Kingstone Press League 1 Preview: South Wales Scorpions v Oxford

A poor start by South Wales Scorpions in their game at Coventry Bears cost them dearly according to coach Mike Grady.

“We conceded five tries in the first 26 minutes then won 18-12 in the last 54 minutes,” he said.

“It’s frustrating, we know we can do it. We have a purple patch in most games and normally we start well. I was disappointed in that first 26 minutes but we got it back together and hopefully build on that going into the next game.

“We had a close game against Oxford at their place. It’s encouraging times; hopefully the boys know that we’re not far away and we’ll have another go at them.”

Conversely, according to Oxford coach Tim Rumford, his side started well against Rochdale Hornets before going down 54-16.

“We stopped completing our sets,” he said. “There were some positives to come out of the game, it’s down to the little one per cent of things you do at the end of a set to finish it off – we’re just gifting teams like Rochdale field position.

“We play South Wales this weekend and unless we show a more disciplined approach, finish our sets well and make the other team really fight to get into our half then we’re going to come up with problems further down the line no matter who we play.”

Centre Josh Nathaniel is a doubt with severe bruising to the shin.