SALFORD RED DEVILS LADIES V WIGAN ST PATS MATCH PREVIEW WITH HEAD COACH CHRIS BATES
This Sunday Salford Red Devils ladies face Wigan St Pats at Salford City Roosers, Rob Spoke the Ladies head coach Chris Bates ahead of the big game and this is what he had to say.
Last week you beat Super League side Wakefield at home, it was a massive result for your girls, what did you take from it?
We did, it was a fantastic performance for us. We set our sights on that game as a true test of where we’re at. Wakefield will be the first to say they had a tough year last year but they’re a super league side non-the-less and they’re looking to build up to a big campaign.
With that in mind we knew they would come strong and we wanted to see how we compared. Turning them over confirmed everything we’d been thinking about our ability as a side really and probably sets some expectations for the year that we’re going to have to work really hard to hit, but we now know we can.
You have had 9 different try scorers this season so far in 3 games that must give you confidence that you have real strike power all over the field?
It proves the ability of those players but more importantly it proves our ability as a side. We really want to play with our heads up and find space rather than being a bunch of rugby league robots who hit the same shape every time. Against Swinton we scored through the middle because that’s where we managed to get a roll on, where as in the more recent friendlies that didn’t come as easy so we dropped into our shape and our tries have come typically wider with Lauren Ellison and Luci McKeown (two of our wingers) featuring heavily. We’re really pleased with that as coaches, it’s exactly where we want to be.
This week you face Wigan St Pats at Salford City Roosters (Sunday 2:30pm kickoff) how big of a challenge will that be for your girls?
We’re not sure! Wigan St Pats are the league below us, but the Wakefield result shows you can’t read anything into that. We’ve talked all week about looking after our performance and then the result will come. If I’m honest it’s all well and good having the friendly results we’ve had and they’ve brought some great attention to us but this is our first competitive fixture. We can’t let our standards drop.
You team has been together for such a small time but in these three games your team has reaily struck a sense of excitement with the Salford faithful about what might come in the future, are you where you thought you might be now when you set off on this journey?
In terms of where we are now I can’t believe how well it’s gone and where we are. We’re definitely ahead of where I thought we would be and I think that’s credit to the girls for how they’ve applied themselves, and then the club for how they’ve supported us and made the girls feel part of the club. Some other women’s teams are really separate to the men and can be made to feel like a side project. SRD have made sure that isn’t the case. Craig Fisher, Marcelle and Paul King have been fantastic in that and a big part of the early success we’ve seen is down to how the group have been treated. They’ve been first class.
In your head have you already got your 17 organised or are their places up for grabs against Wigan St Pats?
The 17 for Wigan St Pats is set and in now. We’ve given a couple of opportunities this week, one forced with Erin (our fullback) picking up a knee injury last week, and then two opportunities for Jena Monks and Eponine Fletcher to come in and stake a claim for a starting spot. We really want to see girls develop with us, so I’m really excited to see how Jena and Eponine do. They’ve absolutely earnt those shots.
Final question you play at Salford City Roosters this weekend your two wins from two games at home this pre season are you looking forward to seeing a big passionate salford crowd to cheer your ladies on and try and make it three from three?
I’d absolutely love too, the level of support we’ve had has been awesome and I’d love to see that continue. Roosters is a great venue as well, so with a decent crowd on I think it’ll be a really good event. On top of that I think if you’ve never seen a women’s game get down and have a watch. We’ve already surprised a few with how we play and I’m sure with international women’s day in the last week the girls would love to surprise a few more!
Kickoff is 14:30 and admission is free.
Post code is M30 7LS,
Robert Parkinson
Action pictures by Marrissa Chaplin ( @GenAddict1)
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