Opening match loaded with nostalgia

DAFFODILS and leeks will still be out for St David's Day when Oldham kick off their 2014 Championship One campaign in Maesteg at the head of the Valleys.

Unlike previous trips to Wales, Roughyeds will face a South Wales Scorpions side made up almost entirely of Welsh-born players.

Every player in the squad has represented Wales at one level or another and only three of them were born outside the principality.

With new owners, a new coach in Mike Grady, a new captain in Phil Carleton and a new home base at Maesteg, Scorpions will be unrecognisable from the side Scott Naylor's boys beat three times last season.

"We are all Welsh qualified and that makes us a very tight group," said Carleton. "It's going to stand us in good stead when things get tough."

Describing Oldham as "a tough lot", he added: "I've played against them a few times. They're always physical. Coming off the field I always knew I'd been in a fight. They're fancied by a lot of people to go up, so they will be a real test for us. For some of our boys it will be their first professional game of rugby league.”

It will be a nostalgic trip for older Roughyeds fans: Maesteg was the rugby union club from which the great Charlie Winslade came north to sign for Oldham in 1950.