Great Britain international Iestyn Harris will have a big say in York Acorn's bid to reach the third round of the BNFL National Cup.

The Leeds Rhinos star is the coach of Acorn's second round opponents, Shaw Rhinos, where he is in his fourth season in charge.

The Oldham side, who took their name from Harris's Super League club, are riding high in the North West Counties second division and are tipped to cause an upset.

They warmed up for Saturday's clash with a 24-10 win at Heysham Atoms, which was their ninth win in 11 games.

Acorn travel to Shaw hoping they can show the kind of form that saw them win at Sheffield in the National Conference second division recently.

A heavy beating by West Bowling on Saturday left them rooted to the foot of the league but a cup run could be just what they need to spark their survival campaign.

Acorn hope to have influential play-maker Nicky Warters back along with Yorkshire County squad member, three-quarter Gareth Lloyd.

Full-back Rian Calam and scrum-half Andy Lee, brother of York Wasps centre Rob, face late fitness tests.

On-song Groves face daunting cup task

Rejuvinated York Groves face a trip over the Pennines to take on NCL division two side Crosfield of Warrington in the BNFL National Cup second round.

The Terriers, on a high from recent excellent performances, are under no illusions of the task in front of them and coach Alan Mitchell can only ask 100 per cent from his squad.

In the first round they defeated Roose Pioneers 'A' 18-0 and followed that up with a Yorkshire League division five win over Allerton Bywater.

With second rower Martin Simpson out for the rest of the season and several other injury problems, Mitchell has asked all players to contact him and make themselves available for selection.

In-form New Earswick All Blacks also find themselves on the road but they will be travelling east to face Hull side Bilton Sullys.

The All Blacks will be full of confidence having won their last two matches - but only just.

They defeated Castleford Panthers and Keighley Albion by just one point but having coming through those nail-biters should stand them in good stead.

Bilton are enjoying a successful season in the premier division of the White Rose League and, like all the Hull amateur sides, will prove a tough nut to crack.

The York side will not be helped by the loss of six first team regulars. Dave Carling has been suffering from a groin injury and Lee Nelson could be missing for several weeks after fracturing his eye socket.

Alex Davis hurt his shoulder in last week's win over Keighley Albion while three other players - Rich Harrison, Gary Isles and Simon Baynes - are all ruled out due to work commitments.

They will be replaced by members of the Under-18s and the 'A' team who do not have a game.

Heworth do not enter the National Cup until the next round so they have brought forward their NCL division one home fixture against Oulton Raiders.

With the Keith Loft suspension saga now behind them, the Villagers will be on a high after picking up their first away win of the season at Rochdale Mayfield.

They will be hoping to make it third time lucky against Oulton having already lost to them twice this season, away in the league and at home in the Challenge Cup.

That 16-2 cup defeat was a close affair with Oulton only clinching the win thanks to a couple of late tries.

Heworth expect to field a similar side to the one which won at Rochdale with Chris Hammerton, who opted to stay on the sidelines, coming back into contention. Jimmy Rothwell will be unavailable so Kevin Gott is likely to come in at full-back.

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