FORMER Darlington captain Richard Snowball is contemplating a comeback with the club in preparation for his long-delayed Championship career.

The 28-year-old former England Counties lock has missed a season and a half following a knee operation.

He was due to play for Otley last season, but suffered the injury the previous summer and was not re-engaged when the team fell apart following relegation.

“I signed for Rotherham for this season, but the knee was never really right,” said Snowball, who works on the family farm near Scorton.

“It feels OK at the moment and I’m hoping to go back to Rotherham if I can prove my fitness. I’m trying to get back into training, so I’ll go along to Darlington and see how it feels. Hopefully I can get a few games with them towards the end of the season.”

This week’s partial thaw has raised hopes that the fiveweek lay-off will end for some clubs tomorrow. The snow has gone at the coast and several of the Hartlepool clubs are at home, including West against Sheffield Tigers.

Billingham are due to entertain Durham City and have been encouraged by the county committee to make it a league and cup double.

Durham RFU secretary Chris McLoughlin said: “That’s one way of getting the cup ties played, otherwise we are going to have to ask clubs to play in midweek.

“This will be an acid test of clubs’ commitment to the cup. We are very keen to avoid abandoning it for a second season.”

The fixture backlog means none of the four second round ties will be able to go ahead on February 6, as scheduled, while Blaydon’s National One programme will stretch into May if tomorrow’s trip to Cinderford is postponed.

McLoughlin is also concerned that the backlog could impact on the county championship if it gets any worse.

Durham begin with a trip to Stourbridge to play North Midlands on May 8, then host Warwickshire at Gateshead and visit Sudbury on May 22 to face Eastern Counties.

Westoe could face a difficult trip to Preston tomorrow if the Grasshoppers’ pitch is fit, but the visitors are without lock Paul Bird. He tore a calf muscle in training and will be out for six weeks, so Iain Robinson will replace him.

Middlesbrough have scrum half Peter Wright back after his knee injury for the trip to Stockport, while Stockton travel to Team Northumbria.

The students were the last team to beat Stockton, winning 58-30 in the October clash on Teesside.