Harris is Rovers injury concern

OLDHAM and Featherstone both have half-back worries with just over a week to go before the teams face off in the Northern Rail Cup.

Roughyeds scrum-half Thomas Coyle appears set at this stage to miss the quarter-final clash, which is being played in Leigh on Thursday week, as a result of an ankle injury picked up early in the second half at Sedgley Park on Sunday.

The 21-year-old is set for a precautionary x-ray, with the likelihood being that he has sustained damaged ankle ligaments. More will be known tonight when Coyle is examined by the club’s medical team.

Rovers, meanwhile, have fears over their Oldham-born stand-off Iestyn Harris.

The 32-year-old former dual-code international, who picked up league honours for Wales and Great Britain and played union for Wales, injured a bicep in Featherstone’s 44-12 defeat at Barrow.

At the very least, Harris is set to miss both this Thursday’s televised home game against Leigh and the following week’s clash with the Roughyeds, also being broadcast on Sky Sports, though if a rupture is confirmed he may yet need surgery that would rule him out for the season.

The likeliest man to step in to Harris’s shoes at number six is Kyle Briggs, who has happy memories of the last time he faced Oldham. The former Doncaster half-back was a try scorer in last year’s National League Two play-off final, in which the Roughyeds were defeated 18-10.