Salford fear familiar faces

Saturday 16th May 09

Salford City Reds will be wary of the old boys brigade when they take on high-flying Huddersfield Giants at the Galpharm Stadium tomorrow.

Scrum-half Luke Robinson is one of four ex-Salford players in the Giants ranks and he admits he still has a soft spot for the Reds after spending three years at The Willows.

“It will be the first time I’ve played them since I left and there’s been a few text messages flying around this week telling me what’s going to happen to me,” he said.

“There’s Michael Korkidas, Simon Finnigan and David Hodgson here as well. We have a lot of ties there and we still know a lot of the boys.

“I hope they do well because they’ve got a good chairman and their fans have been starved of success. I’d like them to do well - but not this week.”

All four players quit the Reds in the wake of their relegation from Super League in 2007 - Robinson and Hodgson went straight to Huddersfield while Korkidas had a season at Castleford Tigers and Finnigan went initially to Bradford Bulls.

Salford coach Shaun McRae insists there is no hard feelings ahead of the reunion.

“All those guys left on good terms,” he said. “They wanted to stay in Super League when we were relegated and you certainly can’t blame them for that.”

Much interest tomorrow will centre on the half-back duel between the 24-year-old Robinson and his Salford successor Richie Myler, the teenager who was this week named in the England elite training squad.

“A lot of the good things Salford do tend to revolve around him,” said Robinson. “He tends to pop up and score tries so he’s someone we’re going to have to keep an eye on.”

Bradford coach Steve McNamara will be wary of the unknown when bottom-of-the-table Celtic Crusaders go to Odsal tomorrow seeking to break their Super League duck.

The Crusaders have lost all 11 fixtures so far but McNamara believes their first win is just around the corner and he is desperately hoping it is not at the expense of his improving side.

“They have a lot of good players and one of the big factors is that they are unknown to us,” he said.

“They have not been on TV very much and we have never played Celtic as a club, so we have spent a bit of time familiarising ourselves with their individuals and hopefully we won’t get any surprises on game day.

“I think they will get plenty of wins as the season goes on but we certainly don’t intend it to be this weekend.

“We are very focused and we have some very good reasons why we want to perform well on Sunday. We need to keep our own form good and maintain it and keep pushing up the ladder.”

In tomorrow’s other game, Harlequins RL seek to make it three wins in a row when Wakefield Trinity Wildcats visit the Twickenham Stoop.

Stand-off Jamie Rooney is set to make his first appearance of the season for the Wildcats but most eyes will be on Quins’ 23-year-old prop Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, who was this week named in the initial 17-man England elite training squad.

McCarthy-Scarsbrook is in the frame to win his first cap in next month’s game against France in Paris but he insists he is not looking beyond his club commitments.

“It’s an honour to be picked, but as soon as it comes to Sunday, it’s game on,” he said. “I’ll be concentrating on picking up the two points.

“We’ve had a really good week of training and preparing for Wakefield and are focused on getting our third win on the bounce.”