Yorkshire Inter District Union: Leeds v East Riding

LEEDS will look to make home advantage pay and lift themselves off the bottom of the Yorkshire Inter District Union league table when they face East Riding at Horsforth on Sunday.

Captain Tony Greenhalgh has had to make five changes to the side which lost narrowly, 19-17, against Bradford at Keighley.

Craig Watt (Moor Allerton), who played all of last season, is back and Cookridge Hall’s Jamie Lawrence, another regular last summer, also returns.

John Rea (Scarcroft) is the third incomer playing his first game of the season while Damian Simpson, of Waterton Park, and Tom North (Howley Hall) both played in Leeds’s opening two fixtures.

East Riding captain Andy Woodhead makes one fewer alterations following a home defeat to Sheffield when parity after the foursomes at Ganstead was swept aside by the visitors’ 17-7 surge in the singles.

However, he is still without several key players due to work commitment, holidays and the lure of qualifying events for national tournaments.

Leeds trailed 8-4 to Bradford after the foursomes in their last match and were just unable to turn things around, although they did edge the afternoon’s encounters 13-11.

Greenhalgh had been encouraged by the afternoon’s early proceedings and said: “When you’re halfway round and you have players that are one or two up after nine you think ‘well, that might be a win there’,” he said. “But you shouldn’t count your chickens.

“However, it was a real, fighting display; all three matches we have played have been very close.”

Leeds have one point from their first three matches – from a tie with York at Sand Moor last month – while East Riding have two points having defeated Bradford 22-14 at Woodhall Hills.

LEEDS: Rob Wardle (Selby), Chris Green (Selby), Sean Ryan (Horsforth), Paul Croft (Sand Moor), Matty Brighton (Wike Ridge), Damian Simpson (Waterton Park), Craig Watt (Moor Allerton), Tom North (Howley Hall), Matthew East (Moortown), Jamie Lawrence (Cookridge Hall), John Rea (Scarcroft), Liam Bennett (Horsforth).

EAST RIDING: Ryan Gray (Driffield), Mark Woodall (Brough), Nick Jones (Beverley), Lewis Nicholls (Ganton), Ben Borman (Cottingham), James Woodhead (Hessle), Nick Raybould (Bridlington Links), Richard Webster (Bridlington Belvedere), Andy Lockwood (Hessle), James Ratcliffe (Cottingham), Lewis Lanchard (Hessle), Andy Woodhead (Brough).