Wigan St Pats (Home)
It’s the start of the new NCL Kingstone Press Cider Premier Division season on Saturday when Leigh Miners take on local rivals Wigan St Pats in a “Battle of the Borough” Round 1 clash at Twist Lane, Kick off 2-30pm.
Miners go into Saturday’s season opener on the back of a thrilling 32-28 Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Round Three victory against West Hull last weekend, the draw which was kind to Miners gave them another home tie in Round Four against Championship One Oxford RL with the game hopefully being played at Twist Lane.
The first half performance against Wests being right out of the top draw from Miners with them completing at 95% playing fast attacking rugby causing their visitors all sorts of problems, whilst in the second half the majority of it was spent under the pump as West Hull showed the Champion side they are by coming back and drawing level at 28-28 before being denied victory by a last gasp Bud Skinkis try.
The lads will again be looking to have a strong first half performance and look to better last weeks completion rate, but will certainly be looking to improve their discipline and defence after it wasn’t up to scratch in the second half and nearly cost them the game. A pleasing thing to see though was the character the players showed near the end of the game when it looked like there would only be one winner, digging deep to stop West Hull’s momentum to go on and score in the last minute to win the game and hopefully tough times like they had during the second half will stand them in good stead for the year ahead.
Miners hooker Danny Jones was certainly pleased with the West Hull win saying “First of all I am really happy we secured the win and to be drawn against Oxford in the next round, it’s massive for the club to do well in the Challenge Cup and fingers crossed we can progress to the next round as well.”
“I think in the first half we was brilliant, everything seemed to go to plan and we were playing perfect rugby, then we seemed to let it slip and gave them a sniff, once we gave them that chance they gained momentum and it was tough to stop. It felt like we was just making mistakes, giving penalties away and then we never had the ball. We didn’t have the answers to get out of that cycle and in the end, scraped a win.”
“I think there are a lot of positives to take from Saturday though. At times we were unplayable and if we can stick to the first half performance I think we’ll be up there this year.”
On this weekends clash with Wigan St Pats, Jones added “We know that it’s going to be a really tough, physical match, It always is and I think the game will be won in the forwards, whoever wins that battle should then allow their backs to play off that.”
“Personally these are the games you love playing in, local derbies where no one gives an inch. You relish those collisions, I know everyone’s looking forward to it and hopefully we can put on a good show.”
And finally on the year ahead, Danny said “I think we’ve got to be looking upwards, the league’s so competitive this year that you’ve got about 6-7 clubs who will be thinking the same things. I think if we can win our home games (starting with pats) and do better away from home than in recent years, Then we’ll be up there, we’ve certainly got the quality within the squad to be challenging.”
“We’ve got to aim to win things at this club and hopefully this year we can add some silverware to the trophy cabinet.”
Coaches Allan Coleman & Paul Whitworth will again have a near full strength squad to choose from with only Danny Jackson missing with a hamstring injury. The seventeen selected to take on St Pats will again certainly looking to impress and give themselves the best possible opportunity of keeping their jersey ahead of another massive game for the club next weekend against Oxford in the fourth round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.
Speaking about last weekend’s Challenge Cup victory against West Hull, Joint head coach Paul Whitworth said “To have 28 points scored against us, you can’t be overly happy. It was certainly a game of two halves! In the first forty, it was copy book, our completion was up at 95% we were dominant and from this we got the rewards.”
“In the second forty we have to give credit to West Hull for their fight back, We lost control at times and wasn’t self disciplined enough as a group, to get it back. We can’t be loose in defence or offence even on the oppositions own line because, as we witnessed teams in this league can punish you from anywhere on the field.”
“It was good to see the lads get their reward at the end of the game because the commitment they have shown this year makes ourselves as coaches and as a club very proud of them. That said, we all understand we are nowhere near the finished article and the game has given us a lot to focus on for this weeks preparation.”
And looking ahead to Saturday’s season opener against St Pats, Whitworth added “We simply need to focus on this game in front of us, not next weekend against Oxford and turn up with the right attitude. We need to fix some of the things that we picked up on the video from last weekend and again show improvement.”
“I’m not sure if they have put their first choice team out yet in their pre season games but I’m sure they will turn up strong, casting my mind back to last season we had a good win away against West Hull prior to the NCL Cup fixture against Pats and we fell in love with ourselves and paid the price.”
“For them the loss of Ryan Smith to Rochdale will be a void to fill but I’m sure the likes of Joe Prior will want to grab the opportunity. They also have a great youth system in place and will have attracted the right calibre of player. We have a good relationship with St Pats and with it being a local derby I’m sure we are in for a good, tough entertaining game.”
Wigan St Pats have had a low key build up compared to other NCL clubs in preparation for the new season after opting not to enter this years Challenge Cup, the famous Wigan outfit putting out a strong side in the Cliff Fleming Memorial Trophy victory against local rivals Ince Rose Bridge and playing a mixture of first and second team players against Woolston Rovers and The RAF in their other warmup games.
St Pats have lost two players to the professional game this year with utility back Brad Hargreaves and ex Miners halfback Ryan Smith joining Rochdale Hornets, Declan McLoughlin and Dan Bircuit rejoin the club along with a few others who have joined from Wigan St Cuthberts and Hindley.
Richard Owens men will this year be captained by Liam Gannon after Ryan Smith moved to Rochdale and with this being Gannon’s first competitive game in charge as skipper he will be hoping for the same performance from the last time St Pats visited Twist Lane when they hammered Miners 46-10 in the Conference Challenge Trophy to start his captaincy with a victory.
Leigh Miners 2nd team start their new league season on Saturday away at Leyland Warriors, Kick off 2-30pm
The u18s will be looking to build on last weeks opening day win when they travel to Wigan St Pats on Sunday in the league, Kick off 12-30pm at Clarington Park.
Leigh Miners Ladies are away at Brighouse Rangers on Sunday in a pre-season friendly.
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