Broncos he added: “A score line like that tells me that they must have played well against London.”

Coyle has wing Craig Calvert back in his squad with stand-off/loose forward John Paul Brocklebank, looking to make his first competitive debut.

Mark Aston, the Sheffield coach, said his team were outstanding in the win over London Broncos but is taking the challenge of Whitehaven very seriously: “We’ve been beaten the last two times up there,” he said. “We’re making sure we prepare correctly this time by travelling up the day before, to make sure we haven’t got any excuses to perform at the highest level.

“They’ve got some quality players like Dave Allen, who I believe should still be in Super League, while Jesse Joe Parker is always a threat and they’ve got a nice link now with Widnes.

“There’s no point in having a great result against London last week then coming undone this week. It’s consistency we’re looking for.”

Second row John Davies is added to the Eagles squad for the first time this season.