Hood relishing chance for Hunslet to savour Headingley atmosphere

Correspondent

Hunslet hooker Liam Hood is looking forward to sampling the atmosphere at Headingley when his team tangle with Oldham in the Championship One play-off final on Sunday.

The Hawks have played the Roughyeds three times this season, with every encounter being hard fought.

“Headingley is the perfect pitch to play on,” he said.

“The fans are really close to you which makes the atmosphere intense. I’d really love to see plenty of Hawks fans there on Sunday.

“I’ve only played against Oldham in the play-offs, I was injured for the other games. They’re a strong team with some key players who push hard down the middle so we’ll be keeping an eye on that department.

“I can’t wait for the final. We’ll have some light training sessions and some video work this week in preparation. Barry Eaton has his plans in place, we’ll be ready.”

Hood is also hopeful that his team can draw on some of the fighting spirit which saw them through a tough game against York City Knights in the last round.

“It was a tough game against York. We were 12-0 down at half-time and they were getting on top,” the 22-year-old  added.

“Usually when you are down at half-time there are faces in the changing room who already look beaten. It was different on Sunday, everyone wanted to get straight back out there and fight for it.

“Previous encounters with York had been dismissed, this was the biggest game for us. We stayed composed and focused throughout the game.

“I was lucky enough to get over for a couple of tries. Our props made this happen for me though. When they stay on their feet and get a quick play of the ball in then this makes it easy for me to go in from close range.”