Benson waits for fitness checks

Matty Ashe: Hopes to recover from a groin strain for the trip to South Wales.

OLDHAM RL boss Tony Benson will be in no hurry to announce his side as Roughyeds head for South Wales this weekend in pursuit of their sixth win in a row and their fifth out of five in Co-operative Championship One.

Several players are having treatment following the tough two-games-in-four-days Easter programme.

And Benson will be considering the claims of three who were sidelined over the holiday weekend - Jamie I’Anson, Ian Hodson and Danny Whitmore — as he and his medical staff keep a regular eye on how the walking wounded are responding to treatment.

“All three will be in contention,” he said, “but it will probably be Saturday before we make final decisions given that several players were battered and bruised and didn’t train on Tuesday.

“After games on Friday and Monday it was mainly a session for rehab and recovery and looking at the DVD of the Workington game.”

When the squad gets together again this evening the players to be assessed and checked out for knocks will include Craig Robinson (dead leg), Lucas Onyango (knee and ankle), Wayne Kerr (ankle), Mick Fogerty (dead leg) and Matty Ashe (groin).

Anyone rated doubtful - Robinson is said to be “very sore” - will be tested again on Saturday.

Whitmore wasn’t involved over Easter because he was recovering from an ankle injury, while I’Anson and Hodson are looking to break back into the reckoning after re-signing for the club only last month.

I’Anson was a substitute in the win at Hunslet on March 12 but Hodson has had only one reserve-team outing since he returned to Roughyeds after leaving in 2008.

Despite a heavy home defeat by Hunslet last time out, new club South Wales Scorpions have made an impressive start to their first league campaign and they will be looking to make amends for last week’s setback when they clash with Oldham at the home of Neath RU Club on Sunday (2pm kick off).

Beaten only once on home soil, and with ten league points already in the bag, they have described as “an outstanding achievement” the fact that Rugby League World magazine named Scorpions’ Anthony Seibold as Championship 1 coach of the month for March and hooker Steve Parry as player of the month.