North Wales Crusaders travel to London Skolars this weekend for their opening League 1 match of the season.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of Crusaders’ trip to London.
UP FRONT
Two late Hunslet tries knocked North Wales out of the Challenge Cup at the fourth round stage last weekend.
Crusaders led for large parts of the tie, defending excellently under barrages of pressure.
All that defensive work told in the end, though, as the Wrexham side fell to an unfortunate defeat.
London weren’t in action last weekend as they dropped out of the Challenge Cup at Barrow Raiders in the third round.
An under-strength Skolars side were well in the tie at half-time, trailing by just two points.
London also competed for the majority of the second-half, but three tries in the final ten minutes ultimately secured the victory for Barrow.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
London and Crusaders have come head-to-head on 15 occasions in total since they first met back in 2012.
North Wales have won 10 clashes, Skolars have been victorious in four and there has been one draw along the way.
Skolars won 19-18 at New River Stadium last season, while Crusaders won the reverse fixture 36-18 at Queensway Stadium. North Wales also secured a 31-18 success at London in the Challenge Cup.
COACH COMMENTS
Crusaders boss Anthony Murray said: “We need to learn from the defeat to Hunslet, but I want us to take the positives into the London game and give a good account of us.
“London are a difficult side and, like us, they’ll no doubt want to get the league season off to a good start.
“We need to make sure we improve in the areas we need to and manage the game a bit better than we did last weekend.”
THE SQUAD
Murray has named his 21-man squad for the clash with Skolars.
Kieran Sherratt is unavailable and is replaced in the squad by Matt Reid, while Andy Ball is in contention after signing for Crusaders earlier this week.
FAN INFORMATION
Tickets are priced at £15 for adults and £10 for concessions. You can buy them online in advance.
