OLDHAM Rugby might be the talk of the town just now, and understandably so, but Bill Quinn, Mike Ford, Sean Long and the gang need no reminding that their next two games, both at Boundary Park, will give a true idea of what we can expect in the months ahead.
First up this Sunday its Halifax in the group stage of the 1895 Cup and the visit of the Panthers, holders of the 1895 Cup, and a side that is usually there or thereabouts in the upper reaches of the Championship, will attract a good crowd with a large following from across the Pennines. Had they made it to the play-offs last season (they finished one win short of making it), it would have been their third appearance on the trot, such is their status as a consistently top-end Championship side.
Liam Finn is coach there now and although they have concerns about the future of their current ‘home’, The Shay, they have shown their Super League ambitions by bringing in Gareth Widdop and Greg Eden, among others, to supplement lots of talented local lads, including former Oldham back Zack McComb, who played on the wing in Halifax’s 16-6 win last Sunday in a pre-season warm-up match at Keighley.
The realistic prospect of a final appearance at Wembley, as Fax fans discovered last year, is a mouth-watering fact – that’s why you can gamble a barrow load of Yorkshire rhubarb to an old bootlace that both Long and Finn will go with what they consider to be their strongest available squads, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
There’s a famous old rugby league quote: ‘From Hull, Hell and Halifax, Good Lord deliver us!’ – but just as Oldham have reason to be wary of the Yorkshiremen, so too have Fax plenty of worries about crossing the hill to cope with the likes of Craig Kopczak, Owen Farnworth, Joshua Taylor, Matty Wildie, captain Jordan Turner, .Ben O’Keefe and Logan Astley, among loads of others.
You’ve only to listen to Fax hooker Adam O’Brien to recognise that Panthers know they need to be at their best. He told League Express:
“This is a cup battle and if we lose our group games we’re out. Both Oldham and Rochdale have good players, We certainly won’t turn up thinking they’re in League One so we should win. It doesn’t work like that in Rugby League.
“It often comes down to whoever turns up with the best attitude and will to win. If we’re on our game we know we can do it. It’s a privilege to be in this Cup. Winning it last year was a massive honour for club and players. Walking out at Wembley again is on the back of all our minds.”
Halifax know there is a potential upset on the cards at Boundary Park, given that Long is a glutton for such things in a throwback from his playing days and he has quality players at his disposal thanks to a signing spree that, as I have said at the top of this preview, has made Roughyeds the talk of the town.
As for the revamped competition, it works like this:
There are 21 clubs involved, split into seven regionalised groups of three as follows – group one, Barrow Raiders, Whitehaven, Workington Town; group two, Bradford Bulls, Dewsbury Rams, Keighley Cougars; group three, Newcastle Thunder, Wakefield Trinity, York Knights; group four, Halifax Panthers, OLDHAM, Rochdale Hornets; group five, Batley Bulldogs, Featherstone Rovers, Hunslet; group six. North Wales Crusaders. Swinton Lions, Widnes Vikings; group seven, Doncaster, Midlands Hurricanes, Sheffield Eagles.
Each of the seven group winners, plus the best second-placed team, go through to the quarter-finals on Sunday, March 3 with the semi-finals on Sunday, May 12 and the final at Wembley on Saturday, June 8.
London Broncos are here next on Sunday, February 4 in a pre-season warm-up game, so in the space of eight days we play a high Championship team in the 1895 Cup and a team that will be operating in Super League in a few weeks’ time.
Broncos finished fifth in the Championship, but they stunned the sport in the play-offs by knocking out Featherstone, strong favourites to go up, and then demolishing Toulouse Olympique in the final to book their spot in Super League.
To get them to come here next week was a master stroke, providing local rugby league fans with a chance to see on their doorstep two of the teams they’re all talking about . . . Oldham and London Broncos.
