Rugby Union: LSH’s fight for survival

Jan 9 2008 by John Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL ST HELENS journey north to Penrith again this Saturday hoping for good weather and two points.

They certainly will not want a repeat of the fraught circumstances on December 15 when the game was called off due to a frozen pitch.

The reluctance of the home side to play on a pitch which LSH officials and many impartial observers thought was quite fit ultimately led to the cancellation of the game with the referee apparently having no say in the matter. However relationships were soon restored with a large amount of free beer gratefully consumed by the travellers from Merseyside before the journey home.

With only one club from the bottom four of LSH, Altrincham Kersal, Darlington and Penrith likely to survive in North One next season, Saturday’s game could not be more important.

Director of Rugby Paul Woodward said: “The result is vital. The way the league is shaping up means we need to come home with two points.”

He continued: “We are making too many individual errors and need to find some improvement.

“The spirit and the heart is there and I’m confident we can win the games that matter in the second half of the season.”

Woodward has influential prop Jan Lourens back in the starting line up this weekend and has every reason to be optimistic about completing the double over the Cumbrians, having put over 50 points past them in November.