Woods: We have to start performing
MAESTEG may be the ones propping up the Premiership but it is Cross Keys that head into tomorrow's clash in relegation form.
Keys have really suffered in the league of late, six losses on the spin sending them plummeting down the table, and last week's derby defeat to Newport was a new low.
While normally guts and aggression are a given against their regional rivals, the Pandy Park outfit went down with a whimper, leaving the coaching staff seething at the final whistle.
Now they face the side from the Old Parish, who dropped back to the bottom of the pile with defeat last weekend, and Keys know that they need to match the fire that their visitors will undoubtedly bring east.
"We have put ourselves in a big pressure situation," said forwards coach Greg Woods. "In many ways this is the biggest game of the season because our performances at the moment are undoing all of the hard work we put in earlier on.
"Make no bones about it, we need to perform -we are letting ourselves down at the moment and it is so frustrating.
"The Newport game is the biggest one of the season and we just didn't turn up. I think it was just a dour game with no passion and intensity and that is so annoying to see as a coach.
"But we did a bit of soul-searching at training on Tuesday and hopefully we will see a different side tomorrow."
The spoils were shared when the sides met in October, Keys fighting back to draw 10-10 with all their points coming in the last five minutes, and there is no danger of Maesteg being taken lightly despite their woes on their travels this campaign.
They have won just once on the road so far but they are sure to be a real danger with every point, including losing bonus points, crucial in their tussle with Llandovery at the basement.
"We know what it is like down there and they will be fighting for their lives," said Woods. "But we are slipping down the table at the moment ourselves so the motivation is there for us as well.
"They will be big, physical and competitive at the breakdown and we need to take them on in that battle. It's a must-win game for us and we simply have to match, and beat, their desire.
"We need to match them up front and if we are honest, we have gone a bit quiet there of late.
"The key for us is to speed up the ball from the ruck and stop Ian Boobyer because we can cause them problems with quick ball."
Keys field James Leadbetter at full-back as top points scorer Leon Andrews is off skiing while Scott Sneddon moves to fly-half with Owen Jones his half-back partner.
Cross Keys: J Leadbetter, M Pewtner, C Pocock, S Regan, M Johnstone, S Sneddon, O Jones, J Price, L Burns, C Gould, M Curtis, B Watkins (captain), T Lampard, G Gladwyn, C Bridges. Replacements: R James, D Price, D Preece, B FIsher, R Peebles, A Sweet, AN Other.
1:27pm Friday 28th March 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
