Seeds: Biggest challenge yet

Hornets coach John Stankevitch expects to name an unchanged squad with the exception of Danny Samuel, who suffered ankle ligament damage at Doncaster last week and now faces a minimum of a month on the sidelines.

Stankevitch said: “I was looking very specifically at defence for the Doncaster game. Over the previous two or three weeks we were disappointing to say the least, but it was a fantastic defensive performance against Doncaster.

“We made some errors, but the pleasing thing was we worked hard for each other when things didn’t go our way.”

The Rochdale coach is hoping to complete a deal to sign Swinton’s Richard Mervill in time to face Whitehaven.

Stankevitch added: “I definitely think we’ve got the team to break them down. We’ve got a completely different type of team and mentality to most others in this division.

“We’re prepared to throw the ball around and that causes teams problems. We’ve got players who like to play a bit of rugby.”

Whitehaven coach David Seeds has labelled Sunday’s Co-operative Championship One fixture as his side’s “biggest challenge yet”.

‘Haven currently have four wins from four league matches, but Seeds has warned his men not to expect an easy ride on Sunday.

Seeds said: “At the moment we seem to have a good 40 minutes and a not-so-good 40 minutes.

“It’s just trying to get two good halves together, because we’ll need that on Sunday to beat a good Rochdale side at Rochdale.

“They’ve made two or three new signings that have made a difference and they’ll be full of confidence. It’ll be our biggest challenge yet.”