Crusaders put their faith on the line

Given the resentment felt in parts of the game’s northern homeland when the Rugby Football League announced that the Bridgend-based Celtic Crusaders would be one of the two new teams admitted to the Super League this season, some people will be awaiting Friday’s season-opening fixture, when the Welsh club take on champions Leeds, with a certain amount of ghoulish relish.
Nobody who suggests the Crusaders, who have been in existence only since 2005, will be under-prepared when they travel to Headingley could be accused of mischief-making.Eight of what is likely to be coach John Dixon’s squad of 17 are not scheduled to arrive in the country until this morning, having been forced to spend the preceding month training with clubs in various parts of Australia while awaiting their new visas. To make matters worse, the Crusaders’ one pre-season friendly, scheduled to be played against the Harlequins at The Stoop last week, was cancelled because bad weather made the pitch unplayable.
Dixon, who has been working on the basis that the late arrivals would not be available, admits it isn’t the best way to approach the biggest match in the club’s short history.
“Our preparation has not been ideal, there’s no denying it,” said Dixon, the former headmaster, who, at 57, will be the oldest coach in the competition. “Coaches work on the basis that plan A might not work, so they always have a plan B and plan C, but in this case, we were down to plans Q and R, so we’re delighted it looks like all the players will be over and ready for the first match.

“They’ve been training hard, so there should be no problems with fitness, and only two of them are new signings, so most are familiar with the routines. Anyway, I come back to the thought that it was only this time three years ago that we played our first game of rugby league, against Hemel Hempstead in Division Two of the National Leagues. The problems we’ve been having pale into insignificance when put against how far the club has come and what we have achieved.”
He has a point, but it also serves to emphasise the manner in which the Crusaders franchise — there is surely no other word — has been fast-tracked by an RFL determined to prove that the game has a future beyond the M62 corridor. Encouraged by the success of the Catalans Dragons, the Crusaders were chosen ahead of clubs in areas where the game’s roots run deep, including Widnes, Leigh and Featherstone. For some, the way they were also given three years to establish themselves without fear of relegation added to the sense of betrayal. And Dixon’s decision to recruit largely from the Australian NRL — six of his nine close-season signings — hasn’t helped. But the coach insists he is acting in the best interests of both the club and the game.
“It’s a huge step we’re taking and we think it’s very important to be as competitive as we can from the start,” he said. “That meant bringing in as many players of proven quality who will not only help us achieve our goals on the field, but also show the younger guys what they need to do to succeed at the higher level.”
Two of those new signings, Adam Peek (Cronulla) and Mark Bryant, whose last game for Manly was their Grand Final win over Melbourne, were already in Britain but props Ryan O’Hara (Wests Tigers) and Jason Chan, who scored a try for Papua New Guinea against England in the World Cup, as well as club captain Jace van Dijk, leading try-scorer Tony Duggan and last season’s player of the year Damien Quinn, are all among the eight due to touch down this morning.
Geraint Rhys Davies, who has been with the club since its inception and has won a place in Dixon’s first-team squad, maintains the Crusaders are going about things the right way. “Look, if John picked a team of Welshmen, we’d be battered,” said the 22-year-old forward. “The local talent is starting to come through, but it takes time, most of us were schooled in rugby union and there are fewer similarities between the games than many people realise. We have to learn, and we are.
“In the meantime, the best rugby league teams in the country will be coming to Bridgend, and that’s pretty exciting, not just for those of us who’ve loved the sport for a long time but for the area as a whole.
“We were getting crowds of between 2,000 and 3,000 last season and that should at least double because I guarantee that once they’ve watched a game or two, people will want to come back. The excitement is non-stop.”
The Crusaders can legitimately claim to enjoy an element of national support. An inaugural Welsh Assembly Rugby League dinner was held at the Millennium Centre last week, attended by the Welsh heritage and sports minister, Alun Ffred-Jones, and the Leader of the House, Carwyn Jones, as well as dual-code rugby legend David Watkins.
With the number of Welsh schools playing the sport also increasing rapidly, and plans for a £40m, 15,000-capacity stadium already submitted to Bridgend borough council, the long-term outlook would appear to be solidly positive.
Friday, however, might be a case of hoping for the best, in every sense.
“I’m confident of one thing. Every player will give their utmost and Leeds will know they’ve been in a game,” said Dixon. “This is what the dream was all about. To be part of the team that sees that dream fulfilled, to go down in history as being the first Crusaders to wear the shirt in Super League, will be a fantastic feeling.
“We’re in this for the long haul and nobody has any false expectations that we’re going to carry all before us but the adrenaline will be pumping.”
Source:the times