Unlucky Seru plotting return

Ben Seru in action for the Army. Picture courtesy of ‘Soldier’ magazine.

ARMY winger Ben Seru should be available to give Roughyeds coach Tony Benson an end-of-season boost.

The unlucky 31-year-old has been out of action in both rugby and his day job for 13 months since badly injuring a knee on his first ever Roughyeds appearance against Wakefield in the Challenge Cup.

Born in Fiji and now based in Ripon, Seru is a sapper in the Royal Engineers and it is there that his rehabilitation following major reconstruction surgery will continue for at least the next four weeks.

“Ben isn’t yet allowed to train with us as he is not yet fit to resume his full Army duties,” explained Oldham chief executive Chris Hamilton, who met up with the player at the York game last week.

“First and foremost, it is important that he can get to that stage and we think it will take another month or so.

“He has been weighing up the fixtures and is determined to get back involved as soon as he possibly can.”

Meanwhile, the squad trained as normal last night. Andy Ballard sat out the session in order to get treatment on a sore back, though the problem isn’t thought to be serious at this stage.

Phil Joseph also made a return after struggling with work commitments and Lucas Onyango joined in following a recent bout of illness.


SALFORD chairman John Wilkinson concedes time is running out for the club to relocate by 2010.

The City Reds’ plans to move into a new 20,000–capacity stadium have been hampered by a number of problems since the project was first unveiled four years ago.

The latest concerns their major partner Salford City College, who plan to build a campus on the site but have failed to secure funding from the Learning Skills Council.

Wilkinson said: “The stadium is not dependent on LSC funding. The scheme stacks up without it. But if I am honest with myself I think we shall now be playing our rugby there by 2011.”

That would meet the deadline for the renewal of Super League licences for the three–year period starting in 2012.