Ali and Ryan are back in frame
Published Date:
15 May 2008
By Peter Smith
Leeds Rhinos boss Brian McClennan was deciding today whether to recall Grand Final winners Ryan Bailey and Ali Lauitiiti for tomorrow's Headingley Carnegie derby against Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.
Back-rower Lauitiiti has missed Rhinos' last five games due to a knee injury, while prop Bailey has been out for four matches with a similar problem.
Both have been named in Rhinos' initial 19-man squad for tomorrow and McClennan said he rates their chances as "very good", but a final decision will be made after today's last training session.
On-loan French international Eric Anselme returns to the 19 after being ineligible for last weekend's Carnegie Challenge Cup win at Harlequins.
Anselme will play for Albi in next week's French cup final and McClennan said: "We have been pretty impressed with him.
"We thought he did a good job when we played Bradford and he does well at training.
"He is an international player and he's going to help us out.
"He will get a run this week and won't be there the week after, so we will rotate a player around.
"There will be a bit of that in the next month or so."
Brent Webb will return after playing for New Zealand against Australia in Sydney last Friday and Lee Smith is also included in the 19 after being left out of the team for the past two games.
Prop Luke Burgess, who missed the Harlequins game due to a groin injury, has been given the all-clear but has not been included in the 19.
McClennan said he could play in the reserves' curtain-raiser against Wildcats (5.45pm) and he added: "With Bails back, we have all props on board.
"We'll just have to go back into rotating them around."
Teenagers Kallum Watkins, Ben Jones-Bishop and Danny Allan all drop out from last week's 17.
Wildcats will be without forwards Adam Watene and Jay Pitts, but Jamie Rooney and Tevita Leo-Latu could return after injury.
On-loan forward Matty Dale – who was ineligible for the Challenge Cup win at Barrow four days ago – is named in tomorrow's 19.
Ricky Bibey will return after suspension.
Meanwhile, Hull are facing a possible fine, but will not be thrown out of the Challenge Cup for fielding prop Jamie Thackray in their fourth and fifth round wins, despite signing him from Leeds three weeks after the deadline.
The RFL's board of directors, who spent most of yesterday considering the issue, claim they regard the breach as a "very serious matter" but stopped short of throwing Hull out of the competition because it is not in the rules.
The full article contains 446 words and appears in EP Leeds First & County newspaper.
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Last Updated:
15 May 2008 8:57 AM
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Source:
EP Leeds First & County
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Location:
Leeds