Basement battle in the Betfred Championship as Newcastle head to Swinton

A basement battle will take place in the Championship on Sunday as the two teams currently in the relegation zone meet at Heywood Road when Swinton Lions welcome Newcastle Thunder.

Swinton occupy last place in the table and are yet to register a point this campaign, losing all eight of their opening league games and conceding over 300 points in the process.

Led by former Ireland international Stuart Littler, the Lions need to start picking up points soon if they are to survive the drop, but even a win this weekend wouldn’t see them move off the foot of the league table.

Despite their lack of success in the league to date, the 1895 cup had been providing some light to Littler’s side, and they were just 80 minutes from an appearance in the competition’s final at Wembley. That was until last weekend, when York City Knights defeated them 36-22 at the LNER stadium in the semi-finals to end the dream.

Having been promoted up from League 1 courtesy of an independent judging panel’s decision following last year’s curtailed campaign, this weekend’s opponents Newcastle Thunder are also headed up by a former Irish international in Eamon O’Carroll.

While their fortunes aren’t quite as poor, the Championship table is still quite a bleak reading for Thunder, sat in 13^th with three points to their name.

Those three came from a thrilling 30-30 draw with Widnes Vikings on the opening day of the season and an impressive victory over Sheffield Eagles in round 3 so all is not lost yet for the newly promoted outfit.

At the time of writing, they are in the drop zone by just one point and have a game in hand on the team directly above them – Oldham.

O’Caroll’s men were beaten heavily last weekend though, losing 31-12 away at the Odsal to an in-form Bradford Bulls side.

Squads

Swinton’s 21-man-squad for the relegation battle clash has been named and there is just one change to it from last weekend’s semi-final defeat at York. In comes forward Dominic Horn, signed on an ‘open-ended’ loan earlier this week from fellow Championship side Batley Bulldogs.

He replaces Ronan Michael, also a loan signing – from Super League side Huddersfield Giants – and the 20-year-old will think himself unlucky having scored a try in the 1895 cup tie last week.

For Newcastle, there are four changes to the pack from last weekend’s defeat to Bradford ahead of their trip down to the Manchester region. Scrum-half Josh Woods has been named for the first time since early May, having suffered ligament damage against London Broncos.

Twin brothers Jay and Ted Chapelhow also return to the squad as well as the inclusion of prop Mitch Clark for the first time. Signing on loan from Wigan Warriors earlier this week, Clark could be in line to make his debut for the Thunder on Sunday.

Head-to-Head

Although their league form this year won’t show it, it is Swinton who hold the aces going into this weekend’s clash if history is anything to go by. Since 2012, the two have met five times if you include two Challenge cup ties – 2012 and 2014 – when this weekend’s visitors were still known as Gateshead Thunder.

After the re-branding of ‘Newcastle Thunder’, the Geordies came toe to toe with the Lions twice in League One and have competed with them once already this season, in the first round of the 1895 cup.

All five of those previous meetings mentioned have gone the way of the Lions, including a 28-16 win in the aforementioned cup tie back in March so Thunder will have to turn the tide in that sense if they are to be successful on Sunday.

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