THE good times are back for winger Nick Rawsthorne who, since his arrival last month, has been growing in confidence week on week.
The 27-year-old arrived at Oldham with a point to prove having made just 12 appearances since 2021.
Prior to rejoining Halifax, he had gained a reputation for being a relentless try scorer – most notably for Toronto Wolfpack where he scored 27 in 34 appearances in the Championship.
Rawsthorne, who can also play at centre as well as full-back, believes the move to Oldham has helped re-capture his love for the sport.
“All the lads have made me feel welcome and Stu (Littler) is a really good coach,” he said.
“Since coming here, I’ve got back to enjoying rugby and I’m absolutely loving every minute being at the club.”
He was the star of the show in Sunday’s victory over North Wales with eye-catching dives for his two tries in the first half – but he was equally impressive with his ball carries.
Roughyeds had to work hard for the victory, though, after they let North Wales back in twice immediately after scoring themselves.
Oldham struggled to deal with Crusaders’ players who used their size and weight to their advantage to barge over the line for several tries.
“They really test us to be honest,” he admitted.
“We need to fix up the individual errors for those tries that they scored.
“We couldn’t build any pressure and we made it hard for ourselves, so it’s something we need to work on so that we aren’t making those mistakes against Hunslet.”
Roughyeds know that they will have to be better defensively next week against a Hunslet side that has moved into second place, ahead of Doncaster, after a 54-22 victory over Midlands.
“They will give us a test as they are a side that like to shift the ball about,” he added.
“They’re in front of us by s couple of points but we’ve got a good chance to get a win and build on our performances going into the play-offs.”
