One Championship rugby league coach has lamented the cold weather for cancelling games, claiming his squad are ‘sick of bashing each other’.
The past weekend saw over a dozen games cancelled with 14 of those coming in the Challenge Cup as Round One dropped from 17 games to just three.
There was also cancellations of two testimonials with Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e’s match against Castleford Tigers pulled as well as Halifax’s James Saltonstall’s against Warrington Wolves.
Among the other fixtures to be cancelled was the Law Cup, the clash between Oldham and Rochdale Hornets with the Roughyeds’ head coach Sean Long speaking prior to the cancellation about his squad’s need for game time.
Speaking on the club’s YouTube channel, Long lamented the cold freeze but claimed it was something that every team in rugby league was having to deal with.
“I think everyone is in the same boat,” he said.
“Even teams in Super League are struggling to get on the field at the moment but we’ve made use of what we’ve got at the moment.”
Oldham’s Sean Long outlines need for games
Credit: John Clifton/SWpix.com
Some of those sides in Super League have been able to head overseas for warm-weather training in an attempt to fine-tune their rugby skills, however, Long explained that Oldham had found a far less exotic solution.
The club are training at the British Taekwondo facilities, and Long revealed: “We’d been on the 3G and bobbed our head in here and managed to twist someone’s arm.
“We’ve found this facility and we’ve got a bit of a dojo and a weights room so we’ve not missed a session yet which is good considering the weather.”
Despite the ability to avoid missing sessions, it is no replica for being able to play a match – something that the Roughyeds have not done since early September when they ended their successful League One campaign.
Speaking on that, Long explained: “We want to play, I think the lads have had a long pre-season and they’re ready for a game now. We’re sick of bashing each other.
“It’s good to get the other lads who have come in from other clubs to play and get used to our system and you can watch the game and tidy things up because we’re not actually where we want to be at the moment.
“There are still things that we need to work on with our offence. Our defence is pretty good but there are some new things we’ve brought in that we need to change so it’s about getting time on the field with the lads. That’s when you start fixing things.”
As it stands, Oldham are set to face Wigan Warriors this weekend at Boundary Park with Matt Peet set to bring a young squad to face the Championship outfit.
