Kingstone Press Championship One Preview

Kingstone Press Championship One Preview

 

Oxford RL vs Rochdale Hornets, Iffley Road, Sunday 9th June 3:00pm Kick Off

Oxford RL entertain Rochdale Hornets this coming Sunday in what promises to be a fascinating contest with both teams only separated by 2 points in the league table. Oxford know the importance of coming away with the victory as both Oldham and Rochdale are right behind them in the league and with them both having a game in hand it will be crucial for the home side to continue their good start to the season, and will be looking to build on last weekend's hard fought victory against Gateshead Thunder by 27 points to 22.

Today's visitors are on an excellent run of form winning their past 3 games against London Skolars 32-24, University of Gloucestershire All Golds 54-10 and last time out when the impressively dispatching of the Hemel Stags by 40 points to 22. Before this run saw 3 consecutive losses against league leaders North Wales Crusaders 35-18, South Wales Scorpions 30-28 and against fierce rivals Oldham by 28 points to 18.

Oxford coach Tony Benson has called for his team to be more ruthless, despite collecting their fourth league win of the season last week.
Benson said: “We played pretty well, but there were a couple of errors at crucial times that made a difference and we got punished for them.”
However, Benson admits he is pleased with the progress of a number of his inexperienced players. “There are quite a few coming through that are getting better every week and are really committed to the levels they need to be at.”
Looking ahead to the game Oxford captain Alex Thompson said " This will be a tough game, It helps in one way being changed to a home fixture as Rochdale is a hard place to go, one of the hardest in our league and we will be looking for our home crowd to make this an intimidating atmosphere when Rochdale arrive, as our fans have been fantastic so far and we need them even more on Sunday.

We have to complete our sets and not give as many penalties away as we have been doing otherwise Rochdale will kill us, they have some fantastic players and will punish us every time we make a mistake. However if we concentrate on our own performance we can get the result but we need to be on top of our game."

Oxford coach Tony Benson will be without the suspended Brett Robinson and has a number of injury worries ahead of the game and will check on S.Robinson, Martin Roden and Danny Halliwell before naming his team who all came off in the victory against Gateshead Thunder. He is also still without long term absentees Alex Thompson, Chris Clarke and Luke Evans.
Rochdale Hornets coach Ian Talbot with check on Gareth Langley (knee) and Jordan Case, but Paul Crook could return and new signing Matty Crow could make his debut after joining from Wigan Warriors.
Talbot said: “I’ve coached against Matty in the U20s and he’s athletic, strong, quick and has all the attributes you’d want of someone who’s come through the set-up at Wigan.
“He’s got nowhere to play at the moment due to the restructuring of the competitions, but he wants to test himself at this level and we’re pleased to have got him on board.”
Squad from: Hoggins, Onyango, Halliwell, Price, Ellison, Stevens, Osborn, Clough, Leather, Calladine, Bentley, Fiander, Roden, Hadden, Johnson, Morris, S.Robinson, Connick, Baird, Burch and Blewitt.
Source : http://www.oxfordrl.com