North Wales Crusaders head coach Anthony Murray, who had to watch his side’s 68-0 defeat to Doncaster from home after coming into contact with a positive COVID-19 case outside the club, believes the display wasn’t acceptable.
While Murray needed to self-isolate and miss the game, two players also had to drop out after picking up positive results as part of routine testing, adding to a frustrating week for the club with fans unable to attend Stadiwm ZipWorld.
But Crusaders’ boss isn’t using any of the adversity his side faced as an excuse for the performance dished up.
Murray said: “We did have players missing, but it wasn’t acceptable how we performed and let them score with ease.
“It’s very different watching from home because you have a slightly different perspective and a bit more time to watch things back in detail.
“You have to give credit to the opposition because I thought they were outstanding and have a host of excellent players, but we need to make things more difficult for people and not roll over.
“It was a very bad day at the office, nobody does these things on purpose and we certainly don’t have a blame culture at this club.
“We’ve got a good group of players and I have total confidence in them all, but we need to show some real character and that Crusaders spirit of old.
“We need to be honest with each other as a group, get it right together and make sure we work even harder to make the improvements we need to.”
