SATURDAY’S DOUBLE HEADER BETWEEN WALES AND ENGLAND:
This Saturday at Ruskin Drive, St Helens, we play an exciting double header against England with our Dragonhearts and PDRL teams facing off.
The community international between the England Lions U23 and the Wales Dragonhearts is scheduled to begin at 12.30 p.m. as we attempt to exact revenge for our defeats in the previous two meetings.
While the Dragonhearts’ sole game of the previous year was that one, they enter this year’s matchup fired up following a valiant victory over Ireland in Dublin last Saturday.
On Friday night, head coach Simon Reynolds will reveal his squad to the public. He will make the announcement the day of the match. Speaking following Ireland’s win, he stated:
“The fight with England will be entirely different. Our boys are prepared for the match, even though we’ll be facing athletes who have played rugby league for a while. We’ll work on England this week, but since I know they’ve been practising for several months, we’ll put more of our attention on ourselves, correct any errors, and enter the England match with some confidence.
Four players who played for the U18s versus Wales in the previous season could be on the England Lions U23 team, who have already announced their roster.
Physical Disability Rugby League, which is an 11-a-side event, will see England take against Wales in the second game of the day at 2.30 p.m. Wales interim coach David Jones has already selected his starting lineup.
This season, the two teams will play two matches. Due to injury, Jones had to make two changes from the team that lost in a close game in Llandovery last month: Chris Spriggs and rookie Eric Horridge will take the places of Daniel Shaw and Richard Ellis Thomas.
Jones stated: “We are tremendously excited about the occasion, although we are missing a few key players due to injuries going into Saturday’s game. I’m confident that every player I have available will give the garment their all.
“When we played England in South Wales in September, I believe they were a bit taken aback. Even though we had a man sent off in the first half, we gave them a serious fight for their money. The game could have gone either way with a little more poise on our plays, and maybe we can settle the score on Saturday.
Dragonhearts (from): Rhodri Garland, Jack Griffiths*, Chris Harris (all Rhondda Outlaws/West Wales), Craig Lewis, Ross Price (both South Wales Jets), Kurtis Haile, Nathan Tucker (both Torfaen Tigers/East Wales), Jake Spedding (Bristol All Golds/North Wales), Sion Jones*, Jonny Stokes, Kieran Thomas (all Conwy Celts/North Wales), Lewys Blayney*, Alex Burton (both Cynon Valley Cavaliers/West Wales), Aidyn Jones*, Alfie Matthias (Flintshire Falcons/North Wales), Rhodri Garland, Jack Griffiths*, Chris Harris (all Rhondda Outlaws/West Wales), Craig Lewis, Ross Price (both South Wales Jets), Kurtis Haile, Nathan Tucker (both Torfaen Tigers/East Wales),
Morgan Jones of the Salford Red Devils, Chris Young of the Leeds Rhinos, Stewart Newton of the Salford Red Devils, Dylan Hughes of the Leeds Rhinos, Leif Thobroe of the unattached, Kieran Gardner of the Salford Red Devils, Sam Bowditch of the Salford Red Devils, Chris Spriggs of the Llanelli Warriors MARU, Isaac Pickett of the Leeds Rhinos, Paul Jones of the Aberavon Fighting Irish, and Tyma Hughes of the Salford Red Devils are the members of the PDRL side. Gareth Sullivan (single), Eric Horridge (Llanelli Warriors MARU)* are the substitutes.
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