Rugby League: Rovers and Hawks can't afford to come up short admit coaches

Sixth-placed Rovers travel to second-bottom Whitehaven in the Kingstone Press Championship today (6.30pm) aiming to end a run of three straight defeats in all competitions, and coach Jon Sharp said: “Our last three league defeats have been by six points or less.

“We are not far off and we just need to turn those around.

“We have got some players back this week – Tim Spears, Colton Riche, Andy Ellis and Danny Craven – and that will make a massive difference. There’s a lot to play for.

“Even though we’ve been getting beaten, if we win this we’ll go fourth so it is a big one and we need to get the job done.”

Meanwhile, Hawks play host to Hemel Stags tomorrow (3pm) in League One having won only two of their opening six matches.

Coach Matt Bramald said: “We are under no illusions, we know we are expected to win this game and nothing less than two points is going to do.

“But we can’t be complacent, we need to be right on the money.”

Bramald is looking for more consistency in games. He added: “The level we can play at is good enough.

“But when we aren’t at that level we need to be closer to it than we were last week against Doncaster. If we play to our standards, the result will take care of itself.”