Preview: London v Workington

Correspondent

Matt Thomas returns for Skolars after a successful ear operation, although James Simon is unlikely to feature despite returning to training earlier this week.

London coach James Massara said: “Our week off has meant that we’ve been able to recharge a bit, and it gives us an extra week to focus and rip into some things.

“We’re still pretty skinny in terms of squad numbers. We’re in the process of trying to fix some people up. The props are our big issue at the moment, and it has been for a month or so. We’re looking to bring some people in and we’re also desperately trying to rehabilitate the blokes we’ve got missing. We’re not going to rush into anything because I’m confident in the blokes we’ve got.

He added: “We’ve had a few videos of Workington, and this extra time has allowed us to have a good look at them. They’re a big unit, they deserve a lot of respect, and they’ll be a handful, but we had some good things come out of our game against Hunslet.”

Stewart Rhodes could make his Workington comeback following a snapped Achilles.
Town coach Gary Charlton said: “In parts of our game against Hunslet on Monday we played some decent rugby, but we made too many errors and that’s what cost us.

“They were individual errors, with players not thinking on their feet. It’s not through lack of effort or anything like that.”

He added: “I know James Massara has brought a lot of new players in and it takes time for them to gel. It’s a long trip for us, but we’ve just got to get on with it and try our best.”