Leigh Centurions travel to Sewell Group Craven Park for cup clash

Hull KR and Leigh Centurions meet for the fourth time in six seasons in the Betfred Challenge Cup on Saturday as both teams aim to be in the quarter-final draw of the grand old competition!

Rovers welcome back Ben Crooks who has been selected in Tony Smith’s 21-man team for Saturday’s clash. The outside-back missed the beginning of the Super League season due to a knee setback suffered while recovering from his off-season shoulder surgery.

Crooks seems ready to make his first Rovers outing in six months against old side Leigh after featuring for Danny McGuire’s reserve team last week in a victory over St Helens. Kane Linnett also returns to the 21 man squad, having overcome a quad injury that saw the second-row miss the narrow defeat in Perpignan. On the flip side, Albert Vete is out after suffering a calf injury in the defeat to Catalans Dragons which may see the Tongan miss a few games, while Will Tate is the other casualty from last week’s squad.

The game could also be a great opportunity for Ethan Ryan, Will Maher and Rowan Milnes who are all yet to be named in the starting lineup in 2022, to make an impression on Smith. Milnes and Ryan also featured in last week’s reserve clash alongside Crooks whereas Maher is yet to don the field of play this campaign. The trio are knocking on the door for a start and could all put forward compelling cases as Smith is still trying to find his best 17.

You’d be forgiven for forgetting the Robins are in action this week after the Rugby League rumour mill has been firmly placed in East Hull this week with Tony Smith and Danny McGuire becoming favourites to return to Headingly since the sudden departure of Richard Agar, who resigned from his post at the struggling Rhinos. Smith was absent from his pre-match press conference which added more fuel to the fire but a post on Thursday afternoon on the Rovers official pages with Smith and McGuire present at training has eased the situation.

The visiting Centurions are coming off a 16-26 victory on Monday night over Halifax. Tries from Mark Ioane, Nene Macdonald, Keanan Brand, Tom Amone and Joe Wardle moved Adrian Lamb’s side up to second in the Betfred Championship, one point behind leaders Featherstone.

With the visits of Warrington and Hull FC on the horizon for the Red and Whites, the East Hull outfit have three games in succession at Sewell Group Craven Park and will be looking to use their home advantage starting this week in the cup. The Reds will have to be on their A-game this weekend and only have to look at the last time the two sides met in the cup, a last-gasp try from Nick Rawsthorne saw Rovers break the hearts of the travelling Leythers on Covid Eve.

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Leigh will try to take Rovers down the middle on Saturday and will be led by experienced powerhouse Adam Sidlow. The former Bradford man only knows one tempo and direction, he scored a brace over the Robins last season whilst dominating the KR pack. The likes of Sidlow, Amone and Asiata must be controlled by the Robins who will try to assert their dominance from the off against the Championship outfit. KR must outpace their counterparts around the ruck to tire the big men who are coming off a 5-day turnaround.

Hull KR 21-man squad: Ben Crooks, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Ryan Hall, Jordan Abdull, Matt Parcell, George King, Kane Linnett, Matty Storton, Jez Litten, Korbin Sims, Elliot Minchella, Jimmy Keinhorst, Will Dagger, Mikey Lewis, Rowan Milnes, Will Maher, Ethan Ryan, Sam Wood, Greg Richards, Tom Garratt, Frankie Halton.

Leigh 21-man squad: Caleb Aekins, Jy Hitchcox, Keanan Brand, Nene MacDonald, Tom Nisbet, Ben Reynolds, Joe Mellor, Adam Sidlow, Aaron Smith, Joe Wardle, Sam Stone, Tom Amone, Ata Hingano, Ed Chamberlain, Jacob Jones, John Asiata, Luis Roberts, Kieran Dixon, Edwin Ipape, James McDonnell, Krisnan Inu.