Hoppers coach Orwin is intrigued to see what challenge Macc lads will offer
Preston Grasshoppers host Macclesfield tomorrow for the second time in four weeks, having beaten them 40-21 in a pre-season warm-up game.
Macc are back in National League Two North, having had to spend the last campaign in the far-flung reaches of National Two West.
They have won their first three games and collected two bonus points to sit third in the table. Hoppers, with two victories and one defeat, are sixth.
Head coach Dan Orwin said he was very happy with his side’s performance in atrocious conditions in their 10-3 win at Hull last Saturday, especially keeping their opponent try-less.
“It will be interesting to see where Macc are at and where we are at,” he said after naming a team in which Josh Longson and Tom Ailes return to the back row after being unavailable last week.
Owain Williams, a replacement for the concussed Ben Haigh for most of the game at Hull, starts on the wing and Alex Ward is in at flyhalf for Greg Smith.
Fylde’s second successive home fixture brings Hull to the Woodlands, after the Humbersiders lost at home to Hoppers last Saturday.
That was their third straight defeat, with a couple of losing bonus points, to leave them next to bottom. Fylde’s two wins and a draw put them in fourth place.
Hull beat them 23-21 at home last season, but lost 35-13 at Fylde.
Fylde will be forced into changes after Ben Walton’s red card and several injuries last weekend.
After three bonus-point victories put them at the top of Regional Two North West, Vale of Lune have an early-season weekend off.
Hoppers: Freeman; Browne, Glover, Russell, Williams; Ward, Brand; Parkinson, Holden, Kyle-Clay, Naylor, E Causey, Richardson, Longson, Ailes. Replacements: Hill, H Causey, Willetts, Keohane, Singleton.