Rossy pursuing place in top 100
ROSSENDALE RUFC will become the joint-second highest ranked team in Lancashire if they can beat their National League Three North play-off final rivals at Marl Pits on Saturday 29th April.
With their opposition for this showdown match still to be confirmed, head coach Ian Jones has said that it’s not just promotion they’re gunning for, but bragging rights as well.
“Winning the play-offs would see us enter the highest league the club has been in and also would make us enter the top 100 rugby clubs in England,” he said.
“We’d be the joint-second team in Lancashire, overtaking Preston Grasshoppers with the win”.
Crucially, the northwest side have home advantage for the tie, a factor that Jones is hoping will be telling in the outcome. He said: “No-one will enjoy coming to Marl Pits.
“It’s not an easy place to visit.
“We’ve had a lot of success here this season and we want to keep that going”.
Rossendale’s rivals for this match won’t be decided until this Saturday but the likelihood is that Sheffield will be the team that stand between them and promotion, although Nuneaton and Broadstreet remain possibilities.
Jones’s side played the South Yorkshire outfit twice last season, winning one game each before they
they moved to the Midlands League Three so have some knowledge of what to expect.
However the coach has been keen to focus on his own side, preferring to relax and not worry too much about what other teams are doing ahead of what is one of Rossendale’s biggest games in their history, stating: “Half the squad has never played a promotion side, so we’re just trying to play the match down.
“We’d prefer to focus on the immediate task at hand which is a trip to Wirral RUFC on Saturday coming.”
He then added: “The plan is to focus on what we can do, not what they can do and try not to worry about the outcome.”
Dale have a full squad to choose from going into the final as well as the luxury of being able to rest key players for this Saturday’s league fixture to the Wirral running thanks to securing their play-off place early.
It will be a tough game for Rossendale, as Wirral currently sit fourth in the National League Three North table, having won 17 and lost just eight of their 25 games so far this season.
They head into the match in good form too after picking up victories in their last three matches, including a 52-31 triumph over Cleckheaton just under a fortnight ago.
Rossendale will be hoping to gain revenge when they face Wirral, as they suffered a defeat when the two teams met in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the league campaign back in September, with Wirral winning 11-7.
Despite all the positivity surrounding Rossendale at the moment, they were given a reminder last time out when they suffered defeat to league champions Huddersfield. If they can use that defeat to mean they won’t take anything for granted, a place in League Two North will be 80