The win against Barrow in the first round of the Challenge Cup was a really tough contest.

After the game the lads commented on how they thought the game against the team from the division below was even more physical than the previous week's against Halifax.

It was good to see our new 'man size' pack, many of whom were recruited during lockdown, stand up to their pack and give them both barrels.

If I am being honest, that could have been a tricky game last season but that is why we made a point of getting some size amongst our forwards for the upcoming season and last week was the first payback on that.

Proof of that came with an almighty hit – totally legal and fair – by Shaun Pick in the second half. If you haven’t seen it have a look on our Twitter page – it will make your phone shudder!

This week sees us go straight into the next round of the cup at Swinton.

The match is being shown live on the BBC online, red button and iPlayer so is free to watch for everybody and should be another tough old contest.

The last few years have seen the Lions consolidate in the Championship so we know it will be a tough ask but we are confident without being arrogant, and if we keep improving each week as we have done over the first three matches, we will have a very good chance of coming away with the win.

There are plenty of rivalries between players of the two clubs with us being near neighbours but you can be assured there will be no love lost for the full 80 minutes once the referee blows his whistle.

This year is slightly different in that the first two rounds of the cup count for both the Challenge Cup and the 1895 Cup which offers the finalists the chance to play at Wembley, something that everybody outside of Super League can usually only dream about.

The winners of Sunday’s game will only be one game away from that dream coming true. Fingers crossed.

The lads have trained well this week although, as you would imagine, there were a few bumps and bruises at training on Tuesday after such a bruising affair. The physio room was like emergency ward 10!

After such a long lay-off prior to playing for the last few weeks, the lads have now remembered just how much a game of rugby league takes out of your body.

Please watch the game if you can and hopefully cheer us on to a victory.