EVEN now, nearly a month after he was sidelined by a mysterious arm infection, Liam Harrison remains little the wiser as to what exactly it was that caused him to spend four days in hospital following Barrow Raiders' win at York City Knights.

Doctors have been unable to track down the precise cause of the infection, particularly as the long-serving second row had not suffered any cuts, although it seems as if it may have stemmed from some bruising sustained in the previous week's victory over Doncaster.

Harrison is not one to sit idle though and, having returned to his day-job soon after leaving hospital, he is now striving to get back out on the rugby field as Barrow aim to put the seal on promotion from Kingstone Press League One.

“I got a bit of a bruise the week before where the doctor thought I'd burst a bursa, and through the constant impact throughout the game at York, it got worse and worse until at half time I couldn't really move my arm,” said Harrison, reflecting on what happened.

“Obviously, that resulted in a four-day stint in hospital. They've not really narrowed it down to more than cellulitis with the skin infection, but there's no cut or anything. All's good now though.

“With the Challenge Cup final, it's about three weeks off and you lose that kind of match sharpness, which you don't really want to do at the business end of the year. I'm restricted to how much I can train anyway, so it's a little bit frustrating.”

Ordinarily, the 32-year-old would be one of the first names on Barrow head coach Paul Crarey's team sheet for Sunday's home Super Eights clash with Keighley Cougars, although these are no ordinary circumstances.

For starters, Barrow have carried on winning in Harrison's absence and are currently on an eight-game winning streak, so he knows he will have had to have caught the eye in training this week to earn a place in the match-day 17, let alone the starting 13.

“Cresta (Crarey) has always said he remains loyal to those who are the winning team, so to speak, so, of course, it's going to be difficult,” said Harrison, who wants to get in as much playing time as he can before bringing his playing career to a close at the end of the season.

“That's why I've put my boots on this week to try to get back into the team. I'm under no illusions about how selection is difficult. We've got a lot of strength in depth now with everyone back fit, so I'll just have to wait and see.

“I certainly wouldn't like to finish my career on the sidelines, but I just want to be part of the successful year we're having, first and foremost. But the idea is to get back into the team as soon as possible.”

Victory over Keighley would make certain of a top-three finish and that is followed by a trip to leaders Toulouse Olympique a week today, with the possibility of facing the French outfit on their own turf again in the promotion play-off the following week if the Raiders can finish second.

But while he knows it will be difficult for him and his team-mates to make the trip to France twice in a relatively short space of time, Harrison is in no doubt they can avenge the 44-16 loss home loss at the end of May.

“When people refer back to the game we played at Craven Park, we probably made them look a lot better than they are,” said Harrison. “Teams have proved they are beatable, even though they haven't been beaten - Rochdale held them to a draw.

“I've played against French teams before, and if you start off in the right manner against them and don't show them as much respect as other teams give them, their attitude in the game will change. I genuinely believe we can go over there and cause a bit of an upset - twice.

“Obviously, it wouldn't be ideal from a part-time player's perspective to go to Toulouse twice, but I see it as finishing that season a little bit earlier and watching everyone else fight for that second spot. If we can do it first time, then we'll get it done.”

Amid the excitement of what is potentially on the horizon, it is perhaps easy to overlook the fact the Raiders still have to beat Keighley tomorrow before turning their attention to a possible Toulouse double-header.

Not that Harrison and his Barrow team-mates are taking the Yorkshire side lightly, however – especially after a close-fought 18-14 friendly win at home in February and a 34-32 victory at Cougar Park in the regular season thanks to Chris Hankinson's latest-of-late touchline conversion.

“We played Keighley at the start of the year in a friendly and there was nothing in it because of the conditions,” said Harrison.

“We pinched a couple of points off them at their spot and it's always a hard place to go, but history shows it's very rare we get beaten by Keighley at home. I think the form we're in is too much for Keighley - that's my prediction, anyway.

“No-one is going to take anything for granted though, we're going to go out and try to make a statement.”