Bradford & Bingley face West Hartlepool at Wagon Lane as they seek to build on last weekend’s victory over Waterloo in National League Three North.

The Bees won 26-14 at Blundellsands to claim their sixth victory from their last seven games, lifting them to within three points of the second-place play-off spot.

Head coach Stuart Dixon said: “It’s a funny time of year at the moment for players and coaches as the weather has made it difficult to play games and train.

“So it was really pleasing, therefore, to go away last weekend and get the win.

“We are hoping to get a performance and a similar result this weekend.”

Dixon is expecting a stern test from West Hartlepool, adding: “I wasn’t up there for the last fixture against them as I was with the second team that day.

“But by all account they’re fairly abrasive and they’re going to be tough to break down.

“If they win or lose, they tend to have a lot of close games.”

Dixon said lock Richard Hughes and fly-half Steve Brimacombe will come back into contention after missing the Waterloo game due to family commitments.

With the big freeze seemingly over, Bradford Salem travel to Barnsley in Yorkshire Division Two for their first game since beating Doncaster on January 28.

Cleckheaton are also playing for the first time this month as they welcome Northern to Moorend.

Baildon will be in RFU Junior Cup action against Seghill, a match postponed from last Saturday when the Jenny Lane pitch was frozen.

Ilkley will be looking to progress in the RFU Inter- mediate Cup as they entertain Ashington. They only need to draw to top their qualifying group.

Skipper Rob Baldwin is absent on family business as Wharfedale return to National League One action at home to Rosslyn Park.

Centre Dan Hart will lead the side with Richard Brown taking Baldwin’s place in the back row.

Young forward Alex Rieder is rewarded with a place on the bench as the back row replacement.

Visitors Rosslyn Park went to the top of the league table on the strength of a run of 12 wins in 13 games, but have since dropped to fourth place after suffering three successive defeats In the reverse fixture in October, Wharfedale lost 21-17, having failed to turn pressure into points.