Second-half response pleases Naylor

Date published: 15 July 2013


HAVING moulded a young team of relative unknowns into a unit that today sits on top of Kingstone Press Championship One, Scott Naylor and Lee Spencer are determined to win promotion one way or the other in their first year at Whitebank.

Little wonder, then, that head coach Naylor was not a happy man when Roughyeds trailed 22-18 at half-time at home to South Wales Scorpions.

He had some choice words to say . . . and out went his Roughyeds to pull up their socks, get their act together, and score 32 points without reply in a one-sided second half.

Naylor said: “The final score didn’t reflect the game. With a five-strong Wigan contingent on dual registration, Scorpions are a strong team with some extremely good players.

“I’m happy to get another win in the last game before we have a Sunday off.

“We’ve had eight games without a break and we’ve won seven of them, so that’s pretty good from the point of view of consistency.

“On the flip side I’m certainly not happy with how we played in the first half, although I’m extremely happy at the response the players gave me.

“Given that this was the only poor 40 minutes across those eight games perhaps I’m being a bit harsh, but I don’t want our standards to drop, especially at this time of the season.

“The way the players respond is what matters and I have to say that everyone was excellent in the second half.

“It’s nice to go top, obviously, but it’s the least the boys deserve because of the quality of the work they produce week in and week out.

“I couldn’t be any prouder of them all , but nothing is finished yet and we need to work even harder for the remaining four games.

“It was a good, enthusiastic crowd and it was nice to see people coming out to support us.

“Hopefully, we’ll get even more for the North Wales game. Judging by the reaction of fans they are enjoying the brand of rugby we are producing.”