The Weekend’s Action : 14 and 15 September 2024

• 1st XV v. Sandal (Home) – Saturday @ 15:00
• 2nd XV v. Sandal (Home) – Saturday @ 15:00
• Ladies 1st XV v. Sefton Ladies (Home) – Sunday @ 14:00

It has soon come round to the start of the season : winning the Yorkshire Cup seems only a few weeks ago.

There has been quite a lot of change since that game.  We have welcomed our new coaching team of Fred Davies and Josh Williams.  I am delighted to say they have fitted in very well, and are proving to be very popular with the lads.  We are getting excellent numbers at training.

We have lost a few players, mainly to clubs in the league above.  We wish them all well and, hopefully, they will return to us when the time is right.  This has given other players the opportunity to stake their claim for a first team place.   We have a new skipper in Simon Pettinger : he thoroughly deserves his chance having been a one-club man since he started playing.  I know he will do an excellent job.

Matthew Rowbottom, Will Megginson and Gareth Culpan all continue their roles captaining the other teams.

The league is going to be hugely competitive, with no club clear favourites for promotion.  It is as strong as it has been since we gained promotion two years ago.

We also welcome Josh Barr : he arrived from Sydney on Tuesday.  I know we will all make him feel welcome, and make sure he has a memorable time both on and off the pitch.  He takes his place on the bench for today’s game.

Last Saturday was a little disappointing.  If we had taken our chances we could have come away with a better result.  We will learn from that.  The second XV won by almost 30 points, again showing that we still have good strength in the squad.  Today’s team is very similar to last week.  Mark Blenkinsop, Ryan Murray and Felix Nellon all make their first appearance of the season in the 18.

Our second XV are also at home to Sandal : they won last season’s play-off final last season against Wharfedale, having beat us in the semi final.  The lads will keen to reverse that today.

Welcome to all Sandal’s players and supporters.  They had a excellent second half to last season and continued that last week with an excellent win against Huddersfield.  We will need a strong performance to take the points.

 

 

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