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Injured: Lee Jewitt
Lee knee woe
Dave Lawrenson12/ 6/2008
SALFORD prop Lee Jewitt has been ruled out of action for at least a month with knee ligament damage – and coach Shaun McRae admits that the untimely injury is a ‘major blow’.
Fellow up-and-coming pack star Stephen Nash will take Jewitt’s place in the front row for the Reds’ Northern Rail Cup semi-final at Celtic Crusaders on Saturday, June 14, kick-off 5.30pm.
And second rower Ian Sibbit will walk straight back into the side if he can prove that he has fully recovered from the knee injury which ruled him out of Salford’s impressive 34-10 home National League One win against Sheffield Eagles on Friday night.
McRae said: "Lee Jewitt suffered a medial ligament strain during the Sheffield game and will be out for a month.
"It is a major blow to us as Lee had started to get back to his best form.
"He has bags of talent and a bright future in the game. But he will come back fresh for important games later on.
"Stephen Nash will come in for him on Saturday and I am sure that he will do a fine job. I have every confidence in him.
"He was an ever present in the first team at the start of the season but I ended up taking him out of the side as other players were playing better at that time. I spoke to him about areas of his game that he needed to work on and he has been doing that. He has been getting a lot of game-time for the reserves and he has been playing very well.
"The only other change I envisage making from the team that performed so well against Sheffield is bringing Ian Sibbit back into the second row. His injury has improved a lot and I would say that his chances of playing are slightly better than 50/50.
"If he can prove that he has fully recovered from the injury by Friday then he will play."
McRae admits that Saturday’s game is the Reds’ biggest match of the season so far.
And he is tipping his troops to rise to the occasion.
McRae said: "This game should be the final as us and Celtic are the two best sides left in the competition.
"We are fully aware of how important this game is. A place in the final is at stake and we would love to win it.
"We played well against Sheffield on Friday but we are going to have to play even better against Celtic as they are a better side than Sheffield. We have got that improvement in us and we have some big-game players who I am sure will rise to the occasion.
"But so have they. Celtic are a quality side with a lot of very good players.
"They are a big well drilled team with plenty of experience.
"And they, like us, performed very well at the weekend.
"It could go either way.
"We beat Celtic in the league 24-22 a month or so ago and I can see it being just as tight on Saturday.
"We started slowly in that game and the players are all too aware that they can’t afford to make the same mistake again."
The Crusaders will be missing their influential half back Jace Van Dijk, who is nursing a broken jaw.
And they boast the League One player of the month for May in Australian loose forward Neale Wyatt.
McRae said: "Our fans are terrific and it would be great to have as many of them as possible cheering us on in Bridgend.
"I know that it’s a long way to travel and we will try our best to reward those who make the trip by booking our place in the cup final at Blackpool."
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12/06/2008 at 16:00