THERE will be another club in National League Two next season with the admittance to the league of Bridgend-based Celtic Crusaders.

They had a team in the Rugby Football League in the 1990s, but I never actually played them then - and I hope we at York won't play them next year either.

The former set-up at Bridgend didn't last for one reason or another but the sport definitely can work down there, especially now that it seems there is a better infrastructure.

They've had a Welsh national team for some time, while the success of the Summer Conference has probably helped.

The main game in Wales is rugby union of course, but there is interest in league there. They've produced some great league players down the years and guys like Jonathan Davies, Scott Quinnell, Scott Gibbs, Allan Bateman and Paul Moriarty, whom I played against, all made the transition very well.

Bridgend reckon they get a decent crowd in the Conference, and it would not have to be too big to compete favourably with the crowds in NL2, where really only York pull in significant gates.

They will probably recruit well, pick some home-grown players and maybe look at the overseas market, and I imagine they might be quite a decent team.

It seems they've done their homework. They've started from scratch, set the ball rolling with a successful Summer Conference side, are now looking to get in the semi-professional ranks and, who knows, if they get the right backing, they might make it to Super League. Good luck to them. To have a successful Welsh team can only be good for the game.

It will, however, mean another bit of travelling for NL2 clubs, with London, Gateshead and Cumbria also in there at the moment, and obviously we don't want to have to go there next year.

French rugby league also enjoyed a big boost at the weekend when Toulouse beat Widnes in the Challenge Cup.

It was a bit of a shock - they're part-time players - but Toulouse have got a useful squad and were at home where the climate probably helped them. Fair play to them. That's the beauty of the Cup. If you catch somebody on an off day and you play well, then, hey presto, you can find yourself in the semi-finals of a major competition. Whatever happens against Leeds in the semis, they have done their club proud.

I thought the quarter-final between St Helens and Wigan would have been closer. Saints have done to Wigan what they are capable of doing to anybody - once they get onto you, they're very difficult to stop - and that result makes our 62-0 loss a bit more respectable.

However, for a major quarter-final to finish 75-0, it is not really that good for the competition. Saints fans will be delighted but neutrals want to watch a close, hard-fought encounter.

THE cruelness of professional sport came to light this week with the sacking by Wakefield of coach Shane McNally.

He did a great job there, got them to the Super League play-offs last season and was named Coach of the Year. But this year the results haven't gone for them - they thumped Leeds but it has gone downhill since then - and the board has decided to let him go. It's tough on him and it's not always the coach that's to blame, but it is easier to get rid of him than perhaps anything else and the board felt they needed to go for somebody fresh to get them out of relegation danger.

It's not nice for anybody to lose their job but that can be the nature of sport. Hopefully he'll get another one soon as he's definitely got something to offer.

Updated: 11:50 Wednesday, June 29, 2005