Roughyeds pups step up to the plate

Photo: TIM BRADLEY

SIX Oldham players pounce on an unfortunate Coventry Bears rival during yesterday’s clash at Whitebank.

OLDHAM RL jumped four places to second in Kingstone Press League One following their 38-10 win against Coventry Bears at Whitebank.

Coach Scott Naylor rested SIX regulars, including captain Lewis Palfrey and vice-captain Sam Gee, for the third game in 10 days. Also left out were George Tyson, Gareth Owen, Phil Joy and Liam Thompson.

Danny Langtree captained the side, which had three newcomers in Tom Ashton at right centre and in Richard Joy — Phil’s younger brother — and 18-year-old Tom Dempsey on the bench.

Of the 17, nine were 22 or younger, including loan prop Nathan Mason and dual-reg loose-forward Josh Johnson of Huddersfield Giants.

Oldham, Keighley Cougars and Newcastle Thunder are the only teams to have won their first two league games, but Keighley go top because with the best points record.

North Wales Crusaders, who pipped Oldham 18-16 in last Wednesday’s iPro Cup semi-final, were beaten 24-18 at home by Newcastle. Swinton, the other cup finalists, were hammered 50-12 at Barrow.

Naylor said: “Results like that tend to put our own performance against Coventry into perspective.

“Richard Joy did well, Tom Ashton ran strongly and Tom Dempsey positioned himself very well indeed when he got on at full-back.

“I took advantage of the full squad so I could rest a few players. Some needed a rest, a couple had minor knocks and the others were left out because I wanted to look at different combinations.”