Lancashire start training for County Championship campaign

That’s the view of the Red Rose county’s senior co-ordinator, Mark Nelson, as he again masterminds Lancashire’s bid to reach next month’s Twickenham final with a coaching team headed up by his Fylde RFC colleague Alex Loney.

Lancashire’s opening match in the ‘northern’ group will take them to Weston-super-Mare to face Somerset on May 17 before a more traditional regional derby against Yorkshire at the Woodlands.

Nelson told The Gazette: “After Cheshire pulled out, the most northerly team to complete our group is Somerset – but they have some really good club sides.

“It’s a strong rugby county and they gave us a good game at Fylde last year (which the Lancastrians won 54-33).”

It isn’t only the geography that has convinced Nelson the tournament has gone mad, but also the ‘ludicrous scheduling’.

The National Leagues ended on April 26 but reaching the County Championship final would extend Lancashire’s season by almost two months, during which they would play only three games.

After a three-week wait for their opening game, it’s a further fortnight until the Roses match with the final another three weeks beyond that.

Nelson added: “It’s absolutely crazy because the players need a break at the end of a very physical season.

“If Somerset reach Twickenham on June 21, they won’t have played for four weeks!

“We should be playing the first game against them this weekend at the latest – and now they are thinking of bringing in play-offs for the National League, which would make it even more difficult to accommodate the County Championship.

“The game is run through the counties and administered through the counties, but when it comes to organising this tournament, the counties have little say in the process.

“It shows the passion that the players, coaches and managers have for this competition that, despite everything, they are still willing to be involved and that’s something that should be recognised by the powers that be.”

As for what is in his control, Nelson added: “I’ve put a schedule together. We train for the first time this Thursday at Fylde and then we’ll announce a broad squad to begin with – because you have players who are available for some games and not others.”

In his capacity as Fylde’s director of rugby, Nelson feels the club should be proud of its top-four finish in National Two North under Loney and fellow head coach Chris Briers.

“I think to finish fourth in that league was very good,” he said.

“Leeds and Sheffield were strong but we could have won a couple more games and got into the top three.

“Some really good sides finished below us and nobody was cut adrift.

“On the final Saturday, there were still four teams who could go down. Any team could beat any other.

“Harrogate (who finished bottom) only just lost to (champions) Leeds and beat us at their place.

“The players and coaches at Fylde deserve massive credit for finishing fourth.”