Oldham wait on St Hilaire

MARCUS St Hilaire faces a late fitness check before Oldham coach Tony Benson finalises his side to go to Doncaster on Monday (kick-off 3pm).

The centre will be given as long as possible to recover from neck and shoulder problems.

Benson will select from the 17 who beat Gateshead Thunder 64-10 last week, plus Ben Heaton, Jason Boults and assistant coach Paul Reilly.

St Hilaire is the only doubt for Oldham, with veteran Reilly and 20-year-old Ben Heaton on standby.

Expect one of the five props — Boults, Dave Ellison, Jamie I’Anson, Wayne Kerr, Luke Sutton — to stand down, or at least to be named as 18th man.

Roughyeds, with six straight wins under their belts in Co-operative Championship One, know that Tony Miller’s troops will want to be the first team to lower their colours.

Said coach Benson: “This will be as tough as they come. With new signings and players returning from injury, Doncaster are stronger now than they have been all season.

“They claim to be a young side, but in reality they have loads of experience and they are well coached by Tony Miller.

“Our mission is to make sure we are right. Against Gateshead we looked at improving discipline and making better use of the ball. We did pretty well on both counts.

“We’ll be aiming to continue in the same way and to improve in certain other areas at the same time.”

Shaun Leaf is doubtful for Doncaster after twisting his knee at work, but scrum-half Craig Fawcett is in line to return to the side after recovering from a dislocated finger.

Team (from): Ashe, Boults, Chandler, Clarke, Ellison, Fogerty, Gillam, Heaton, Hodson, I’Anson, Kerr, O’Connor, Onyango, Reilly, Robinson, M Roden, N Roden, St Hilaire, Sutton, Whitmore.




TO get into the Keepmoat Stadium fans must buy a ticket from the ticket office before going to the turnstiles.






ROUGHYEDS reserves won 26-18 at York last night, with tries by Mark Brocklehurst, Dean Hatton, Austen Barrowclough, Jamie Knight and Ross Coates, plus one goal each by Mick Diveney, Paul Ashton and Mark Smith.



Of the 18 players on duty, including a travelling reserve, more than half were representing their home-town team.