Kingstone Press League 1 Preview: Rochdale Hornets v North Wales Crusaders

Rochdale Hornets hammered South Wales Scorpions 74-4 which pleased coach Ian Talbot.

“Our lads stuck at it and kept their discipline,” he said. “It’s a big game this weekend. We take each game as it comes and we know this is going to be one of the toughest of the season.

“They’ve beaten us once and we’ve beaten them once this season so we know we need to be at our best to give ourselves any chance. They are a quality team and their recent successes have been well-deserved.”

North Wales Crusaders came through a tough game against University of Gloucestershire All Golds.

Coach Anthony Murray said: “I didn’t anticipate anything less. They’re a real big outfit. Lee Greenwood spent a lot of time under Karl Harrison so we knew it would be very physical round the middle, where they would be quite strong, and they were.

“They got stuck into us and gave us a bit of a scare but all credit to our players, we stuck to our guns. We muscled up and eventually played some good rugby and ran out quite worthy winners.

“We’re really struggling with six or seven first teamers on the injury table and with suspensions as well, our squad is really thin at the minute.

“It’s going to be a really tough game against Rochdale, they are one of the sides pushing to be in that top five. They beat us at our spot, so we’re anticipating a real tough challenge.

“Hopefully we can go there and give a good account of ourselves.”