TOUGH TEST AHEAD
COOKE MISSES OUT AS SUNDERLAND PREPARE TO FACE PROMOTION-CHASING PONTELAND
Sunderland welcome highflying Ponteland to Ashbrooke on Saturday in a return to Durham/Northumberland League Two action.
The reverse leg against the second place Ponteland was a closely contested fixture, with the Clarets edging out Sunderland and preventing any losing bonus point.
The home side name a largely unchanged pack, barring the absence of Josh Cooke, who is undergoing surgery. In the backs, fullback Marc Edmundson is still recovering from a head injury sustained in the loss against Blyth.
On Sunday, injury-hit Sunderland Flames welcome top-of-the-table Sheffield to Ashbrooke, with eight firstteam players missing due to injury.
Sunderland chairman Paul Geehan said: “A few players are changing position, so we will really see how good the squad actually is.”
Skipper Greig Laidlaw believes Scotland now have the problem-solvers they will need if they are to stay out of trouble in Paris.
The Scots take on France this Saturday hoping to make it two RBS 6 Nations wins out of two, following last weekend’s nerve-shredding defeat of Ireland.
Laidlaw said: “Where I feel the team has made massive strides is being able to dig ourselves out of a hole. After allowing Ireland to come back at us, we managed to get field positions and eventually see out the win, so it’s pleasing to know we can perform in these situations.
“We understand how we can win games from being behind. We need everything we had from the Ireland game and take that forward into the French game.
“There are things we feel as though we can still improve on. In the Six Nations, there is no respite – we’ve beaten Ireland and enjoyed it, our feet are back on the ground now and we know what’s required.”
Rory Best has called for an endto“fantasy”comparisons between Brian O’Driscoll and Garry Ringrose to let Ireland’s young gun centre realise his rich Test potential.
“People just want this fantasy that there’s another Brian O’Driscoll out there: there isn’t another Brian O’Driscoll,” Best said.
“There’s another great, young guy, who happens to be from Dublin who happens to play 13 – but he’s not going to be exactly the same. There are some things Garry doesn’t do as well as Drico, but there are other things he could potentially do better. He has to be his own player.”