NRC Preview: Dewsbury v London

Dewsbury coach Warren Jowitt insists his team will not be taking London Skolars lightly when the Northern Rail Cup kicks off on Sunday.

Jowitt said: “They hit a bit of form at the end of last year and they’ve got a few on loan players from Harlequins.

“We’re not a team that can afford to go into this game lightly. We have to approach it full on and that’s what we’ll be doing.”

Alex Bretherton has been ruled out for three to four weeks with a fractured cheekbone and is also carrying a knee injury, while Lee Lingard (knee) remains doubtful.

However, Jowitt has been boosted by the news that Rob Spicer is fully fit and available for selection.

Skolars coach James Massara will be without Jermaine Coleman as he recovers from knee surgery. “We’ve got just a couple of little niggles but no major worries,” said Massara.

“We’ll use this game to benchmark where we are. We’re an unknown quantity to everyone else and to a certain extent we’re an unknown quantity to ourselves.

“We’ve had some access to some very good facilities so we’ve been able to get some good training sessions in despite the weather. We’ve had a long pre-season and now we’re raring to go on Sunday.”