Young props face-off at Whitebank

Photo: Dave Murgatroyd

ON THE CHARGE . . . Oldham’s loan prop Nathan Mason will be in action on Sunday.

TWO of Super League’s up-and-coming young props will be up for comparison at Whitebank on Sunday.

Nathan Mason (19) a product of Waterhead and now with Huddersfield Giants, will make his third loan appearance for Oldham and his first at Whitebank.

James Greenwood (22), raised at Saddleworth Rangers before signing for Wigan Warriors, is in his second season on dual-registration with South Wales Scorpions.

Mason, elevated this season to the Giants’ first-team squad, is the taller of the two — 6ft 5in against 6ft 2in. Greenwood has a weight advantage — 17st 4lbs plays 16st 5lbs.

How these, and the other props, perform will have a huge bearing on the outcome of the game and on whether Oldham can get the better of the Welsh side for the third time this season and thus go top of Championship One.

While Jason Boults and Liam Gilchrist are injured, the bulk of the workload falls on Phil Joy and Michael Ward, products of the Roughyeds’ youth policy in whom Naylor and assistant Lee Spencer have great confidence.

Seen for the first time at Whitebank, their front-row allies on Sunday will be Mason and another new recruit, 22-year-old Matthew Haggarty.

Roughyeds won 24-12 in Neath last March in the Northern Rail Cup, but it needed a converted solo try by Jamie Dallimore near the end to finish off the Welshmen.

At the same venue last month in the league, a remarkable game ended 36-32 in Oldham’s favour thanks to a last-gasp try by Mark Hobson.

“They have nearly beaten us twice, so they will be coming full of confidence to make it third-time lucky,” said Naylor.

Naylor has confirmed he will make a couple of positional changes for the game: “We’ve got to manage the squad wisely over the next few weeks, given that we are now on the final run-in,” he said.