Hunslet visit the LNER Community Stadium this Sunday (May 11th 4pm) for their first game against York Knights since 2018.
Prior to then, the two Clubs had a fierce rivalry, but York have now established themselves in the Championship, something Hunslet are now aiming to do.
“York are a good Club.” said Hunslet Head Coach Dean Muir “They have invested in their infrastructure and have worked on their partnerships with other Clubs. The training set up and 4G pitch is outstanding. On the field they are expansive with real Super League quality in the squad.”
“However, we must look after ourselves and keep improving. Our players are becoming exposed to Championship Rugby. At the start of the season, we weren’t there. Because of the play-offs, we started late, but you can see the squad improving. We were frustrated against Widnes, we had chances to win and against Halifax our discipline let us down. But we are getting to where we want to be, competing with top teams.”
Although there are 2 or 3 players with knocks from last week’s game to be considered for selection, there will be no long-term injured players making a return this week.
However, Muir was happy with his recent returns: “Brad Clavering on debut showed he has go forward and in patches looked really good. Brad’s a smart player and will be a good addition to the squad. Kobe Rugless is another player back from injury and looked sharp but needs to get up to match fitness.”
Hunslet are not at full strength yet, but players are certainly making the jerseys their own “Harrison Gilmore has been impressive in recent weeks; He carries hard and defends well, and Keelan Foster is also a hand full for defences.”
Clavering and Foster will bring aggression into Hunslet’s pack but need to stay on the right line of being over aggressive. In the early weeks of the season, Hunslets’ pack looked a bit light, but certainly against Widnes the forwards made good yards.
“We are looking forward to going to York.” said Muir “It’s a big pitch which suits us. We go there to compete and win and hopefully we’ll have a good following their behind us.”
