Stringer looking to catch Hull unawares

Sheffield Eagles prop Mitch Stringer is hoping that Hull FC will be a little surprised when they face his club in the firth round of the Challenge Cup on Sunday.

The Eagle are staging the tie at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield. This season, they have been playing their regular home games at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium.

“We’ve changed the game plan a little bit this week so they won’t be expecting how we’re going to play and hopefully will catch them unawares,” said Stringer.

“All the games we’ve played so far we’ve been expected to win, so it does put quite a bit of pressure on the performances and the outcome but this week we can play however we like and we can try new systems and structures – we’ve got nothing to lose.

“I think it takes quite a bit of pressure off us.

“I watched Hull last week against Widnes and I thought they were really, really strong. Their defence was really strong and some of the things they did with ball in hand were really good.

“I think Leon Pryce has started pulling the strings as to how Hull want to play. They are a full time outfit, everyone sees them as big club so we aren’t expected to do anything in the game.

“It’s the biggest competition in the game, everyone knows what the Challenge Cup is.

“We want to go as far as we possibly can and we see this as a winnable game. As long as the bounce of the ball goes right for us and we do all the small things right, who knows what can happen in 80 minutes of rugby?”

 “We played at Bramall Lane two or three seasons ago and we love it down there. It’s a nice big pitch with nice big changing rooms.

2We played Wigan there in the Challenge Cup in 2010 and after 30 minutes we were beating them12-0. If we can take that sort of form into the game then maybe it will enable us to do the same against Hull.”