Rhinos v Crusaders: Teams
Defending champions Leeds will kick-off the new engage Super League season without scrum-half Rob Burrow.
Last Updated: 06/02/09 9:57pm
Defending champions Leeds will kick-off the new engage Super League season without scrum-half Rob Burrow.
The England international has been ruled out of Friday night's opening fixture against new boys Celtic Crusaders with a back inury.
Burrow has failed to recover in time and joins a lengthy list of casualties for the Rhinos - Brent Webb, Danny Buderus, Ryan Bailey, Simon Worrall and Ben Jones-Bishop are all ruled out.
"We are disappointed Rob will not be available," Leeds coach Brian McClennan said.
"We had hoped he would be right. Time has beaten us this week, but we hope he will be available for next week."
Double boost
However, there is some good news for McClennan with Danny McGuire and Kevin Sinfield both passed fit to face the Crusaders.
The duo are likely to line-up in the half-back roles having recovered from injuries picked up on the club's pre-season training camp in Florida.
Danny Allan, Kallum Watkins, Paul McShane and Dane Manning have been included in a 19-man squad for the for the game at Headingley Carnegie, which is live on Sky Sports.
Meanwhile, the Rhinos squad have had a helping hand from Leeds United after this week's heavy snowfall caused disruption to their preparations.
The rugby league players have been using the football club's indoor training facilities at Thorp Arch to get ready for the start of the new campaign.
The Crusaders head into their opener against the world champions without a warm-up match, so to describe them as an unknown quantity is an understatement.
Six of the Welsh side's new signings are set to make their debuts, including former Wests Tigers prop Ryan O'Hara, who was one of eight players who arrived in Wales on Sunday after only being issued with a work permit last week.
Seven out of those eight are named in the 19-man squad, with just Papua New Guinea international second rower Jason Chan missing out.
Leeds Rhinos squad: Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Leuluai, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Lauitiiti, Sinfield, Diskin, Kirke, Ablett, Burgess, Gibson, Allan, Watkins, Mcshane, Manning.
Celtic Crusaders squad: Duggan, Dyer, Hannay, Dalle Cort, Blackwood, Quinn, Van Dijk, O'Hara, Bryant, Peek, Mapp, Chalk, Smith, Lupton, Flower, J. James, Tangata-Toa, Beasley, Budworth.