HUDDERSFIELD are looking to bolster slim hopes of avoiding relegation when they tackle Birmingham and Solihull at Lockwood Park tomorrow.
Head coach Dan Hyde, whose side are in deep National II North trouble, is hoping the relatively new half-back combination of Joel Hinchliffe (scrum half) and Jon Coles (fly-half) can continue to develop their understanding (3.00).
Tom Owen and Jack Moon will also be out to impress after swapping roles.
Owen, who is arguably Huddersfield’s most potent attacking force, has been moved up into the centres, where he should see more of the ball, while Moon takes over Owen’s full-back berth looking to concentrate on his defensive qualities.
Huddersfield came within a whisker of winning at Westoe last week, and perhaps with a different whistler in charge may have done so!
Hyde is without wing forward Ben Hoyle, who suffered bad ankle ligament damage in the contest at South Shields, and will take no further part in Huddersfield’s run-in this season.
In his place comes George Hinchliff, who has had to bide his time on the bench in recent weeks, but is a natural replacement for Hoyle.
Lawrence Sanderson and Alex Battye start again in the front row with Tony Stringwell on the bench, along with reserve hooker Adam Lancaster.
“Loz (Sanderson) is a big ‘ball carrier’ for us, and gives us a lot of ‘go-forward’, while Alex (Battye) has really come of age as a knowledgeable prop both in the set-piece and the loose,” said Hyde.
“I was gutted for the lads last week because they really gave it everything, and we had a very good first half playing up the hill at Westoe.
“Unfortunately they were handed a string of penalties which basically gifted them a score just before half-time, and then at the end we were camped almost on their line, where they repeatedly pulled down the scrum, and on another day we could have been given a match-winning try for all our efforts.”
Huddersfield: Moon, Scrimshaw, Clark, Owen, Booth; Coles, Hinchliffe; Sanderson, Murphy, Battye, N Rhodes, G Rhodes, Hinchliff, Lewis, Sharpe. Subs: Hyde, Stringwell, Walker, Lancaster, Iveson.
