Preview: Poole v Wolverhampton

Danny Ford believes Brady Kurtz’s return to action can help his No1 Carpet Cleaning Poole Pirates side close the gap on the SGB Premiership’s early front-runners.

The Pirates go into Monday’s clash against Wolverhampton at Wimborne Road (7.30pm) having not raced since May 30 – a 47-43 home defeat to Peterborough without injured Kurtz and Danish pair Nicolai Klindt and Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen, who were racing in their homeland.

Kurtz had been sidelined with a shoulder injury sustained in the Pirates’ Premiership defeat at the East of England Arena on May 23 and the Aussie missed the Bank Holiday double-header against Swindon and the home reverse to the Panthers.

But the Aussie returned to action with Leszno on June 2, scoring one point in their clash against Grudziadz.

Kurtz bagged seven points for Vetlanda two days later in their 50-40 win over Smederna and paid 10 in their 58-32 victory over Masarna.

The Cowra man then ran in 14 points for Rawicz against Opole a week ago.

Ford said: “Brady is made of tough stuff so it’s been great to see him back in action so quickly.

“He’s been scoring well in Europe over the past couple of weeks considering the injury he sustained and his 14 points for Rawicz will certainly give him bags of confidence going into our meeting on Monday.

“We’ve got a little bit of ground to make up on the league front-runners and some meetings in hand to do it, so having Brady, Nicolai and Nikolaj back in place on Monday is a huge boost and I hope the boys can get the job done against a very good Wolverhampton team.”

The Wolves go into Monday’s clash on the back of a 52-38 defeat at King’s Lynn in the Premiership on June 3 but, like the Pirates, have lacked track time in recent weeks with their home clash against Peterborough a week ago postponed due to poor weather.

Pirates: Jack Holder, Richie Worrall, Nicolai Klindt, Josh Grajczonek, Brady Kurtz, Nico Covatti, Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen.

Wolves: Sam Masters, Kyle Howarth, Jacob Thorssell, Nick Morris, Rory Schlein, Ashley Morris, Luke Becker.

Picture: Taylor Lanning.