New boys in the spotlight

Photo: PICTURES by DARREN ROBINSON.

Daniel Smith, prop forward .

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A LOT will be riding on the young shoulders of Oldham new boys Daniel Smith and Colton Roche in Sunday's big rugby league derby clash at Whitebank.

Front-row forward Smith (19) and back-row man Roche, who will be 19 tomorrow, are ready to be thrown in at the deep end by Tony Benson as Roughyeds bid to avenge their 18-10 defeat at Rochdale on Good Friday.

Roche, who played for England at under-16s level, had an impressive debut in the Roughyeds' 30-28 defeat at North Wales Crusaders last time out,

Smith, also here from Leeds Rhinos on dual registration, won England Academy honours only last year, but this will be his first taste of rugby outside of age-group competition.

For the first time in weeks Benson will have the luxury of choice.

Chris Clarke and Shaun Robinson are still on the injured list, but the Roughyeds boss is "reasonably optimistic" Alex Thompson, Paul Smith, Paul Noone and Lucas Onyango will be cleared to play.

He said: "I have more players available than I have had for weeks and I am going to have a selection headache — but a very welcome one.

"I am reasonably confident we can start to turn things round.”

There would be no better time to return to winning ways than in a game against Rochdale which happens to be a crucial one in the promotion race.

Whitehaven, Oldham and Hornets, in that order, are jostling for the fourth and final promotion spot.

If Roughyeds were to win and Whitehaven were to lose at Workington, Oldham's promotion prospects would be looking substantially brighter.




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