Skipton'S Kiwi scrum-half Duncan Brown misses his first game since arriving at the club at the beginning of last season when he takes a well-deserved breather tomorrow, when Northallerton are visitors to Sandylands.

Brown took a knock last weekend at Ilkley and has a day off to make sure he is fully fit for the Powergen Cup semi-final against Heath tomorrow week.

Brown's absence offers a chance for Matt Jones to return to first-team duty since his decision to quit the game with a damaged shoulder. That move came before Christmas when he suffered his second bout of shoulder trouble, but after a spell on the sidelines, he decided to try his luck once again and has been undergoing a successful rehabilitation at scrum-half in the 'A' team.

Brown's absence is the only change to the back division, but the front-row selection sees a couple of adjustments.

Prop Bob Birks was unavailable last weekend because of work commitments and is recalled tomorrow, while Declan Hayes starts at hooker this week, with Neil King on the replacement bench alongside Andy Phillip and Anthony Hill. Lock Andy Townsend is unavailable because of holiday commitments.

One piece of good news for the Sandylands men in advance of their semi-final outing is the fact that the RFU have confirmed that they can obtain secondary sponsorship support for the game in addition to that of competition sponsors Powergen and the Skipton Building Society have taken up that option.

A less attractive message from HQ is that admission prices are fixed by the RFU and are set at £4, with programme's price at £1. Proceeds of the tie are shared with Heath.

North Ribblesdale have manged only one home league game since December 1 and having lost another to the weather last weekend when West Park Bramhope were visitors, they go on the road again tomorrow when they visit Sheffield Tigers.

They now face the prospect of six home games in their last seven matches, but a win tomorrow would be very welcome in their bid to stay in Yorkshire One.

However, they travel to South Yorkshire without Neil Gemmell and Russ Howarth, both working, and Jonathan Richards, who is unavailable.

Skipton: D Howson; P Lacy, A Maldera, A Porter, M Beech; A Oldfield, M Jones; R Birks, D Hayes, P Jenkinson, G Newhouse, A Winthrop, M Davison, I Scrivin, J Morgan. Replacements: N King, A Philip, A Hill.