KEIGHLEY COUGARS‘ new signings Eddy Pettybourne and Junior Sa’u look set to make their debuts when the club host Oldham following this weekend’s international break.
Former Wigan Warriors Grand Finalist Pettybourne arrived in West Yorkshire on Thursday but was given time to settle into his new surroundings rather than being thrown straight in with a long trip to Cornwall at the weekend, while Sa’u is due to arrive in the country from the USA early this week.
Pettybourne, who last season was player-coach of French Elite Championship side Limoux and led them to the final, has signed an 18-month deal with the Cougars.
Sa’u, who has signed until the end of the current campaign, has recently been playing Rugby Union for Old Glory DC, following a league career in the UK with Salford Red Devils, Wakefield, on loan, and most recently Leigh Centurions.
“Eddy will bring undoubted quality, both as a player and a person to this team,” said Cougars’ head of rugby Andrew Henderson.
“His experience and hunger to achieve will help give the squad fresh energy to keep pushing forward in the second half of the season.
“I firmly believe Eddy will add great value with his leadership qualities, both on and off the field, and enhance what is already a strong group.
“Our forward pack is really delivering at present. However, having Eddy arrive now at a crucial stage of the season will not only strengthen our pack, add competition for places but challenge the performance levels to rise again.
“With Taylor Prell moving on recently, it was important that we moved quickly to secure a quality replacement to give us some extra cover in our outside back department. When I found out Junior was available, we moved quickly to give him an opportunity.
“And after speaking to him, he was happy to take it with us.
“Junior is a quality person first and foremost, with the added bonus of being a quality player who has achieved a lot during his career both at club and international level.
“He is still hungry to achieve more, and I am sure his desire, experience, and ability will add value to our playing group, especially our younger outside backs.
“We look forward to seeing what Junior will bring to the team, and we look forward to welcoming him and his family to the Cougars.”
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OLDHAM have acted quickly to fill the gap left by an injury to Brad Jinks by signing Dec O’Donnell on a one-month loan from Workington Town.
Hooker Jinks has fractured his wrist, leaving coach Stuart Littler needing cover in the number nine role – which is exactly what O’Donnell, who is looking to return to full fitness after an injury of his own, offers.
“We’re going to be without Brad for a little bit now, so I spoke to Chris Thorman (Workington coach) about Dec,” said Littler.
“Dec has played with me before for Ireland, so I know him well and I am looking forward to seeing him and seeing the value he will add to us – not just his skill but his attitude and work ethic too.
“He’s got a bit more experience than some of our players. He came through a great Academy system at Wigan and played at a high-end Championship club with Leigh before winning promotion out of League One with Workington last year.
“He has been around the leagues now and we are excited to see him here.”
O’Donnell will link back up with some familiar faces at the Vestacare Stadium and is looking forward to the new challenge he will face there.
“I know Stu and Tom Spencer from our Ireland days – Stu gave me my first cap – and I know Ridders (Martyn Ridyard) well from when I was at Leigh,” explained O’Donnell.
“I know Calvin Wellington as well because we shared a house in Workington, so I’ve already got a lot of connections at Oldham.
“I’ve been out injured, but I’m fully fit and raring to go now and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to getting back into the game again.”
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SWINTON LIONS fullback Ben Heyes has left the club and returned to his amateur roots with Thatto Heath Crusaders.
The 23-year-old joined the Lions from Thatto ahead of the 2020 season and has gone on to make 13 appearances, scoring seven tries.
But after finding first-team opportunities limited again this year, the club has agreed to release him from his contract.
“I really am gutted to see Ben go,” said Lions coach Allan Coleman.
“I have known him for a long time from the community game and I know what a talent he is, but unfortunately it just didn’t quite work out for him.
“We’ve got Dan Abram at the club, who is quite an experienced player at this level. We’re all under a bit of pressure to get out of this division, so it’s important for me to go with a bit more experience in the playing side.
“Ben just wanted to play rugby and I am not one of those coaches who is happy to see players just sitting on the sidelines. I wanted to see him enjoying his rugby, so we came to an agreement that means he can go back and play regular rugby at Thatto Heath.
“He has enjoyed his time at the club though; he just not played enough. I would hope that if he ever wanted to come back to the professional game, then he’d choose to come to us because we have been good to him.”
Coleman also confirmed that Jose Kenga has also joined Midlands Hurricanes on a short-term loan deal.
“Although our squad is quite thin in numbers, we are strong with our middles and Jose wasn’t getting much game time,” added Coleman.
“Again, he just wants to play rugby and I am not able to give him that, so he’ll go down there and get a bit of game time. Then hopefully when we do need him to play for us, he’ll come back and be game ready.”
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ROCHDALE HORNETS have added more Super League experience to their ranks after signing Kieran Dixon on an initial two-week loan from Leigh Centurions.
The 29-year-old outside back has represented both London Broncos and Hull KR in the top flight, and most recently spent last season with York City Knights before his switch to Leigh ahead of this year.
With 142 tries and 283 goals in 205 appearances over his career so far, the Hornets will be hoping he can make an immediate impact on the side.
“Kieran is lightning quick and knows his way to the try-line, so his arrival really strengthens Matt Calland’s selection options,” said Hornets Chairman Andy Mazey.
“He has a lot of Super League and high-end Championship experience and I would personally like to thank Chris Chester and Derek Beaumont, over at Leigh, for their support on this one.”
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DONCASTER chief executive Carl Hall has said he has no issue with the fact that the club faces a run of away fixtures as pitch work get underway at the Eco-Power Stadium.
Having hosted Hunslet last weekend, the Dons won’t return to their own ground until July 31 when they face West Wales Raiders.
But six weeks away from home is nothing new for the club, having faced a similar situation for much of the last decade and Hall and the club know how to deal with it.
“There are no complaints from us,” said Hall.
“We are used to this situation as it happens every year. It is nothing new, we know it’s coming and we know how to deal with the budgets to allow for no revenue coming in from home games.
“It is something that everyone – players, staff and board – is aware of at the start of the year, and we are very grateful to play in a stadium this this, so there is no drama over it.
“It’s swings and roundabouts, because at the back end of last year we had a lot of home games to finish the season off and there were a couple of those that we had to win to make the play-offs and we did that. It is the same this year, so hopefully it can work in our favour again.
“In this league we’ve got to play everyone else home and away anyway, so if we have to play away for a few weeks it makes no difference. We have to play those games at some stage so we’ll just get on with it.
“After 20 days off we come back to action with a trip to North Wales Crusaders (June 25) and then travel to Swinton, have a long trip to Cornwall followed by a really tough game against Oldham, all on the road.
“It will be a testing period or us but if we can keep getting some numbers back at the right time of the year it might work in our favour.”
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MIDLANDS HURRICANES‘ Dave Scott has said the way the fixtures have fallen has made his transition to acting head-coach a much easier task than it might otherwise have been.
Scott began taking charge of first team matters in mid-May, following Richard Squires’ two-month ban for breaching the RFL rules regarding betting on the sport.
Since then, the Hurricanes have faced Keighley Cougars, West Wales Raiders and Oldham, and now only have to go up against Rochdale Hornets before Squire is allowed to return to the club on July 9.
“It has been a bit strange because this step up has come at a time when games have been a bit sporadic,” said Scott.
“We had a bye the first week, played a game, and then had another week off. We’ve since played two games and now have a break of around three week until our next game.
“But that has probably made things easier for me. It allows me to get to grips with the role and gives me a bit of time to adjust, rather than just going straight into week-to-week games.
“It has been a lot to adjust to but we’re all working together as a club to get around the situation.
“The whole club has been brilliant. We’ve got a great board who have stepped up and are helping out where they can and I’ve also got the senior boys in the squad helping me out too.
“Responsibility doesn’t solely fall on just one of us – we’re a team and we are all in it together.”
Meanwhile, the club has signed Jose Kenga on a short-term loan deal from Swinton Lions.
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CORNWALL have signed 19-year-old Hull KR forward Nathan Cullen on a one-month loan deal to add cover for Jack Ray’s injury and Anthony Mullally’s upcoming one-match suspension for dangerous contact in the recent loss to London Skolars.
“Due to injuries and suspensions, we need some cover in the middles and although Jack Ray is well on the road to recovery, we still don’t know when he will be back,” explained coach Neil Kelly.
“We are going to be without Anthony for one game, so I’m very grateful to Hull KR for agreeing to loan us Nathan.
“It will be a step up for him from reserve-grade football to League One but the people I have spoken to within the game say he’s a very good prospect. We look forward to seeing him in a Cornwall shirt.”
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NORTH WALES CRUSADERS coach Anthony Murray knows the recent defeat to Keighley Cougars does not mean their hopes of automatic promotion are over.
The Cougars ran out 56-12 winners when the two previously unbeaten sides met at Stadiwm Eirias at the start of the month.
“Fair play to Keighley, they are a very good team and came here and deserved the win, so we have no complaints,” Murray said after the game.
“It’s not the end of the world, and it’s now about what we can learn from the defeat and what we can take out of it to be better and keep building.
“The League isn’t won or lost on this game, it’s about what we do now and how we bounce back.
“The targets we have set is still in place and it’s important that we achieve what we set out to achieve in the next month to keep moving forward.”
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HUNSLET coach Alan Kilshaw has blasted his players for the way they treated their recent week off and has said there will be no repeat of the situation over the next couple of weeks.
The Leeds-based side returned after the Challenge Cup Final break with a trip to Doncaster and went down 36-6, with Ethan O’Hanlon scoring five minutes from time to avoid a whitewash.
The international break means Hunslet won’t be back in action until June 25, with Kilshaw promising steps will be taken to avoid a repeat of the performance against Doncaster.
“There were some elements that disappointed me,” said Kilshaw of the Doncaster defeat.
“We were very flat and I’m disappointed with the group. They’d been given a week off as we’d not had a game because of the Betfred Challenge Cup Final, but they seemed to come back still in holiday mood and that’s not good enough.
“I won’t repeat giving them time off; from the evidence I can’t really trust all of them to be professional.”
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LONDON SKOLARS fullback Jarred Bassett has admitted his side could have easily become unstuck against Cornwall to become the first side to be beaten by the league’s newest club.
The Skolars backed up their Friday Nights Lights win over Oldham with a narrow 20-24 win against the Choughs, but Barrett knows it could have been a very different outcome, especially as ill-discipline saw them have three players sin-binned during the game.
“I think we came down a bit cocky after our win the previous week and thought we’d win easily,” said Bassett.
“They came out firing but luckily we got the win in the end. We just had to dig in and find the energy. At one point we were down to eleven players, so we just had to work for each other and I was happy we got there in the end.”
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WEST WALES RAIDERS may have only won one game so far this season but they had another reason to celebrate last week.
Captain Joe Burke and recent recruit Kieran Lewis have both been named in John Kear’s Wales squad ahead of the game against France on Sunday.
Whether they will feature in the game will be known later this week.
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