COUGARS face one of the toughest tests of the season when they travel to Sheffield on Sunday.

The third placed club will be determined to change their run of poor results by overturning the table-toppers, but coach Gary Moorby is equally determined to make sure his team puts a run of defeats by the Eagles behind them.

Moorby's first game in charge of the Cougars was at Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium, and the memory of that 60-0 defeat is still a very sore point.

The Keighley side were beaten 35-14 on their next visit to Sheffield and earlier this year were beaten 25-24 in a cruel finish to their game against the Eagles.

"We have been beaten on our last three visits to the Don Valley Stadium and we are anxious to make amends," Gary Moorby said.

There are a string of ex-Eagles in the current Cougar line-up and they will all be keen to show what they can do. Matt Foster, who had a torrid time with the Sheffield club before returning to Cougar Park will be particularly anxious to show the Eagles officials, and fans, just what they are missing.

Others that have played for Sheffield include Gareth Hewitt, Oliver Wilkes, Lee Paterson and Adam Mitchell.

"The lads are certainly looking forward to going to Sheffield on Sunday and will need no motivating for this one," Moorby said.

He added: "However, I am sure their coach, Mark Aston, will be looking to burst the Cougar bubble and he willhave his men fired up for the game. They have a heavyweight pack and some sharp backs. We will need to be on top of our game if we are to extend our record to eight successive wins."

They clocked up their seventh consecutive win since the start of the league season with a 52-6 victory over Gateshead at Cougar park on Sunday. Despite a number of changes to squad they destroyed the young Tyneside outfit with a breathtaking display of rugby.

"I was delighted with our performance. We started a little shakily but once we got into our stride there was not holding us.

"We should have had three or four more tries in the first half but our finishing touch let us down.

"At half time I told the lads to concentrate on cutting out mistakes but keep up the intensity. They responded superbly by going out and scoring more points in avery professional second period.

Taking into account the fact that we rested Ricky Helliwell, Gareth Hewit, Chris Wainwright and Richard Mervill, we can take a lot from this result."

The success of the plan to start rotating the squad to keep players keen will almost certainly see the coaching team repeat the formula in the coming weeks. The increasing confidence throughout the squad has meant they are now able to cope with changes which would have been a cause for concern earlier in the season.