Rugby league: Doncaster won’t be underestimating Salford test
Doncaster RLFC and Salford cross swords for the first time since they met in the 2008 Northern Rail Cup final in their Betfred Championship clash at the Eco-Power Stadium this Sunday (3pm).
The Lancashire side, relegated to National League One the previous season, posted an emphatic 60-0 win in the final against their League Two rivals. The last league meeting between the two sides came during the 2003 season with Salford following up a 34-24 away victory with 72-0 home win.
Salford, who will be making their first visit to the stadium, were relegated from the Super League at the end of the worst season in their history which ended with them being wound up late last year. Salford supporters feared the worse for a number of weeks prior to a consortium coming to the club’s rescue at the eleventh hour.
With little time to assemble a squad prior to their opening league game against Oldham, which they lost 44-0, the club struggled at the start of the season and suffered heavy defeats against Barrow in the league and Hull FC in the Challenge Cup. But boosted by a number of loan players from Wigan, they beat Hunslet 29-18 last time out to record their first win of the season following
“Obviously they’ve struggled in the opening weeks of the season which was always going to be the case after losing nearly all their players and coaching staff, but it’s good for the game that they survived,” said Dons’ boss Richard Horne.
“Like ourselves, they had a blank weekend which will have given them a bit more time to sort themselves out and try and strengthen their squad. But whatever side they put out we won’t be underestimating them and we’ll be treating them with respect. I don’t think you can take anyone for granted this season. We lost at Midlands Hurricanes, when a bit of complacency might have crept in, and we were also run close by Newcastle in the Challenge Cup.
“If you don’t turn up and play on the day you run the risk of getting burnt because the other sides are capable of doing a job on you.”
Sunday’s game is the first of four successive home games during March and Horne is looking for his charges to kick-start their season.
“I’d like to think that we’ll build some momentum in the next month or so,” said Horne. “For us, celebrating our 75th anniversary, it’s a big year and we want to be competing with the likes of London Broncos, Widnes and Oldham at the top of the table.”