Preston Grasshoppers ring changes to face the wrath of Sheffield Tigers

Director of rugby Alex Keay said: “It’s 100 per cent a shake-up. Those who have been moved down aren’t taking the brunt of the criticism, but we need to be better. We need to take the shackles off.“We played some good stuff against Leeds Tykes last week, but we still conceded 45 points and there was a lot that didn’t need to happen.“The Tigers, though, are a team we can beat.”Ben Haigh is at full-back, with Jacob Browne switching to centre. Ciaran O’Donnell starts at scrum-half, allowing Rory Brand to move to fly-half as Keay says Will Hunt “needs a week off”.Harry Holden hooks, Dec Norrington moves up to the second row, and skipper Scott Richardson switches to open-side flanker, with Will Goodier coming in at No 8 and Josh Jones on the other side of the back row.At Lightfoot Green in November, Hoppers agonisingly lost a seesaw clash 41-39 thanks to a converted Sheffield try deep into stoppage time.Since then, the Tigers have taken their record to 10 victories, eight defeats and one draw, to sit sixth in National League Two North.Hoppers slipped back to 11th last Saturday, with their 12th defeat adding to one draw and five victories. They are a couple of points behind Lymm, over whom they have a game in hand, and three points behind Otley, whom they visit next weekend in a rearranged fixture.Having lost their last two games, Fylde will have high hopes of making amends when they travel to bottom club Huddersfield for a second successive away game.The hosts have lost five in a row and 16 out of 18 overall to be 11 points adrift at the foot of the table. Their only victories have come against Billingham and Lymm, who are both in the bottom five.Fylde remain fifth after nine wins, nine defeats and one draw. They romped home by 62-19 when Huddersfield travelled to Ansdell in November.Vale of Lune, now up to fifth in Regional Two NorthWest, have a weekend off before an away game against Whitchurch next Saturday.Hoppers: Haigh; Lightowler, Browne, Maher, Spence; Brand, O’Donnell; Pope, Holden, Ashdown, Naylor, Norrington, Jones, Richardson, Goodier. Replacements: Wilkinson, Williams, Murray, Harrison, May.