Following Sunday’s narrow defeat at home to York, let’s take a look at how the squad has recovered from the game with a look ahead to next Sunday’s visit of London…
Next Sunday we face London Broncos at the DCBL Stadium in Round 16 of the Betfred Championship season. After the loss to York we currently sit in 9th place on the table, with London three places behind us on two wins and one draw from their opening 15 games.
The men from the capital will head into this game buoyed by their last outing which saw them play away to Dewsbury Rams at the Tetley’s Stadium in West Yorkshire, where they picked up their second win of the season with a 26-18 victory.
We can expect to face a significantly different side to the team we played in Round One at Plough Lane. With a new interim coach in place and a number of recent additions to the squad, London have been a lot more competitive in the games they have played over the past couple of months.
On the back of the York fixture, the Vikings have no new injury concerns. The international fixtures over the weekend will give everyone in the squad time to rest and recover properly, with the exception of Welsh internationals Matty Fozard and Lewis Hulme who will travel to the south of France to represent their Welsh heritage.
Lloyd Roby has been for a scan after suffering an injury against Sheffield Eagles earlier in the month. Unfortunately for Lloyd, he will likely miss the remainder of the season after the scan results showed that he has damage to his anterior cruciate ligament. A further update on Lloyd’s progress will be given in due course.
Prop forward Josh Johnson is progressing well from his knee injury sustained against Whitehaven on his Vikings debut. Rehab is going well for Josh and he is getting closer to a return to the field to running with the Strength and Conditioning staff. Levy Nzoungou is also working with the S&C staff towards his own return.
Shane Grady has been back into training with the team and will be available for selection for the London game. Shane’s return to the team will come as a timely boost to the Vikings pack.
Callum Field failed his head injury assessment after a heavy collision in the York game and will be following the RFL concussion protocols through the week, with a view to being back in contention for the Broncos game.
Ollie Brookes is still going through his rehab programme with the club physio. He will miss continue to be assessed weekly and a further update on Ollie’s recovery will be given on a week-to-week basis.
Jake Spedding missed the game against York after picking up a quad injury in the team run before the game. Jake will continue to be assessed by the medical team who will determine when he will be available to get back into training.
