Kingstone Press League 1 preview: North Wales Crusaders v London Skolars

North Wales Crusaders are back in league action after their iPro Sport Cup win.

Coach Anthony Murray said: “I hope we don’t have a cup hangover, like a lot of teams do when they’ve been to a final. It’s back to the league now, which is our main focus for the rest of the season.

“We’ve got a good opportunity to carry on that momentum. We’ll be preparing for Skolars like we would any team because I’ve no doubt they are capable of pulling off a victory, as most teams are in that division given how competitive it’s turning out to be.

“I think Jermaine Coleman may be coming out of retirement and putting his boots on and I have no doubt he’ll be wanting to lead his troops well.”

Second rows Jono Smith and Alex Thompson, who are carrying knocks from Saturday’s final, are hoping to be fit.

London Skolars’ coach Jermaine Coleman may be forced to put his boots on this week: “Possibly, no decision has been made yet but it will be more out of need than want,” he said.

“We’re a little bit short in the halves this week. Oscar Thomas played very well for the Broncos last week so the chances of him coming back to us this week are pretty slim and Bish (Mike Bishay) hurt his ankle ligaments last week.

“Obviously the cup win was great for the Crusaders and hopefully we will get them in that little bit of a honeymoon period where they’ve enjoyed the week and come back down to ground with a bump!”