Kingstone Press League 1 Preview: Oxford v South Wales Scorpions

Oxford coach Tim Rumford was pleased with his side’s victory over University of Gloucestershire All Golds last week.

“We were good value for the win,” he said. “We only really conceded one try as the other was a penalty try.

“We went the full second half without conceding after conceding 70 points the week before. It was a massive turnaround and a good test of our character, which we answered really well.

“We need to be confident in our performance after last week but I don’t think we can be confident of a win. South Wales will be looking at Oxford as a good chance to get their first points; they’re no mugs they’ve been in this competition a while and will know what to expect.

“They’ll be ready for Oxford and meet us with a really, really big challenge and the pressure is probably on us not to be the first team to lose to them. It’s a different kind of pressure this week.

“They’ve got the quality and f they do get a sniff, they can take advantage and cause us some problems.

“We need to make sure we look after our game this week along the same lines as last week. We want more of the same.”

South Wales Scorpions coach Mike Grady said: “Again there were some positives to take out of the game last week, we played okay for 35 mins of the game but again failed to play for the full 80 minutes.

“We will keep working hard and look to work for longer in games and get that full 80 minute performance.

“Oxford will be another tough game especially on the back of their win last week, they have a good side and some good experience with the Bradford lads.

“There is no pressure on my boys, I’ll just ask them to go out there and improve on last week, and win, lose or draw I want them to enjoy what they do.”