BRADFORD Dudley Hill are set to rekindle a local rivalry this weekend, as they take on neighbours West Bowling in the rugby league National Conference.

Both sides head into the fixture on a high, after they claimed victories on the league's opening weekend.

Underbank suffered a bruising 42-22 victory to Dudley Hill, while West Bowling thrashed Featherstone Lions with a score of 56-4.

And heading into this game, both sides will want to stamp their authority. Dudley Hill had the last laugh, beati, in the last ten years.

And Dudley head coach, Steve Wright, is hopeful his side can get one up on their rivals.

He said: "It will be good to get one over on them.

"It doesn't matter whether you're in the same league or not. I think when we played them in the league the season prior to lockdown, we had about 1200 people spectating.

"It was the first time we'd played each other in ten years, so it has been nice over the last few seasons, to get a couple of games against each other.

"The games are competitive, the skill level is high and if we manage to beat them, it will set down a good marker to where we are at."

Wright added: "West Bowling are a young, fit side though with lots of pace.

"They've got lads who can throw the ball about pretty well, so we need to be switched on defensively, which we always tend to be against them.

"There pace out wide could hurt us, so we need to be wary. I feel if we can contain that and our forwards can get on top, then I'm sure we can compete and possibly get another win."

Reflecting on his side's victory against Underbank, Wright highlighted many positives from the game.

He said: "Defensively we were really good again and our forwards took us forward really well, especially Andy Walker.

"He has moved up to prop from being in the second row a couple of seasons back, and he gives us a hell of a lot in that position.

"He's got a terrific engine and you can get plenty of minutes out of him.

"We were missing a couple of players. Our half-back pairing were not available again either, so yes, we are doing pretty well.

"To rack up a big-ish score on our first game of the season, it felt quite pleasing."

After such an impressive opening day performance, Wright hopes his side can build on it, and challenge for a play-off spot.

He said: "We want to try and qualify for the play-offs, dependent on how they're going to work.

"Obviously with these localised leagues, it's good to be testing yourself against teams from different divisions, and ultimately, you don't know what you're going to come up against.

"It's still a bit of the unknown compared to pre-lockdown, because back then, you knew what you were going to face, in relations to teams.

"But as I say, it's difficult to predict the season. Who knew we were going to put that kind of performance in against Underbank."