Can York Knights shock RL’s world?

York City Knights are ranked at 20-1 to win, and have been given a 40-point start on the handicap sheet.

For anyone not au fait with bookmakers’ odds, that basically means they reckon York aint got a chance – and that was the case even before they knew Rovers would come with virtually a full-strength squad while the Knights would be fielding a weakened team.

This is generally the case when part-time teams come up against Super League outfits these days: the number of shock wins over the last decade or so can be counted on one hand.

So what does it take to actually pull off one of those amazing once-in-a-blue-moon results?

The general consensus is that the Super League team have to play badly and the part-time team need to play better than ever – and even then they’d need Lady Luck to not merely smile on them but rather laugh loudly in the full-timers’ faces.

York boss Dave Woods agrees with this notion, but also says the first quarter could be critical tomorrow.

“We’re not under any illusions,” he said. “Our blokes are playing international players, not just Super League players.

“We need to play 100 times better to get a result and you need to have the Super League team thinking they’ve got the match won before it starts and to be off their game.

“If you can then put some pressure on them, they could start to get a bit nervous.

“You need to go with them for the first 15 or 20 minutes, and, if so, they might start to get a little twitchy bum time. They could start panicking and throw the ball about and come up with errors. Then it’d be up to us to capitalise on that.”

There are folk in Hull who are so worried about Rovers’ current form – they’d be second-bottom of the top-tier table but for Wakefield having been deducted points – that they think a Knights victory tomorrow is a real possibility.

Such nervousness might play in York’s favour, but it seems no-one in the Huntington Stadium camp is getting carried away.

Indeed, Woods’ team selection, with five first-teamers, including key organisers Chris Thorman and Jack Lee, left out, is a clear indicator that the league, and staying up in the Championship, is at the forefront of the Knights’ thinking. Playing a weakened team obviously won’t help their chances of pulling off a Cup shock, but could anyone looking at the bigger picture criticise Woods’ reasoning? Probably not.

Optimists might argue it could even work for York, with fringe players particularly keen to impress while Rovers perhaps take it extra easy.

Regardless of his team, Woods said: “Hull KR should win the game. They’re full-time and we’re part-time. But we will be out there doing our best. If we can get to 20 minutes with no score, we’re doing all right and we can see what happens.”

The Aussie believes the Robins’ poor form, with nine defeats in 13 league games, could also work in York’s favour – or against them.

“It puts a bit more pressure on them,” he said. “They know they’ve not been playing great and they need a performance against us.

“They’ve got a strong team out with all their big-hitters so they’re not taking it lightly. It would be easy for (Rovers boss) Justin Morgan to throw some kids in but he realises they can’t afford to take any chances. They need a big game and they’ll want to kick-start their season, and getting a big win tomorrow could do that.

“That’s what he will be looking for anyway. He’ll want to kick-start their season and get some confidence. They’ve had some pretty poor performances recently and they will want to do very well this week.”

As for the Knights’ aims, Woods said victory was not being ruled out – imagine the furore if they did win! – but he stressed enjoying the day was paramount.

“We don’t want the score to blow out, obviously. We want to do as well as we can do. We know they will get some tries, we’re not stupid. From one to 13 they’ve got international players, from New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain. They’re a quality team.

“But it’s about us doing our thing and enjoying playing against them, enjoying the atmosphere of the big crowd.

“We’re looking forward to it – and you never know what might happen.”

NOT only are results in the modern era heavily weighted in favour of Super League teams, but historic omens are also against the Knights tomorrow.

York have not won a Challenge Cup meeting with Hull KR since 1954 and, in total, have only won two in nine cup ties between the sides, the first being in 1903.

The Knights, since their 2003 inception, have lost all their seven competitive matches against the Robins, five in the Northern Rail Cup and two in the league, the last of which was in 2006, prior to the Hull giants’ re-emergence as a top-tier outfit.

York’s last victory over Rovers was a 29-12 home win in August 1999, when Rovers finished sixth in the old Northern Ford Premiership table, one place and four points above the Wasps.

THE Knights are hoping for a crowd approaching a capacity 4,000 at Huntington Stadium tomorrow.

With about 3,000 tickets sold, pay-on-the-day will be available – but only at the main stand turnstiles (Nuffield Gym end) and not at Jockey Lane.

Prices are £13 for adults, £10 for over-65s and students, and £5 for under-16s. There is a £2 transfer to seats but seating will be limited.

Turnstiles open at 1.30pm though supporters with tickets can access Bar 13, via main reception, from 12.30pm. The club will open the kiosk at the opposite end of the main stand (near the toilets) to help ease congestion at the main kiosk.

There will also be a bucket collection in aid of the Knights Foundation charity, which supports the club’s community development programme.

For details on any match-day rail travel, visit www.tpexpress.co.uk.

Previous meetings

Previous Challenge Cup meetings between York and Hull KR:

1994 (Rnd 4) Hull KR 16, Ryedale-York 6.

1986 (R2) York 6, Hull KR 34.

1981 (R2) Hull KR 23, York 7.

1964 (R2) York 7, Hull KR 23.

1955 (R1) Hull KR 7, York 6.

1954 (R1, 1st leg) York 18, Hull KR 0.

1954 (Rd 1, 2nd leg) Hull KR 0, York 0.

1922 (Rd 1) York 2, Hull KR 4.

1903 (Rd 1) Hull KR 2, York 6.

Bush fire

TOM BUSH endured an indifferent start to his Knights career but has come back with a bang in the last two matches, following up his fine display off the bench in the win in Toulouse with a man-of-the-match showing in the victory over Dewbsury last week.

Full-back Bush dealt expertly with high balls in a swirling wind, covered well, and ran with pace and purpose whenever in possession. The 21-year-old picks up three Press Player of the Year points for that display to jump onto the leaderboard.

Others to win points to their tallies this week were Steve Lewis (2pts), York’s Mr Play Anywhere, after he filled in as substitute prop with aplomb, and playmaker-in-chief Chris Thorman (1), who was at the hub of many good things after switching to loose-forward.

The Press player of the year standings: Davies 15pts, Sutton 8, Lee 8, Massey 7, Freer 6, Straugheir 6, Thorman 6, Presley 5, Benson 4, Clarke 3, Jones 3, Bush 3, Waterman 2, Esders 2, Lewis 2, Stearman 1.