By Brandon Reeves

Huddersfield RU will make the journey north with a limited squad for their rearranged fixture at Blaydon.

Gareth Lewis’s side are buoyed by a resounding bonus-point victory over Sheffield last weekend, when the opposition were blown away by five second-half scores and a 44-10 scoreboard.

With the result pushing them up to seventh, Lewis’s men can now travel to Tyneside tomorrow with added confidence, even though resources are stretched.

“Last week was an outstanding second-half performance and it was great to see the lads playing with confidence once again,” said Lewis, who is forced to rejig his pack.

“With this being a rearranged fixture, we have a number of players unavailable so, no doubt about it, our squad depth is being tested to the full.”

Sam Allan comes in at full back, while regular No15 Lewis Workman slots into the outside centre position.

Will Milner shifts to fly half while Danny Grainger plays on the wing for Elliot Knight.

Harry Davey is still missing with back injury, as is regular centre Mark Pease.

While Reuben Pollard has departed for a season New Zealand before returning to Lockwood Park next year, Adam Blades and Fran Entressengle are back to join skipper Alex Battye in the front row.

Prop Callum Thompson is unavailable, back row Nick Sharpe is another absentee and Ben Hoyle is susended.

Sharpe’s replacement to play alongside Lewis Bradley is last week’s man of the match Ben Morrill, who shifts from hooker.

Veteran prop Anthony Stringwell and Huddersfield Falcons captain Darren Neilly have been drafted in as replacements.

Despite the changes, Lewis explained: “It is still a very strong squad and we are prepared for a tough encounter at Blaydon.

“They suffered a close defeat at Leicester Lions last week but won their previous two home games, so we are fully aware of the challenge we face.”

While their previous two home games have yielded victories, Blaydon still sit in the bottom three relegation places in National II North.

Huddersfield head coach Gareth Lewis

They are currently three points behind the side above them, but they could catch Wharfedale with a win against Field.

Wharfedale are hosting promotion-chasers Tynedale, who are fresh from back-to-back wins.

While Huddersfield sit seventh, they are in a four-team cluster separated by only three points.

And with South Leicester, who are sixth, not playing this weekend, Field could move to sixth themselves with a victory.

However, a defeat could mean they drop to eighth as the teams in eighth and ninth, Chester and Leicester Lions respectively, face off in Cheshire.

Lewis will gladly take any win as Field bid to end the season with a strong run of form.

Huddersfield: Sam Allan, Brandon Conway, Lewis Workman, Tom Owen, Danny Grainger, Will Milner, Joel Hinchliffe; Alex Battye (capt), Fran Entressengle, Adam Blades, Austen Thompson, Adam Malthouse, Ben Morrill, Lewis Bradley, Dickie Piper.

Replacements: Anthony Stringwell, Darren Neilly, Elliot Knight, Dan Nota, Kristian Sharples.