Cusack confident of upset
THE odds will be against Doncaster in the semi-final but fly-half Declan Cusack is adamant they have what it takes to send London Irish crashing.
The Knights scraped into the playoffs finishing fourth level with Jersey on 58 points, while Irish finished 33 points above them, 16 clear at the top.
But Clive Grifftihs’ side proved they are a forced to be reckoned with when it comes to knock-out rugby, pushing Bristol to the wire in last year’s final, even beating them at Ashton Gate.
Cusack reckons they identified flaws in the Exiles’ game last week despite a 22-5 home defeat in the last round of the regular season. Cusack, right, told
TRP: “We thought we’d try a few things last week to see if it’d cause them problems and it did. We didn't execute on the back end of that, but I’m confident we can exploit them.
“The whole idea is for us to put them under a pressure and punish their mistakes. We’re confident we have the quality to impose our game on any team if we play at our best. If we do we’ll be in with a shout.”
Cusack is full of praises for Griffiths and his staff for putting everything in place for the Knights to chase their dreams. He added: “Being in the playoffs again shows the planning that goes into each season. We’re not looking at it season by season. There is a long term plan and the board and the coaches are doing a great job keeping the same squad.
“The end goal is to get promoted and I think we can play in the Premiership. I think everything is in place should we do it this year so let’s see what happens. We could play at Castle Park if we do and that’d be amazing.”