1st team squad to play Ponteland away at 1500 - Andy Hall, Tom Taylor, Pete Twentyman (captain) Adam MacDonald, Ross Radford, Louis Matthews, George Bambrick, Darren Kelly, Tom Grieves, Matty Marshall, Brandon Gilbert, Gregor Stirling, Jack Hearn, Lewis Chater, Ben Wollerton, Luke Foster, Ben Walker, Ross Glasper

Covid has finally hit our group after being relatively untouched over the last six months as Daniel Shuttleworth and Ben Kelly are omitted.

We have selected possibly our lightest pack of the season as we expect a torrid , high tempo battle with Ponteland. From the Horden fixture Ross Radford comes back into the pack to help with continuity and Louis Matthews comes in after some fine displays for the 2's.

The back line is also strengthened as youngster Brandon Gilbert starts on the wing in the absence of Ben Kelly. In addition, it is amazing to see Lewis Chater back within the group after some time away from the game.

We will need to be at our best to beat an in form Ponteland side. However, we have planned well at training and solved problems during the week thrown at us by injury and illness.