Hunslet rocked by loss of ex-Leeds Rhinos winger

The pre-season signing suffered a dislocated knee during Hunslet’s Betfred League One win over North Wales Crusaders 10 days ago.

That could open an opportunity for Stanningley product Ben Copland who has signed for Hunslet after impressing during a spell as a trialist.

Harry Kidd, who dislocated a shoulder in last weekend’s Coral Challenge Cup defeat at Featherstone Rovers, has been cleared of ligament damage.

Parksiders coach Gary Thornton said: “It’s tough on Ben, who had been playing well, but Harry should be okay for our return to action, whenever that is.”

With rugby league on hold until at least April 3, Hunslet’s home meeting with London Skolars on Sunday and the game at Rochdale Hornets a week later have both been postponed.

The Parksiders’ first fixture after the initial shutdown is scheduled to be at home to Coventry Bears on Sunday, April 5.

“We’re following government guidelines and avoiding non-essential contact, so we’re not training this week as a club,” Thornton confirmed.

“We are relying on players to follow their own programmes to keep fit. We plan to regroup next week to prepare for the Coventry game, but obviously everything is very much up in the air, in all walks of life, right now.”

Thornton admitted his players had been keen to get back on the horse following their 46-6 Cup exit.

He added: “The coronavirus scare is, of course, having a huge impact on society as a whole and we have to keep sport in perspective. From that narrower perspective though, it’s unfortunate we’re not playing London Skolars this week. The first thing we said after the Featherstone game was that we needed to move on and put a disappointing night to bed.

“We didn’t do ourselves justice. After being 26-0 down at the break we can take a lot from the second half, but Featherstone gave us a bit of a wake-up call, and an illustration of what we’re building towards.”