Keighley Sport
Sheffield wants steely approach for Keighley's clash with league leaders
10:45am Thursday 2nd February 2012
Graeme Sheffield is expecting a mental as well as a physical battle when Yorkshire One leaders Bridlington travel to Keighley on Saturday.
The Utley side are going great guns ahead of their biggest clash of the season and victory would see them really turn up the heat in the race for promotion.
Having won ten of their last 11 league matches, fourth-placed Keighley are just four points off second spot and ten from the top.
And Rose Cottage director of rugby Sheffield believes the key to cutting that gap further lies in the head as much as anywhere.
He said: “Paul Moses (former Keighley Cougars player and coach) once said to me that rugby is 75 per cent in the head and 25 per cent on the pitch.
“While those statistics might be over-egged, there is no doubting the importance of the mental side.
“As I have said before, and I get the mickey taken out of me constantly for saying it, you may win games on a Saturday but you win leagues during the weeks in terms of how you prepare.”
Keighley’s current hot streak started after their 19-11 defeat at Bridlington on October 15. The East Yorkshire club have lost twice since then, with defeats at home to Pocklington (17-5 on November 19) and surprisingly, at tenth-placed Knottingley (29-27 last Saturday).
Pocklington are currently second but Sheffield added: “Every so often in this league you get a shock result and Knottingley was certainly one of them.
“That can have an effect in one of two ways on the losers.
“It can either dent confidence or make a team more determined. If I was coach of Bridlington I would be working them extra hard this week to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
“They are a top-of-the-ground side who enjoyed bigger wins early in the season but they aren’t top of the table for nothing. We are expecting a very tough match.”
Keighley won 34-3 at Castleford but Sheffield described it as a “patchy performance”.
He said: “The players were very, very disappointed when they came back into the changing rooms.”
Keighley are not set to make their final selection until tonight but it is expected that skipper Leigh Sugden will return to the team, having missed last Saturday’s match.
Sheffield said: “He wanted to play last weekend but it was clear that he wasn’t right because of an arm injury.”
Veteran hooker or back-rower Dave Pullan is also set to be named, with Sheffield citing him as an example of who to look up to. “Whether he is in the second team, third team or wherever, our coaches say to their players, ‘watch him and you won’t go far wrong.’ He is as fit as a fiddle and it is great that Dave is prepared to help out whenever and wherever he is needed, although he can’t play every weekend because of school commitments on a Saturday morning.” Prop Paul Sinfield is another club stalwart who is due for a call-up.