Kingstone Press League 1 preview: Rochdale Hornets v Swinton Lions

Rochdale Hornets put in a convincing display against Coventry Bears but coach Ian Talbot believes his side have more to give.

“We should have beaten Coventry by a lot more points at the weekend. We really have to be more ruthless with the ball and take opportunities when we get them,” he said.

“We played Swinton in the Challenge Cup and they beat us comfortably 30-12 so it’s important that we go out there on Saturday and do ourselves justice by putting in a good performance. It is also really good to welcome Alex Trumper back into the team after a long-term injury.”

Swinton Lions coach John Duffy said: “It was pleasing to get the win against York but in the last seven minutes we conceded two tries, which was disappointing. We have to stop switching off when we get in front, we’ve got to keep our foot down on the pedal so we’ll be looking at that this week.

“Rochdale is always a tough one, they make a point of wanting to beat us with it being a local derby. It’s a great stadium we’re going to be playing in and hopefully we can play some rugby but we’ll have to tough it out in defence first; they’ve got some big boys up the middle.”

Centre Matt Gardner is a doubt for Swinton.