Luke Gale can expect no old pal’s act when he makes his first Bulls outing of the year tomorrow.

The half-back returns to face former club London Broncos after recovering from an ankle operation in the off-season.

Francis Cummins is thrilled to see Gale back in the fray and insists the familiar faces in the opposition will make no difference.

He said: “Luke has got some mates down there but he’s a professional and I’m not too bothered about who he is playing against.

“Knowing Luke and how he is, he will just enjoy getting back because it’s been a rough old time for him.

“He thrives on the company of people, the laughing and joking. To be training on his own for four months has been the hardest bit because he has missed the banter.”

Gale (pictured) finished last season strongly but Cummins knows it will take time to hit those high standards after sitting out the first ten rounds.

“Luke has got to draw on his experience and not think that he’s got to find his best form in his first game back.

“He was really good at the back end of last year and when he takes the line on he tends to make great decisions.

“That’s probably what we could do with because, with the likes of Danny Addy, Jarrod Sammut and Brett Kearney supporting him, he can really cause defences problems.”

The game has been switched to Adams Park in High Wycombe because of on-going pitch issues at the Twickenham Stoop. That was ruled out because of Harlequins’ Heineken Cup quarter-final there on Sunday.

Cummins said: “I’m always up for playing in different places. I’m not expecting a full house but it probably works in our favour in that you’re not getting a big home crowd pressuring people for penalties.

“I’m focusing on us because we need to be a bit better than we were against Salford but London are dangerous. Yes, they’ve had a poor start but they’re not a write-off.

“Even when they rested half their team, they’re still scoring tries and look like they are coming into some form, which you probably knew they would.

“They’ve got some good players in there. Kieran Dixon is good on his feet and good with the ball and you can’t beat pace.”