North Wales Crusaders take on Doncaster in Sunday's League 1 Grand Final with a place in The Championship up for grabs for the winner.
After an extremely difficult season which included a 0-7 start and playing only 2 league games at their home in Colwyn Bay, Cru head to Doncaster on Sunday in scintillating form.
After a shock defeat to Cornwall in Rhyl, Crusaders were looking like missing out on the finals all together. The team rallied, led by player coach Carl Forster and have put together a superb run of form, winning 5 on the bounce which included Sundays opponent Doncaster in the league and Workington, Oldham and Hunslet in the play-offs.
In last week's superb win against Hunslet, the one negative was an HIA to club legend Rob Massam who will miss out on the final and looks to have played his last game in a glittering Crusaders career which also included caps at international level for Wales. Owain Abel returned to the side and put in a strong performance after coming back from injury and Carl Forster will no doubt be hoping that he is fit for this weekend's clash.
Doncaster have also been in good form since their last loss which came against Crusaders in Chester back at the beginning of August. This includes two 60-0 wins against Skolars and Cornwall, a final day win against champions Dewsbury followed by a comprehensive 36-0 beating of Oldham in the play-offs. They qualified for the final by defeating Hunslet 26-14 away at South Leeds Stadium.
Head Coach Carl Forster is happy to see how the team have grown over the year, saying: “I think over the last few weeks that we have shown we have real resilience in the camp.”
“We didn't have that at the start of the year, let's be brutally honest. As the year has gone on we've gotten more together, we've gotten better but we are still learning and I'm still learning about these players.”
“I think we have definitely peaked at the right time of the year.”
Crusaders are taking a bumper travelling crowd across to Doncaster and after our fantastic support all year the lads are looking forward to the fans being as loud and proud as ever. Tickets for the game are still available and can be purchased online at the below link-
Promotion Final Details
Doncaster RLFC v North Wales Crusaders
Eco-Power Stadium, Doncaster
Sunday 24th September
3pm
Adults £15, Child (under 17) £2
The game will also be broadcast live on The Sportsman on YouTube-
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