This weekend is a massive one for rugby league in Wales with four Cup Finals and two Celtic Crusaders matches for fans to enjoy.

The action starts in Blackwood RFC on Saturday with the Welsh under 15 Grand Final between Cardiff Demons and Neath Port Talbot Steelers at 11.30am. The under 17 final between Newport Titans and Blackwood Bulldogs follows at 12.45pm before Crusaders Colts take on East Lancashire Lions in the Conference National at 2.30pm.

Crusaders’ coach John Dixon is looking forward to the whole weekend.

“On behalf of the club I congratulate each of teams on reaching the finals and wish them all the best,” he said. “The Conference teams at both senior and junior level are very significant to Rugby League in Wales and to the Crusaders. The future of both organisations depends upon the youth of Wales making Rugby League a sport of choice. A very strong indication that this is happening right now is the 100+ young men who turned out for the Wales / Crusaders under 18s trial, last Sunday. The quality of skill and effort on display gives us great optimism on the long term player base of our game in Wales.”

It’s top against bottom for Crusaders Colts when they take on the winless Lions in Saturday’s final match (2.30pm).

The Colts should get a win to nicely set up their final two games of the season, which are against second placed Bramley Buffaloes away then third placed Warrington Wizards at home.

The Lions have a previous Gwent connection when five years ago, when they were known as Bolton le Moors, they beat Torfaen Tigers in Warrington to win the National Conference Premier Shield.

Colts coach Dan Clements has a strong squad to choose from but knows that his side need to keep winning to keep top spot.

“Despite their position in the league we wont underestimate East Lancashire,” he said.

“Last week we were pretty happy as a group after our 32-16 win against Huddersfield. We knew a win was important to stay on track. All the players’ efforts for the 80 minutes must be congratulated, but we all know there are things that still need to be worked on.”

Sunday’s matches are all at the Brewery Field in Bridgend. The first kick-off is again at 11.30am as Newport Titans take on Valley Cougars in the Welsh Under 13 Grand Final.

The Cougars are in action again in the Welsh Conference Premier Grand Final at 1pm as they face Blackwood Bulldogs in the biggest game of the Welsh domestic calendar.

However they know that they will have a tough task against the unbeaten Gwent side who are playing only their third season of rugby league.

“The good thing about us this season is that we have a squad, not a team,” said Blackwood chairman Keith Stock. “We have many senior players wanting to play rugby league in Blackwood this year so for every person who is out injured there is always an enthusiastic player who wants to replace him.

“We’re all looking forward to the Grand Final against the Cougars and we’re looking to bring a large amount of supporters to Bridgend.”

Valley Cougars finished second in the Welsh Conference Premier table at the end of the season. Blackwood were the only team to defeat them during the

regular season, a fact that is not lost on their chairman Mark Rowley.

“It be nice to have revenge if we can beat them,” Rowley said. “We had a good training session this week and the boys are all looking forward to it, the only problems we may have is nerves as it’s such a big occasion.

“In the first few years of the club, we didn’t win many games but now we’re in a Grand Final. This is a reward for perseverance, that if you do stick at it you do get better.

“I’d like to pay respect to Rhodri Thomas, our captain on Saturday. He’s the only survivor from our first ever game and he’s hardly missed a match. For him especially, we want to win that trophy.

“The valleys are a good rugby league area now – there are lots of people who want to play and quite a few of our players have now moved onto Crusaders Colts. With the Crusaders getting to Super League, they can see the player pathways and everyone wants to be a part of it.”

Celtic Crusaders will guarantee themselves a play-off place if they can beat Leigh Centurions at the Brewery Field in the final match on Sunday (kick-off 4.10pm).

Leigh will be looking to improve on a poor record against Welsh sides having lost in the last five times that they have faced a team from the Principality, three of them against the Crusaders including a 45-22 drubbing at Hilton Park in June.

Both sides are on high right now after excellent wins last weekend. The Crusaders hammered their play-off rivals Sheffield Eagles 42-6 while Leigh continued to keep Widnes Vikings out of the play-off zone with a 33-24 win against them.

With just three games remaining in the regular season, the Crusaders know that a win in each will guarantee them second place behind Salford City Reds.

Crusaders’ coach John Dixon knows how important this live S4C clash is.

“Both teams have more than successful seasons and are very much in contention for end of season honours,” he said.

“Our previous clashes with Leigh over the past two seasons have been high quality, entertaining games of Rugby League. With both teams coming off good wins last weekend, I know that this weekend’s game will again be at that standard.”

Crusaders’ side won’t be too dissimilar from last week’s. Neale Wyatt, Aaron Summers and David Tangata-Toa are still out but Aled James is back in contention.

“We came through last week pretty well,” Dixon said. “We’ve a few bumps and bruises like most weeks but we’ll have more of an indication of our squad by Saturday morning.”

Club captain Jace Van Dijk is now back in the country after convelesing in Australia following his horrific jaw injury in late May. He has returned to training but it will be a few weeks before is fully fit again.

Leigh, one place behind the Crusaders in fourth, need a win to cement their play-off hopes and have an outside chance of second place themselves if they keep winning. However if they lose all three matches, they could miss out on a place in the top six.

"We are going flat out to win all three games," said Leigh coach Neil Kelly, the former Wales boss.

"And after Sunday's win against Widnes, I believe we can do it. We are four points behind Crusaders and Halifax with three games left to play but it is up to us.”

Kelly has a fully fit squad to choose from including the side that beat Widnes last week although Welsh international Gareth Price, who missed the win, may come back into the fold.

"Gareth gives us plenty of extra go forward," Kelly added.

article by Ian Golden
8 August 2008