CH preview: Leigh v Whitehaven (Sun)

Leigh Centurions coach Paul Rowley is set to be boosted by Simon Finnigan’s return to action, but Ryan Brierley, Matt Gardner and Michael Ostick are set to miss out after suffering injuries against Sheffield Eagles.

Leigh lost 20-8 against the Eagles, but Rowley remains upbeat. He said: “We were close last week, but we didn’t play well. Combining those two things together give us a lot of confidence for when we do play well.”

He added: “Dave Woods has just signed a new contract at Whitehaven, so it’s been a positive week for them and they’ll want a positive end to the week after what was a poor result by their standards.

“Every club has a blip, and we’re treating their result against Keighley as a blip.”

Whitehaven coach Dave Woods expects to have the same team available that lost 52-18 against the Cougars.

Woods said: “We’ve got to forget about that result. We’ve got to play for some pride and play for each other and the club this week.

“We need to go to Leigh, have a dig and put in a performance. We were very, very poor last week and we didn’t help ourselves at all.”