DANNY Bridge, who has signed a new one-year contract at Oldham, has survived the cut and is included in coach Stuart Littler’s 22-man Ireland squad for World Cup qualifiers against Spain and Italy.

They play Spain away on Saturday and Italy in Dublin on November 9 in a bid to go forward to World Cup 2021, which will be held in England.

Bridge’s Irish selection comes in the week that Oldham’s new head coach Matt Diskin described him and his Roughyeds second-row partner Danny Langtree as among the top five second-rowers in the Betfred Championship.

Centre Zack McComb, who has left Oldham to sign for Sheffield Eagles, has been fast-tracked into the 22, which also includes former Roughyeds players Michael Ward (Batley) and Greg McNally (Leigh).

Others in the squad include Tyrone McCarthy (Salford), James Bentley (St Helens), Bob Beswick (Toronto), George King (Wakefield) and Liam Byrne (Wigan).

Oldham have beaten off competition from rival clubs to retain second-row star Danny Bridge for another year.

Now pushing for a place in Ireland’s pack for forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Spain and

Italy, 26-year-old Bridge has kept faith with his hometown club despite opportunities to sign elsewhere.

“There were a few clubs chasing him, but we are delighted to announce that Danny is staying here,” said club chairman Chris Hamilton.

“It’s good to have him on board again which means we’ll retain our top second-row pairing of Bridge and Langtree.”

‘Langers’, the highest-scoring forward in Betfred League 1 last season, is on a deal that has another year to run.

Bridge has scored 16 tries in 36 games in his two seasons at Oldham, but 2020 will be his first in the Championship in Roughyeds colours and coach Matt Diskin will be looking to his mega second row to make a big impact.

He said: “Danny was one of the first players I wanted to re-sign when Chris (Hamilton) and I went through the squad shortly after my arrival at the club.

“He’s a very talented player whom I was fortunate to work with at Bradford at the back end of my playing career.

“He’s a leader and he’ll be up there with ‘Langers’ among the top five second-rowers in the Championship.”

n ROUGHYEDS wish to publicly thank Oldham Athletic for the invitation to attend last week’s game against Walsall at Boundary Park, which Latics won 2-0 with goals by man-of-the-match Scott Wilson and Desire Segbe Azankpo.

Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton and half a dozen players, headed by club captain Gareth Owen, were invited on to the pitch before kick-off, introduced to the crowd, and congratulated for their achievement in winning promotion to the Betfred Championship.

Other players in attendance included Ritchie Hawkyard, Jack Spencer, Cameron Leeming, Phil Joy and Harry Aaronson, who scored four tries in nine appearances while on loan from Swinton Lions.