New signing Liam Parfitt is ready to make his Huddersfield debut.
The dual-registration Sale Sharks back-row forward wasn’t cleared to play in time for last week’s disappointing 26-8 National II North home defeat to Otley.
But the highly-talented 20-year-old has been named on the bench as the men from Lockwood Park look to make a return to winning ways at Luctonians tomorrow.
Parfitt will be part of a side showing several changes to the one that was beaten by their West Yorkshire rivals a week ago, with the new faces automatically stepping in for the unavailable Lewis Bradley.
Prop James Purcell returns at loose-head prop to replace Adam Tamanis in order to give the close-season signing a full 80-minute run-out with the Falcons.
Experienced Joel Hinchcliffe is given the nod again at scrum half, with fellow No9 Dan Jeffrey expected to come off the bench to inject pace into the game at some stage after impressing from the start in the opening rounds.
And Oliver Scrimshaw is recalled on the wing, with Nick Rawsthorne suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury.
“We’re looking for a response after the events of last week,” said head coach Gareth Lewis, who has retained Nick Rhodes in the No6 shirt following a good individual performance against Otley.
“The manner of last week’s defeat was really disappointing. We know we let ourselves down by failing to impose ourselves on the game, not having the correct level of composure in the final third of the pitch and conceding scores at crucial times in the game.
“We don’t want to see a repeat this weekend, although we know Luctonians won’t make it easy for us.
“They’re always backed by a hostile home crowd and it’s a great place to play rugby. Despite losing last season to a last-minute try, we have a very strong record at Mortimer Park and go there ready to take on the challenge.”
Huddersfield, meanwhile, have confirmed the signing of former Macclesfield and Bradford and Bingley winger Tom Kanauros, who has been training at Lockwood Park for the last couple of weeks and is expected to be a useful addition.
