Hull KR and Huddersfield Giants set for fitness boosts as they bid to reach Challenge Cup final

The Robins were without influential captain Elliot Minchella for last week's loss to Warrington Wolves, while Huddersfield Giants suffered a 48-6 drubbing at the hands of Wigan Warriors in the absence of prolific tryscorer Adam Swift.

Minchella is on course to lead Rovers out against Wigan in Doncaster on Saturday and Swift has been backed by Giants boss Ian Watson to recover from his own groin issue in time for Sunday's clash with Warrington.

KR head coach Willie Peters is also preparing to welcome back prop Sam Luckley after he sat out the game at the Halliwell Jones Stadium with a wrist problem.

"Sam will be okay and Elliot is on track, too," said Peters at a semi-final press conference in Doncaster.

"Elliot didn't do the full session yesterday. He'll do a lot more tomorrow and then captain's run on Friday. We're expecting him to play.

"We definitely missed him last week. Deano (Dean Hadley) can play 13, there's no doubt about that, but Elliot has grown in that position and is a big part of what we do with our attack.

"When he's played, we've had some really nice flow there. We probably lost that a little bit last week.

"Not because of Dean but overall. We probably missed having that extra passer. We've usually got Dean and Mini. It'd be good to have them both in there."

The expected returns provide Peters with a selection headache as he plots the downfall of former club Wigan, the team Rovers beat at the same stage of the Challenge Cup last year.

Ex-Hull FC prop Jack Brown will be hoping to retain his place after making his KR debut against Warrington, while centre Tom Opacic was among the players who missed out last week.

"There are some big calls around our forwards because we've got some depth there," said Peters.

"Obviously Tom Opacic will come back into consideration. He's done a job for us before so there's no doubt Tom will do a job again for us.

"Other than that the side has been pretty consistent with who we've picked."

Swift, meanwhile, made a stunning start to life at Huddersfield with 16 tries in 12 outings before missing his first game last week.

The speedster is making good progress in his bid to be fit for the semi-final and back-rower Jack Murchie has shown positive signs at the start of his week.

Veteran prop Chris Hill, however, is unlikely to feature as he continues his recovery from the foot injury that has sidelined him for the past two months.

On Swift, Watson said: "After today, I'm dead confident that he'll play.

"He'll come in tomorrow and have treatment with the physio to see how he's responded – but I'm confident Swifty will be in there.

"Jack Murchie ran today and Sam Hewitt will be a little bit better from his run last week, so there's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel for us.

"For one or two like Chris Hill, it's probably going to be too soon."

Huddersfield head into their last-four meeting with Warrington smarting from a second-half capitulation against Wigan.

The Giants have lost their last three games in Super League but Watson is convinced they will respond in the cup as they aim for a repeat of the performance that knocked out Catalans Dragons in the quarter-finals.

"It's a semi-final so that on its own is motivation to be at your best," he said. "But with what happened last weekend in the last 20 minutes, there's now an extra little bit of motivation to correct what happened.

"There's double motivation for us this weekend."