Scorpions need to rise to the challenge

South Wales Scorpions head coach Dave Clark has called for his side to ‘respond to the challenge’ of facing Workington Town in their first home league game of the season on Sunday (1pm kick off).

The Scorpions left it late to get their campaign off the mark with a win against Gateshead Thunder last Sunday and Clark wants his side to make the most of home advantage against a side he considers championship contenders.

“I think Workington have the potential to be a top two side,” he noted.

“They lost last time out so will be coming to South Wales keen on addressing that, and from our perspective it’s another opportunity to see where we are. I look at our home games, and simply, we have to win them; make that advantage count if we possibly can.

“It will be a challenge for us to compete against them, but I’m sure we can. We’ve shown that we are capable of scoring tries so far this season so I’m confident that we’ll be able to test them defensively.”

Hooker Nathan Mossop is rated as only “50/50” after suffering a shoulder injury against Gateshead. However, Neil Dallimore, Alan Pope and Curtis Cunningham are all available after missing the trip to the north east.

And Clark is buoyed by the trio’s return, adding: “It’ll be good to have those guys back for the weekend – especially Neil who’s an important player for us.

“We’re coming together nicely as a squad now and against the top sides we’re going to need our big players to show up.”

John Patrick and Elliot Miller are both available to Workington joint-coach Gary Charlton as Town bid to bounce back from last week’s 24-14 defeat against Oldham.

Charlton said: “We gave away too many penalties against Oldham, and it was our own fault that we lost the game.

“We’ve got to put our hands up, admit we made mistakes and take it on the chin, but we’ll bounce back. We always do.”