North Wales Crusaders head coach Carl Forster is relishing the opportunity to play at home following four away games to start the League One season for his side.
Crusaders have faced Goole Vikings, Dewsbury Rams, Workington and Midlands Hurricanes away from home so far this season, taking two points in each fixture leaving them with the only 100% record remaining League One and just one point off early leaders, Midlands, with two games in hand.
This Saturday shall see Forster’s side finally take to the field at Stadiwm CSM when they welcome second placed Whitehaven to the North Wales coast, and the Crusaders boss told the media that he’s looking forward to home comforts this weekend: “It’s been a really tough start on everyone from the players and staff right through to the supporters, he said.
“We’ve had three out of four cup ties away from home and then started the league campaign with four fixtures on the road, so I’m just happy to finally be back in North Wales this weekend.
“I’ve spoken before about the nature of the start we’ve had, going to the likes of Workington and Dewsbury then onto Midlands who are flying at the top of the league, so to take victories from all those games, we deserve to be in a position to go top ourselves this weekend.
“Having said that, we’re only four games in, and we won’t make too much of that side of things as a group right now.
“It’s a cliche, but is said for a reason, we’ll be taking it game by game and focusing on what’s ahead of us, and this weekend it’s Whitehaven.”
Focusing on Saturday’s opposition, Forster added: “I think anyone who wrote Whitehaven off at the start of the year were oblivious to them as a club and the local talent up in Cumbria.
“Yes, they’ve recruited a lot of local players and changed their approach slightly, but if anything I think that makes them harder to beat, they’re all playing for the badge, playing for each other and building a team from scratch is something we know Muzz [Anthony Murray] is good at.
“I’ve got confidence in my own players, and we’ve got to come into the game and look to continue this momentum, but if we don’t show Whitehaven respect we’ll get punished and rightly so.
“They sit second in the league for a reason, and we’ll prepare for this game in the exact same way we did for Midlands last week.”
Forster’s North Wales side will be looking to make it five consecutive victories this weekend, following a dramatic 31-18 victory in Birmingham last weekend which saw them come from behind against league leaders Midlands Hurricanes.
Touching on the victory, he said: “We’ll be reviewing it this week, especially the first-half as I thought we were off it a bit if I’m honest, but when we came out after the break, that’s probably some of the best rugby we’ve played so far this year.
“I think as a coach what pleases me is the thought that we’re currently four from four and we’ve not hit our stride yet.
“I’ve said to the players, if we can find an 80 minute performance, then I think the potential in this side is massive, so that’s our challenge over these next few games, to find some consistency.”