Kingstone Press League 1 Preview: York City Knights v Swinton Lions

York City Knights had a convincing 70-10 victory at Hemel Stags last week.

Coach James Ford said: “I was pleased with the second half. I thought we were a little bit scratchy in the first half but in games like that it’s hard to ensure players remain disciplined. We’ll be looking to improve this week.

“Swinton, for me, are arguably the best team in the competition. The league table may not reflect that at the minute but we’re not even at the halfway point yet, I think that’s a false reading. John Duffy’s doing a really good job. I think we’re in for a real tough encounter.”

Scrum-half Pat Smith should be available this week.

John Duffy, the Swinton Lions coach, was very disappointed with the performance against Oldham last week.

“That performance was unacceptable,” he said.

“Credit to Oldham because they turned up with a good attitude. We had a good week in training but didn’t turn up on Sunday. I hope this week will be a lot better.

“It will be very tough at York. We’ll be travelling again and playing in new surroundings so we’ll have to create our own atmosphere against a York team who are flying high at the minute.

“We played them a few weeks ago at our place and they threw some good stuff at us so we’re going to have to have a good week this week.”