DARREN Carter will be on something of a scouting mission for the senior side when Barrow Raiders head to Hopwood Hall for their latest College Rugby League match tonight (kick-off 7.30pm).

The game is being played at the home of National Conference League Premier Division side Rochdale Mayfield – the team Barrow Raiders travel to in the first round of the League One Cup next month.

Hopwood and Mayfield are both coached by former Bradford Bulls Super League player Matt Calland as well, and while Furness head coach Carter does not expect the 45-year-old to be giving much away, he will still try to bring back some helpful information for Paul Crarey.

“I’m sure he won’t give much away on that set-up,” said Carter. “I speak to Matt quite a bit – he’s a good lad. A lot of the ex-players, we do get in touch with each other quite regularly, so it will be good to catch up with him.

“Hopefully it will be a good, competitive game and the lads can give a good account of themselves, and I’m sure they will do.

“We’ll have to see if we can bring something back about the set-up, the stadium, the pitch and see if we can give Paul a bit of info on that.”

Hopwood are traditionally one of the strongest teams in the College Rugby League and have again been the side to beat during the 2016/17 season, sitting on top of the table with just one defeat and one draw from their eight games so far.

Furness have a strong squad for the match, although work commitments have ruled out Blain Marwood, and fellow hooker Joe Crarey is also unavailable.

That means Ulverston’s Rowan Smedley will get a chance in the number nine shirt.

Carter is appreciative of Hopwood agreeing to reschedule the game for tonight and is looking forward to seeing how his players fare against their highly-regarded opponents.

“Hopwood are probably the benchmark for us all,” said Carter. “They’ve been the frontrunners in the college competition for a number of years now, Matt is a really good coach, played at a very high level, and I hold him in high regard.

“It will be a massive test for the lads, but these are the games they want to play in. We want to go away and test ourselves, and results aren’t the end of the world. Hopefully, we’ll go away and give a really good account of ourselves, and see how we fare.”

Furness have suffered just one loss all season as well and kept up their good form with a victory over Roose Pioneers in a friendly last week.

However, Carter believes there is still more to come from the squad in what is their first season.

“We trained on Monday, analysed the game against Roose and even the lads have said that, as a group, they probably haven’t played to their potential,” said Carter.

“They’re still getting to know each other, still learning the plays and the systems, and what is expected.

“We haven’t hit our straps, really, and the lads know that, but we are improving.

“We’re all learning and it’s a journey everyone is pretty happy to be on, and we’re all getting something out of it, so it’s really good.”