Jack Lee injury takes gloss off Hunslet victory

Hunslet thumped bottom club West Wales Raiders 72-10 and now have two weeks to prepare for a crucial home showdown with Newcastle Thunder on Sunday, July 7.

Reflecting on the win at Llanelli, Thornton said: “I was really pleased with how disciplined we were.

“Sometimes when you are playing teams like that it gets a bit scrappy and players want to do their own thing, but we didn’t do that.

“I asked them to play the game almost as a rehearsal for the bigger tests coming up.

“We have got Newcastle and Whitehaven in the next month and I asked them to stick to the game-plan and they did that.”

Thornton added: “Reece Dean was very good as right-hand pivot, he created a lot of chances and we managed the game really well.

“That was an improvement I had called for.”

The win was marred by an ankle injury to hooker Jack Lee.

“He has been to hospital and there’s nothing structurally damaged in the bone, but it was probably a really bad sprain,” Thornton said.

“We’re not sure yet, but it could be anything between two and six weeks. We will have to check (today) and see what the damage is, but it didn’t look good after the game.

“It’s swollen pretty badly and it’ll be a big loss if he’s not available for Newcastle.”

With a long turnaround to their next match, Thornton is confident Duane Straugheir and Josh Tonks will be available after missing the trip to Wales through injury, along with Charlie Martin.

He said: “Charlie pulled out on Friday with a shoulder injury. He said he’d play if he had to, but we didn’t think it was worth risking him in a game like that.

“Hopefully, they’ll all be back for Newcastle.”