Tupaea sticks to his young guns

RUGBY: 

SADDLEWORTH Rangers coach Shane Tupaea will continue to trust in youth as he bids to guide his in-form men through to the second round of the Kingstone Press National Conference League Challenge Trophy.

Rangers, in Division One, are at home to Bradford Dudley Hill of the section below. It is a contest that Tupaea expects to win, so long as his mix of under-18s players and more experienced heads continue to stick to his plans.

“At the moment we are going through a transitional phase after a period of ups and downs,” said Tupaea. “We had a team with nine under-18s players at York and then eight against Eccles. It has worked a treat. We have a new energy in the team and it has worked well for us.”

Though Rangers lost at York 24-17, the team’s promise was further illustrated in the first half of the Eccles game two weeks later. Saddleworth led 24-0 at half-time in a performance Tupaea rates as the finest of his tenure so far. Sadly the match had to be abandoned at half time, to be replayed in the middle of next week.



In the same competition, WATERHEAD’S first-round challenge lies in the form of the visit of Ovenden.

Chris Hough’s side scraped through to an 18-16 home victory over second-bottom Leigh East on home soil last week in Division Two.

Only Darren Nixon’s try, five minutes from full-time, earned the Peach Road club two points which helped keep the pace with other sides in and around the middle of the table. Halifax outfit Ovenden are similarly in Division Two, two points clear of Hough’s side.



OLDHAM ST ANNE’S, meanwhile, have also been drawn at home where they face up to the challenge of Division One side Eccles.

Mick Fogerty’s side were well beaten at Askam last week, 44-12, with the only successes coming through tries from Kiel Lancashire and Russell Cawdron.

Saints will need to be at their best to defeat opponents from a section higher up the rankings but, with home advantage at Higginshaw Road, need not be short of confidence.