News

Head coach Neil Kelly says his Cornwall RLFC side must deliver an 80-minute performance if they are to be at their best against Midlands Hurricanes tomorrow.

The Choughs will run out in front of their own fans at the Memorial Ground for the very first time on the back of a 62-22 defeat at North Wales Crusaders seven days ago.

Although defeated, Kelly’s side demonstrated signs of promise by scoring four times against the much-fancied Crusaders. 

And whilst Midlands make the trip to Penryn after suffering defeats to Doncaster and Swinton Lions in rounds one and two respectively, Kelly feels that the Bimingham based outfit will be a real handful for his Cornwall side. 

“Midlands Hurricanes look like a really good side to me who are well coached with some big lads playing for them, with some nice half-back pairings,” Kelly told cornwallrlfc.co.uk. “They have a decent hooker who is quick if you let him dominate around the play-the-ball. 

“We have to be playing our best football for 80 minutes to get our best performance from this game and I’m not necessarily talking about a win.

I’m talking about a good performance and building on some of the positives from North Wales. Hopefully we can get rid of some of the negatives from that game and who knows what the result may be.

“As a professional rugby player myself, I always wanted to play in front of a big crowd. Unfortunately, I never got to play in front of that many big crowds and certainly never in a first game for a club.

“With 1500 supporters here in Penryn, it will look like a lot more. Everyone here today will hopefully enjoy the spectacle and the players will enjoy it well.

“The players will enjoy it more when they are winning and we hope they win today.”

Kelly, a former Super League Coach of the Year, saw his squad bolstered this week by the arrival of Wigan Warriors duo Adam Jones and Toby Brannan on loan.

However, Kelly will be without the services of Liam Whitton through suspension after he picked up a two game ban from the North Wales defeat.

The news of Whitton being forced to watch from the sidelines has been tempered by the inclusion of Flying Fijian Josh Tora. who has recovered from a hamstring injury 

“We have added two loan players from Wigan Warriors to our squad this week in Toby Brennan and Adam Jones,” added Kelly. “Both players trained well with us on Friday night and we look forward to seeing what they can do in a Cornwall shirt.

“We were disappointed to lose Liam Whitton to a two-game suspension. We felt it was a little bit of something and nothing, but we must take it on the chin and get by without him.

“The news on Liam is tempered by Josh Tora being fit to take his place in the squad today. We know our right side didn’t perform last week so having Josh, an experienced centre, will be a big filip for the team. It also bolsters our choices in the middle of the park with Sam Snell able to cover us at second row. That is a big positive for us.”