March: We’ve got nothing to lose
Hunslet coach Paul March believes that the Hawks have nothing to lose ahead of Sunday’s Northern Rail Cup quarter-final clash against Leigh Centurions at South Leeds Stadium.
March guided his team to a victory over Halifax earlier in the competition and believes that his side have nothing to fear heading into the game against their Co-operative Championship opponents.
“We know it’s a big test, but we’re not going into this game to make up the numbers,” said March.
“The club finished bottom twice on the trot but we made the play-offs last year and we’re heading in the right direction now. We’ve played Halifax and Barrow already this year. We beat Halifax and ran Barrow close, and they’re arguably the best two teams in the Championship.
“Leigh are flying high and if things were different then they could have been playing in the same division as us. We’ve got nothing to lose. All the pressure is going to be on them.
“We want to be playing these teams every week. That’s what we’re aiming for. We’ve already set a benchmark in beating Halifax and we’ve just got to make sure we step up to the mark every single week.”
Paul March has overseen a remarkable transformation in Hunslet’s fortunes since taking charge of the club, but he is quick to deflect the credit elsewhere.
“Daz Williams as Director of Rugby has got a massive influence on what the club does, and he puts in a huge amount of hard work. He was just a fan before he took the role on, and we’ve got some other great people working behind the scenes like Peter Todd and Stephen Ball.
“This game should be a great advert for Rugby League and for the Northern Rail Cup.”
Paul’s sentiments have been echoed by his brother David March, who joined the Hawks at the start of this year from York City Knights.
David said: “Playing teams like Leigh is what we’re hoping to do every week. We’re going into the game on the back of some good wins and we’ll be going into it with plenty of confidence that we can do well.
“Paul’s turned things around at Hunslet really well. He’s signed some good players and there are lots of familiar faces here from my time at York.
“We take every game as it comes but we aim to win every game too. We’ve got the ability to win every game and this fixture isn’t any different. Our confidence is high and hopefully we can do well and get a good draw in the semi-finals.”
David reached the same stage of the competition with York City Knights last year, but is determined to get 80 minutes closer with a victory over Leigh Centurions.
“At York last year we had a good first half against Widnes but they ended up beating us quite comfortably. As a team we’re looking forward to this opportunity in the Northern Rail Cup and we want to keep making progress.
“People recently saw Hunslet as a nothing club but at the moment it’s a great club. We’re looking forward to the future and hopefully we can start things off with a good performance against Leigh.”