Cumbria set for ‘biggest’ derby

Whitehaven coach David Seeds hopes to have Craig Benson available for Sunday’s Cumbrian derby.

Full-back Benson took part in Tuesday’s 9s competition, and Seeds said: “Hopefully he’ll be OK for Sunday.”

Seeds has labelled this weekend’s clash as the “biggest derby for 15 years.” He said: “We know it’s going to be a cracker.

“It’s a crucial game for the sides. We’re doing OK – we’re fifth in the table, and we want to keep our foot to the floor. This weekend gives us a chance to jump above Workington in the table – providing we get the right result.”

Workington Town are expected to travel without Matt Tunstall (ankle) and Marc Jackson. Joint coach Gary Charlton said: “Marc’s got a problem with pain in his leg coming from his lower back. He’s seeing a chiropractor and we’re hoping that will help to sort it out.”

Charlton added: “This is certainly a big match, that’s for sure. It will be very close.

“Whitehaven don’t make many mistakes, they compete well and they don’t offer many errors. We’ve got to force some errors out of them and then capitalise when they come along.”

He continued: “We’re going OK this year. If we’d have had a bit more composure then we could have been further up the table, and we know we’ve got to pick our game up, but we haven’t played to our potential yet and there’s plenty more in this team.”