Tahraoui shows his strength

Swinton head coach Gary Chambers believes Samir Tahraoui is starting to show his potential for the Lions.

Tahraoui, 22, joined the club in June from Championship One side South Wales Scorpions after playing last season in Australia.

The giant prop returned to the starting line up against York last Thursday after a couple of games on the sidelines, and gave his best performance so far for Swinton.

“Samir pinned his ears back and had a real good go against York,” said Chambers.

“He has got it in him. I travel with him and I rollocked him all the way to the ground ahead of that game. 

“He’s been sulking with me because I’ve not been playing him. I put him in and said ‘show me what you have got’ and he did it.

“He’s a handful. He’s 120kgs and 6ft 5ins – he’s bigger than Sam Burgess. He could be whatever he wanted to be.

“He’s got fantastic hands and grip and he’s just got to do that all the time.”

Swinton also welcomed back Jordan Burke against York but they now have an injury doubt over Darren Hawkyard who hurt his shoulder in the game.

“It’s his shoulder and I don’t think it is anything serious,” said Chambers. 

“He got a stringer on it but he should be OK.”

Victories for Hunslet and Barrow at the weekend have made the situation at the bottom – where two teams go down – even tighter.

The Lions currently lie fourth from bottom, level on points with Barrow, one point ahead of Hunslet and three ahead of bottom-placed York.