Cougars Look To Continue Winning Ways With Cumbrian Test – Whitehaven Preview

[Cougars News]

Keighley Cougars v Whitehaven Match Preview by Joshua Chapman (@JRCSport)

Date: Sunday 29th April

Time: 3:00pm

Venue: Cougar Park, Keighley

The Cougars answered their critics from defeat at Oldham in style last time out with victory away at Newcastle and now return to Cougar Park for a tough test against a Whitehaven side on a high from Challenge Cup progression last weekend.

LAST TIME OUT:

The Cougars bounced back from defeat at Oldham with a comfortable 14-34 victory away at the Newcastle Thunder. Darrell Griffin marked his 400th career appearance with his first try for Keighley before Ryan Wright, Adam Ryder, Josh Tonks and a brace from Andy Gabriel put the shine on a bright performance for Craig Lingard’s side. Ritchie Hawkyard was sin-binned midway through the second half for his part in a scuffle.

Whitehaven sealed a mouthwatering tie away at the Catalans Dragons as they thrased Championship side Rochdale Hornets 38-0 in Cumbria. Callum Phillips crossed for a brace of tries with further scores on the day coming through Dan Abram, Connor Holliday and Jessie Joe Parker. Haven were also reduced to 12 men on two seperate occassions with Carl Forster and Lewis Reece both being sent to the sin-bin.
TEAM NEWS:

Cougars Head Coach Craig Lingard will make a late check on Ritchie Hawkyard but is without St Helens loanee Ben Morris (Ribs) who has been ruled out for 4-6 weeks with the injury sustained at Newcastle last Sunday. Dan Parker (Hand) is fit and named in the 19 man squad for the first time since joining the club in January. Hamish Barnes (Shoulder) and Trae O’Sullivan (Head) are both ruled out along with long term absentee Emmerson Whittel (Knee).

Whitehaven Player-Coach Carl Forster welcomes St Helens loanee Josh Eaves back into his side after the youngster was cup-tied for last weekend’s victory over Rochdale. The re-introduction of Eaves is the only change to the Haven side that sealed a trip to France with the ‘Marras’ otherwise unchanged for the trip to West Yorkshire.
KEY BATTLE:

The respective front rows of these two teams will be on course for a collision at Cougar Park come 3pm on Sunday. Darrell Griffin has made a real impact since joining the Cougars earlier this month and will provide a stern test, along with Matthew Bailey, for Kris Coward and Marc Shackley once the whistle blows. St Helens loanee Liam Cooper and Haven Player-Coach Carl Forster will also have parts to play as will Scott Law and Brad Nicholson for Keighley.

THE SQUADS:

COUGARS: Aaronson, Bailey, Beharrell, Conroy, Dixon, Emmett, Gabriel, Griffin, Hardcastle, Hawkyard, Law, Leeming, Lynam, Nicholson, Parker, Rawlins, Ryder, Tonks, Whiteley, Wright.

HAVEN: Abram, Aiye, Brown, Cooper, Coward, Eaves, Forster, Gillam, Green, Holliday, Lister, Mossop, Parker, Phillips, Reece, Taylor, Thompson, Tilley.

THE COACHES:

Keighley Cougars Head Coach Craig Lingard: “We spoke as a group about the importance of beating these teams around us. Every game is a four point game against them because if you get two points off them, they have to get four points to get back above you.

“It’s great that we got that win at Newcastle but the home form for us has got to be paramount. We’ve got to protect that as much as we can.”If we can beat Whitehaven on Sunday, which will be difficult because they’ve won their last six, it sets us up for those games against some of the less fancied teams in the division.”

Whitehaven Player-Coach Carl Forster: “It’ll be a tough, physical game. We need to have the same attitude as the Rochdale game.

“We need to use that game in the right way, take confidence and set it as a benchmark. We can use it as a platform. We’ve celebrated the win and now we will focus on Keighley.

“We’ve set the standard, it will be hard to keep that every week but we’ll be hard to beat if we do. If we’re going to beat Keighley, we need to be at that standard.”

THE REFEREE:

The man in the middle for the visit of Whitehaven to Cougar Park this Sunday in Round 8 of the Betfred League One season is Andy Sweet from Castleford. Mr Sweet is no stranger to the Cougars, over the past 3 seasons in particular, and will be officiating his 3rd Keighley game of the season with his previous appointment seeing Craig Lingard’s side victorious away at Hunslet on Good Friday at the back end of March.

SUMMARY:

Craig Lingard got the reaction he was looking for from his side last weekend as the Cougars won comfortably at a notorious bogey ground in the north-east. He will be looking to take that confidence into this Sunday’s game at Cougar Park but knows that Whitehaven will be on a high of their own and looking to continue their recent upturn in form to get a 7th straight victory. Cougar Park is the place to be this Sunday!

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