Fit-again Rob ready to rock

ROB ROBERTS: Refreshed and raring to go.

Rugby League preview
ROB Roberts can help maintain the spring in Oldham’s step this weekend.

The captain seems set to reclaim a place in the second row for the top-of-the-table clash against Gateshead Thunder on Sunday (3pm at Sedgley Park) after a much-needed rest due to a pair of niggling injuries.

While he wasn’t missed too badly in the cruise at Blackpool last week, Roberts’ influential presence will be crucial to the Roughyeds’ chances of beating a Gateshead outfit bursting with confidence.

And the former Huddersfield and Leigh man will hope that the weekend off serves to do him as much good as it did stand-off Neil Roden, who marked his return to the side after a game’s absence by notching a hat-trick of tries in the 44-10 victory last week.

“I must have got hit there against Wakefield,” said Roberts, of the troublesome knock he took to the ribs in the Challenge Cup quarter-final tie at the start of the month.

“I don’t know if it was the way I slept on it afterwards, but I was having trouble breathing and it was pretty painful.

“I bit the bullet a bit and carried on playing, but I also hurt my ankle in the same game and it was all just getting worse.

“It got to the stage before the Hunslet game where I had to say to Deaks that I was really struggling — but then I had to jump in on the bench when Simon Baldwin was ill and ended up playing the last few minutes.

“I have had a full weekend off now though, and after a week in training and I feel fine.”

Roberts, who turned 29 last week, is under no illusions as to the importance of this fixture.

Under the guidance of head coach Dave Woods, Gateshead have been the surprise package of the National Leagues season, playing enthusiastic, vibrant, attacking rugby.

Currently on a club record run of nine consecutive victories, Thunder have scored an average of a huge 37 points per game to climb to the top of NL2.

With players of the calibre of ex-NRL man Dan Russell — whose kicking game was sensational in Gateshead’s 32-18 win over the Roughyeds three weeks ago — and clever hooker Dan Smith, plus a willing pack and outside backs with severe pace, they are a terrific outfit.

But Oldham have themselves recently found some good scoring form, racking up almost 200 points in the last four consecutive wins.

And it would certainly do the promotion chances of Steve Deakin’s men the world of good were they to score heavily enough to prevent the visitors from achieving a bonus point this weekend — something Gateshead, perhaps crucially, managed in the last meeting between the sides.

“I thought we played well up there, on the back of the Wakefield game three days earlier, but at 18-18 after an hour we had no bench which didn’t help us,” added Roberts, who came off due to his ankle problem in the midweek fixture in the north-east.

“We slipped up not getting a bonus point. But if we win on Sunday and deny them one, we will only be four points behind them. We really need to stamp our authority on the game.

“There were a few things said by their players up there and a lot of our boys can’t wait to give it to them.

“We have been playing better as a team recently and although it has come against weaker opposition, you can only play what is in front of you.

“It is good to get some of the combinations back working.

“James Coyle has got a bit more spark again, while Paul O’Connor has been absolutely outstanding recently.

“If our forwards had hearts as big as his we would smash teams to bits!

“We know that if we win all our games, we go up, as simple as that.

“We have got a Friday night fixture here, a Thursday night televised game there, but we have to deal with these sorts of things and just concentrate on one match at a time.”