WEST Bowling’s young charges are “confident” ahead of a clash of the titans at the top of the National Conference League Division Two table, says Ryan Hunkin.

His side come into the match at early division leaders Ince Rose Bridge on the back of a solid win against Barrow Island, which sees them in fourth and only four points off the top.

This is despite a gut-wrenching defeat to local rivals Bradford Dudley Hill the week before.

See more details from the Barrow Island game here...

Hunkin said: “We just need to be winning more regularly, and they don’t come much tougher than Ince Rose Bridge this weekend.

“It’s a real tough game. They’re top of the league, so we’re looking forward to testing ourselves again.”
Hunkin is feeling optimistic if his side’s injury toils subside. Bowling suffered a few knocks in the full-blooded Bradford derby and now have two sets of fixtures to provide for with their second team starting their league season last weekend at the same time as the Barrow game.

The Bowling chief said: “I’m hoping we get a few bodies back this week. We probably picked up one or two niggles last week, so again it’s testing us.

“But we’re confident in what we do. They’re a good set of young kids, getting better and better every week, and finding their way.

“It will be a marker of where we’re going to be towards the back end of the year.”

That challenge is made significantly easier by the fact that Bowling boast the best defensive and attacking record in the division so far, with a positive points difference of 108 - double the next closest. Hunkin said: “We can score points, so if we keep them down to a minimum of 14 points, I reckon we’ve got a chance of winning any game.

“That’s always been somewhere near our target, around 14 points, 18 points, and we can outscore teams with ball in hand.

“But the defence has been one thing I’ve been focusing on in pre-season and in the games we’ve had so far.”

Part of Bowling’s attacking prowess has come from the form of young kicker Harry Williams, who has flourished, and Hunkin believes there’s more to come.

He said: “He just keeps the scoreboard ticking over with penalties and conversions, but his overall game is coming on.

“He’s really taking on a bit more responsibility, he’s getting a bit more vocal, starting to boss about a bit.
“He’s sometimes missing, but he’s becoming an integral part of the team and at 18, 19-years-old, he’s still a young kid.
“It’s a lot on his shoulders, but he’s handling it really well.

"He's up in his defensive efforts which, they haven't been lacking by any stretch of the imagination, but physically he's getting his hands on it a little bit better, week-in week-out.

"I'm really happy with what Harry's doing, he's going well."