WHAT a game in which to reach 100 senior appearances
The ton-up milestone will be Danny Bridge’s in Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash between Betfred League 1 leaders Whitehaven and second-placed Oldham at the Recreation Ground.
“Haven are top now and if we beat them we’ll go top so a game doesn’t get much bigger than that,” said Roughyeds chief Scott Naylor.
On a personal note it’s an extra-special “biggie” for Oldham-born Bridge who, with Danny Langtree, is forming the most talked-about second-row outside of Super League.
In his 99th senior game last week he won the Roughyeds’ official man-of-the-match award, mainly for his strong creativity in bringing out the best in his left-side centre Cameron Leeming, who was on debut.
Leeming was with him at the post-match presentations as Magic Moment winner, on the back of his two tries on his home debut.
We didn’t know it at the time but Danny Boy Bridge, an Irish international, was on the verge of hitting his 100-game milestone with a career that reads like this:
OLDHAM (28 games to date); Rochdale Hornets (31), Featherstone Rovers (4); Bradford Bulls (8); Swinton Lions (21); Wigan Warriors (3); Ireland (4).
And talking of individual and team stats what about this which most fans wouldn’t have imagined?
There was once a time when Roughyeds found it difficult to lower the Cumbrian colours, but they will go into Sunday’s 1 v 2 clash up in the northern hills in the knowledge that the last six clashes have all finished in Oldham’s favour.
You have to go back to April, 2016 in the Championship to find a Haven win, 14-6 at the Recreation Ground.
Oldham have piled up 138 points to the Cumbrian club’s 42 in their last five meetings — a telling statistic.
