Riders Double for Wolves

Both of Wolves' senior teams face the Riders this weekend with the women travelling to the midlands on Saturday afternoon to place Leicester before the men host Loughborough behind closed doors on Sunday.

After a tough overtime loss in their first competitive game for almost 11 months, Lee Ryan's team face a difficult test against a side who were WBBL Trophy winners, runners-up in the league, play-off runners-up in 2019 and were second in the table when the 2020 season came to a premature halt.

They've started where they left off with three league victories and a four WBBL Cup wins to reach the final, and Ryan's team will need to be on top form if they are going to avenge their pair of home losses against them last season.

Wolves' men will also look to bounce back after a disappointing display against Bradford when they face a Riders side who reached the L Lynch Trophy semi-finals with a big win against Dragons last week.

Mark Jerram's side seem to have saved their best performances for the Trophy having won all four games in it, and go into the game two spots ahead of Wolves in ninth place with a 2-5 record. They have certainly been involved in some close games with both of their wins and three of their losses coming by five or less points. That's in contrast to their pair of games against Wolves' predecessors, Leopards, with Riders winning both games by an average of 27 points. The meeting between the two sides in January 2019 saw a stunning display of three-point shooting as Leopards went 20-from-32 in a 108-76 victory against the reigning Division One champions at Essex Sports Arena.

Wolves' coach Thomas Baker is hoping for an improved performance from his side: “After a poor display last week it is important we regroup and move forward together as a team" he said. "We know Loughborough will come ready for our game this weekend and will be feeling good from their performance last week against Bradford.

"We have spoken a lot as a team about how we want to play and we know we must make improvements particularly on the defensive end. This game is going to be a test for us, but the guys are locked in together and looking forward to playing on our home court again.”