Match Preview

Hartlepool Rovers end their 2017/18 season with a home date with Redcar at the New Friarage on Saturday (kick off 3pm).

The Whites started the campaign with a 21-8 loss at Redcar’s Mackinlay Park and so Rovers will want to end the season on a high and take revenge for that defeat whilst bouncing back from a poor display at Ponteland last time out.

Everything was set up for a win for the Friaragemen last Saturday but they slumped to a 24-8 defeat meaning that the clash with Redcar is a chance to show that the away-day at Ponteland was a blip.

There have been too many off-days by Rovers this season and there has to be greater consistency of selection and performance moving forward.

Captain and leading try-scorer Callum Whitehead misses the match and so Andrew Dring moves from openside to number eight, Aaron Jeffery taking the number six shirt. Player-coach Steve Smith starts at loosehead; Chrissy Harrison on the wing and Taz Pelser at scrum half.

There is a strong-looking bench of Danny Cookland, Daz Fawcett and Anthony Hanley.
Rovers: M Railton, C Harrison, Kirton, Gunn, S Railton, Foreman, Pelser, S Smith (c), Maguire, Lloyd, Langley, Little, Jeffery, Church, Dring. Subs: Cookland, Fawcett, Hanley