Cornwall RLFC

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Head Coach Neil Kelly Post Midlands Hurricanes

April 11, 2022

Cornwall RLFC head coach Neil Kelly – Patrick Tod

Cornwall head coach Neil Kelly has ‘every confidence’ that his squad will continue to improve as the Betfred League 1 season progresses. 

The Choughs endured a baptism of fire on home soil yesterday going down to a 60-14 defeat to Midlands Hurricanes.

The match was as good as over at the mid-way point in proceedings with the Hurricanes leading 40-0. Despite starting brightly, from the moment Jack Dawson scored the visitors’ first try after eight minutes, Cornwall were up against it.

But in a repeat of last week at North Wales Crusaders, Kelly’s side were much-improved in the second stanza and scored three tries of their own. The Hurricanes themselves scored four times after the turnaround with two tries from Hayden Freeman late in the piece seeing the Birmingham based outfit reach the 60-point mark. 

“It’s the same story as last week,” Kelly said at full-time.

“We’ve done well in parts, but not done well long enough to restrict the scoreline and make a game of it.

“We’ve not had a long pre-season, in many ways these games are almost like pre-season games for us, but I’m throwing all these things up and it’s all really an excuse.

“I think we should be doing better in some areas of the game and we’re probably paying a big price for individuals coming up short in those instances where we need them to come forward. 

“If we don’t start to make those improvements then we’re going to be in this changing room saying these same things after every week.

“But they’re a great bunch of lads and I’ve every confidence that they do want to improve, nobody’s deserting them, and we’ll stick by them as long as they do their part and show that development over a period of time.”