The Holmen Iggesund Cumberland ARL programme starts tonight at Egremont.
The Rangers A team entertain Distington A and a good, tight contest is expected.
Egremont coach Kevin Brown said: “It should be a good game between two young teams. I must say it’s great to have Distington retain a presence in the League with a second team.
“Although we did well in our last game when we beat Flimby there were a couple of areas that we can improve on and that’s what we have been working on.
“We have the usual absences through work and holidays but that’s the same for every team.”
Distington A coach Ryan Hodgson said: “I’m looking forward to the game which I expect will be played in good spirits with both teams fielding young developing sides.
“It’s been a tough week for the club, some of our younger players especially having to deal with such a close bereavement.
“Their courage, commitment and attitude throughout the week has been commendable and one as a coach I am very proud of them all.
“Things in life are bigger than rugby but it’s in the dark times that the rugby community comes together, and having your mates, team-mates and family around you and supporting you is massive.
“A few injuries have crept into our side but it gives us a chance to look at players in different positions.
“For the second time this season we have a lad playing his first game of rugby league and I’m excited to see how he goes.
“We have worked a lot in training around our ruck speed and trying to speed-up our game with the forwards eating up the metres to play on the back of it.”
The game between Wath Brow Hornets A and Aspatria has been moved to tomorrow afternoon.
Wath Brow Hornets A coach Paul Farrell said: “We just take each game as it comes and we tend to concentrate on our own game, rather than the opposition.
“I am looking for us to play an expansive game and score points, keeping them to a minimum.
“But we expect Aspatria to bring a big pack of forwards and have a couple of sharp outside backs.
“We have injuries, Sam Fulton will be a big miss in the middles as he’s waiting for a shoulder operation and has been a key player.”
For Aspatria Mark Ridley said: “We are looking forward to the clash of the Hornets. They are one of the top teams in the League and it will be an indication of how we are shaping.
“Keenan Foster is returning at full-back and Chris Beaty will be in the centres, after both have been unavailable because of work commitments,
“Stuart Creighton is back into the pack after his holiday while we have one of our former players Brad Bouch playing his first game of the season and that will stiffen up the pack.”
The other games are tomorrow but one of them – the Maryport derby has been postponed with Glasson unfortunately unable to raise a team.
Glasson have the smallest squad in the League of 24 players and they virtually have half of them missing through injuries, holidays and work commitments.
There’s plenty of sympathy for the Glasson club with coach Mark Foster saying: “I hope they can re-group and come back strongly for the rest of the season.”
Glasson head coach Scott Burns said: “We are very disappointed, especially it being a Maryport debut but there’s nothing much we can do because of the size of the squad.
“We got four bad injuries last week against Kells; we have three players away on a football tour, two at work and two more on holiday so it was impossible unfortunately.”
Flimby are at home to Kells A and Askam entertain Cockermouth Titans in the games that do go ahead.
Ricky Morrison for Flimby said: “We had a tough game against Wath Brow but the lads’ morale is good going into this home game even though they know this is going to be hard.
“The lads have been enjoying the games so far as they gain experience all the time.
“We have gathered a great following this season and it is snowballing every week so we are not short of support.
“Unfortunately we have a lot of lads away this week due to it being a Bank Holiday but we do have good numbers in the squad for cover.
“We are looking for Nathan Kirkbride to get some tries on the board to catch our top scorer Blake Miller.”
For Kells, coach Jonathan Wignall said: “It was nice to get back to winning ways last week. We had a young side last week with the exception of myself and the evergreen Lee Rutherford and the youngsters acquitted themselves well.
“We are hoping to have some half-backs returning this week. Kieran Halcrow, who has been exceptional for us at scrum-half so far, is one that is coming back so that is good news.
“Our first team is away in Bradford this week but they have some players returning which again gives us some extra quality dropping down into our squad.
“We are expecting a good game against the Flimby Vikings and it’s great to see them back playing in the League once again.”
That leaves Askam against Cockermouth Titans and the south Cumbrians are looking for their first win.
Coach Chris Broadley said: “We are looking for improvement from our last game against a very good Maryport side.
“We were good in parts and are looking for an 80-minute performance and hopefully our first win isn’t too far away.
“We have over 20 lads available and it’s been a big boost that Brad Kavangh has come in and he has lots of National Conference experience.”
Cockermouth were well beaten in the BARLA National Cup last week at Thatto Heath so will be fired-up to get that out of their system.
