BUCS Focus: M1 Rugby League

A young Northumbria Unicersity M1 Rugby League side will go back to the drawing board this week after slipping to a narrow defeat against potential title rivals.

The reigning BUCS champions were brought back down to earth last week as they lost 16-12 to a strong Leeds Beckett outfit.

And it was a wake up call for a team riding high on confidence after winning their previous three matches.

And while the defeat was a tough one to take, TN head coach Jason Payne certainly saw positives in his new-look side.

“Obviously it was a tough loss to take," said Payne. "We want to win and be competitive but this team is still a young side.

“We’ve lost 11 of the 17 guys from last season, so they’re still gelling as a side and some of the stuff we did against Leeds I was really proud of.

“Ultimately they started better than us and pulled ahead a bit before half time. When we went in at half time though, it was all positive.

“I noticed that we executed a bit better and we scored a couple of really good tries. We showed some real gritty, gutsy positives.

“We just switched off a little bit at the end with some poor defending to let them in.

“So heading forward I think we need to get in on Monday and look at the video. It’ll be a good experience for them to look at. It might be a tough watch but they’ll learn from it.

“I think we showed our inexperience against Leeds. We were leading by a point in the final 10 and we’ve lost which might be down to some of the experience we’ve lost.

“So hopefully next time, when we’re in that position we’ll put the game away.”

And while Payne’s TN side look considerably different to last season’s championship winners, he challenged them to go on and be the driving force for a successful season.

“We’ve recruited really well this summer and I’m pretty lucky to have a set of players that want to be the driving force,” he added.

“Over the last seven years we’ve built a really strong programme which I’m really proud of. These new lads know that we won the title last year but that it’s not their title.

“Most of these players haven’t won the title so they’ve got to earn that right. It's not our title anymore - it’s a new title.”