Cavalry returns but Rhinos wary of Crusaders

Brian McClennan's side, who are unrecognisable to the erring team that spluttered at the start of the campaign, will bid to make it eight successive victories when the Crusaders arrive at Headingley Carnegie tomorrow.

The latest of those came at Harlequins last week without 10 senior players when they included a raft of youngsters and a makeshift half-back combination of hooker Paul McShane and second-row Carl Ablett.

McClennan, who welcomes back four England internationals tomorrow, was enthused by the response and admitted: "It is not the first time that we have faced this sort of challenge and we take a lot of enjoyment from winning games in that situation.

"It was really pleasing seeing the performance and it has lifted the whole club this week in training."

The cavalry has returned in the shape of captain Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peacock, Ryan Hall and Danny McGuire from international duty plus the availability again of key forwards Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Ryan Bailey so hooker Matt Diskin's absence due to an injury picked up in London should comfortably be absorbed.

Crusaders, who pushed the West Yorkshire club close for an hour at Wrexham on the opening night in January, have suffered a significant setback with the news half-back Michael Witt may miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury.

Already without fellow play-maker Jarrod Sammut, they defeated Bradford 44-20 on Sunday to move within four points of the top eight and a potential first play-off finish, but those chances could now diminish.

However, McClennan insisted: "Any side that is coached by Brian Noble is always going to be a difficult team to play against.

"They gave us a tough battle in Wrexham and we have both improved a lot since then. They come here full of confidence."