SWINTON LIONS were forced to clarify the situation regarding on-loan hooker Ben Hartill, after he featured for Widnes.
The Warrington youngster linked up with Swinton on a season-long loan earlier this year, making five starts, but came off the bench for Widnes against Oldham in their Good Friday Championship meeting.
A Swinton statement read: “We’re proud to have taken Ben Hartill on loan for the season, and he’s made a real impact both on and off the field. His leadership, energy, and enthusiasm have been a huge asset.
“However we have three excellent number nines, and Ben wasn’t selected for the clash with Rochdale, so after discussions with Warrington Wolves and Widnes Vikings, it was agreed Ben would turn out for Widnes to get valuable gametime under his belt, which of course remains a key focus during the season.
“This was a great opportunity for Ben to stay sharp and focused, while also lending a hand to a club currently hit with injuries. It’s a move that benefited all parties involved, and we hope to see Ben back in Lions colours.”
Warrington are dual-registration partners with Widnes, who themselves are hoping to have Hartill available to play for them in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile Swinton coach Paul Wood took the positives from their defence in the 8-7 defeat at Rochdale.
Wood told Lions TV: “I’m proud of the effort the lads put into defence. They showed what we worked on all week and worked to nullify that attack. If we defend like that most weeks, we’ll win games. We’ll be a difficult team to beat.
“Our attack let us down, and we need to find out why that is because we’ve not trained like that all week. We played nice rugby, we had the field position, we just couldn’t cross the line.
“You hate losing but sometimes you can take lessons from that and take positives, and the defence will be the positive we take.”
Swinton were without Adam Jones, Reagan Sumner and Kian Morgan through injury.
