 Crusaders are up against 13 other sides in an expanded Super League
By George Riley
BBC Radio 5 Live rugby league expert |
 The award of a Super League licence to the Celtic Crusaders was one of the more eyebrow-raising calls the Rugby Football League has made since the inception of Super League. A gamble on a team who had been together for only three full seasons was a significant one by a sport's governing body keen to build on the success of the Perpignan-based Catalans Dragons by expanding the game into Wales. Six games into their debut season in rugby league's top echelon, the Bridgend-based club remain winless and were dumped out of the Challenge Cup at the weekend.  | We're close but not there yet... our effort across the park is very strong, but we're not too clever discipline-wise |
Widnes, Leigh and other established rugby league heartlands, where the non-award of a Super League licence was bitterly received, could be forgiven for a wry smile and sly shake of the head at Crusaders' travails. "With the ball in our hands we look good," their Aussie coach John Dixon tells me, and you would struggle to disagree. The Welsh side play a hugely watchable brand of free-flowing rugby league, but you have to wonder whether their desire to entertain has contributed to their early-season barren run. "That's the way we want to play but that can hurt us, too," says Dixon. "When you play that way you can make errors and then you have to defend them. We're getting closer but at the moment it's not good enough. " I've watched the Crusaders several times this season. I have been impressed by their go-forward, less so their discipline.  Crusaders began their Super League campaign with a loss against Leeds |
In their first ever home Super League game at Brewery Field against Hull FC, they started with a bang before fading badly. Against champions Leeds, it was the opposite story, a wobbly start then a gutsy, albeit ultimately fruitless riposte. Sitting watching their most recent game at Warrington, I was convinced I was poised to see an historic first-ever Super League victory. "We're close but not there yet," says Dixon. "Our effort across the park is very strong, but we're not too clever discipline-wise. "We were 22-22 with Warrington with 10 minutes to go last week and then we get a man in the sin-bin. We're not good enough to have 12 men playing 13. "Our little lack of discipline is hurting us and that includes our decision-making - even though our execution and go-forward is going strong." Warrington got out of jail in that round seven game at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. Crusaders twice led at 12-6 and 22-16 before Ryan O'Hara was sent to the naughty step for the last 10 minutes and Lee Briers carved out victory for the Wolves. Six defeats out of six, though, proves Dixon is right when he tells me his side aren't quite good enough yet. The RFL have confidence in the Bridgend side coming good, however, pointing to the impact the Catalans Dragons have made in their first three season as a Super League side. | 606: DEBATE |
Crusaders will get at least that long before their licence is up for renewal. The Dragons claimed their first Super League win by beating Wigan in front of more than 11,000 at the Aimé Giral three years ago - ironically when Crusaders were themselves just getting going as a club. But the French side went on to lose their next four matches, finishing their debut season with eight wins. Dixon admits his side cannot build the way the Dragons have until they have laid a solid platform. That platform, he tells me, is one solitary victory. "The players feel they have done enough to win games," he says. "Against Warrington, we were very close. "We could smell it. We could smell it at half-time and skipped away to lead by a converted try. We had a kick come back off the upright, but that's footy and we're not quite there yet.  Dixon says "every week is a challenge" for his squad of players |
"The really positive thing for me as a coach is that we can go to places like Warrington and show we are competitive." But competition on the field is only one way the Celtic Crusaders can justify their Super League licence. The club have to prove they can compete off it, too. Their first-ever top-flight game at Brewery Field against Hull FC served as something of a rude awakening. The nation's press were thwarted by a lack of power in the press box and had to relocate en masse just before kick-off to a hospitality box on the other side of the ground. The hot-headed hacks were then perplexed at being asked to pay for a cup of tea or coffee - not quite what the old boys are used to! All a learning curve, however, for a club hungry to prove themselves at the top level. Indeed, the effort put into family entertainment at Brewery Field has been first class. None of that will bother the single-minded Dixon, who simply wants to win games of rugby league. I asked him whether that, no matter how well his team plays, it makes it psychologically even tougher to finally snap that losing streak and secure that historic first ever Super League win. | As long as that points column reads 0 then a horribly ugly win may just be the most welcome of platforms for Dixon |
"Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment," he says. "When we go into half-time and we are behind, it is mentally a challenge. "We don't have that reservoir of knowledge that says 'we can get through this and build on it'. You only have that if you are a team who has been together for a long period of time. We haven't. We know every week is a challenge and it is all still very new to us. "I'd like to think that we can get through this and get over this mounting hurdle in front of us. "Only when we do that will we be able to develop that bank of knowledge and belief in ourselves as a Super League side." Time will tell on that, and you can't argue with Dixon's desire to entertain. But as long as that points column reads 0 then a horribly ugly win may just be the most welcome of platforms for Dixon.
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?