This Sunday’s top of the table clash in Colwyn Bay will carry extra weight for North Wales Crusaders full-back Lloyd Roby who shall come up against his brother, George, when Carl Forster’s side welcome Swinton Lions to Stadiwm CSM.
Swinton will arrive in North Wales looking to spoil the party with Crusaders knowing that a victory on Sunday afternoon coupled with other results going their way would seal the Betfred League One title with four games to spare.
However, the Lions side who stand in their way remain the only side to have inflicted a defeat on Forster’s side in League One this year, setting up a fierce encounter come 2:30pm in Colwyn Bay.
Speaking ahead of the game, Roby said: “It is a strange one coming up against your brother, and there’s probably an element that, you know, you always want to get one over on each other, but come Sunday we just know that we’ve each got a job to do and we’ll put that all to one side.
“When we played Swinton earlier in the season I think we felt that we were in control of the game but then got dragged into a bit of a scrappy affair and that took us away from what we do best.
“They’re the only side to have beaten us in the league this season, but I wouldn’t say we owe them one, more that we owe it to ourselves to go out there Sunday and put in a performance which we’re proud of.
“I also look at it that the defeat to them probably taught us a lot about ourselves on the day and kick started the good run of from which has followed for us.
“It’s a top of the table game, they’re second and come to us in good form, so we know we’re in for a tough game, but for me, it’s all about keeping focus on ourselves this weekend and what we need to be doing.”
With results elsewhere alongside a Crusaders victory having the potential to seal the league title come Sunday evening, Roby added: “Ofcourse we’ve spoken about the league and we know what the situation is, but we’ve got five games left so we won’t go into this weekend with any extra pressure on ourselves.
“Would it be nice to win it this weekend? Yeah, of course it would, but there’s parts of that which are out of our control, so the message this week is to just focus on us, and focus on what we need to do as the most important thing is coming away with the two points and then seeing where that puts us, we’re relaxed about the title.
“At the start of the season we set our goals as getting into the top four, we’ve done that with five games to spare, and that’s of immense credit to everyone involved at the club.
“From the supporters and staff through to all the lads, we deserve to be in a position we’re in, and we want to keep this going now.”
Having arrived in North Wales during the off-season, Roby is enjoying his life at Crusaders: “It’s been a great year so far, but the most important parts are still to come.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been surprised by what we’ve achieved at all really, I think a few of us came here during the pre-season knowing that we were building a really good squad, but maybe didn’t know how well we would all gel.
“If you look back now, we had a bit of a difficult start with a defeat to Goole in the cup early on and narrowly losing to Widnes, but they probably taught us a lot about ourselves and set the platform for the rest of the season.
“We’re playing some really good rugby, have a great group of players and staff, so the challenge now is to continue that to the end of the season.”
You can secure your tickets for Sunday’s Betfred League One clash at Stadiwm CSM and save on matchday prices by purchasing online HERE.