Time for Scunthorpe Rugby Union Club to shut up and put up in new year, says ...

Comments (0)

THE New Year will be the time for Scunthorpe Rugby Union Club to ‘shut up and put up’, according to head coach Tim Robinson.

The Greens find themselves in National League Three Midlands’ bottom three going into 2014, facing the threat of another relegation battle.

After their winter break they resume action at home to Lymm, who sit just two places and three points above them in the table.

A trip to Newport (Salop), the side directly ahead of them, follows, with Sandbach and Syston – both close by in the rankings – on the horizon in February.

Up until now, Robinson has been pleased with his team’s performances but says they must start turning them into points.

“We’re in a results business unfortunately, and results-wise it’s not been the best,” he said of the first part of the season.

“But we’re trying to move on.

“We’ve got a young squad and we’ve had a lot of experiences this year. It’s about them learning from those experiences.

“January and February are going to be crucial to the season.

“We have been performing well. We’ve picked up four wins and quite a lot of bonus points.

“Now it’s time to shut up and put up; we’ve got to get the results. “We’ve got some key games at home.

“I’m pretty pleased with how we’re playing at the moment. The performances have been great, we’ve just got to turn that into results.”

The biggest improvement Robinson wants to see in order to do that is Scunthorpe’s ‘ball retention’.

However, he believes the Greens can take confidence from last week’s results which saw them progress in two cup competitions.

A mixture of first-team regulars and those from the Stags and Colts played their part in victories over Market Rasen and Paviors in the space of three days.

And there was a pleasing return for Matthew Probert, who was allegedly hit in the face with a hammer back in September.

“We’ve slipped back in the bottom three but I’m not concerned,” Robinson said of their league position.

“We’re still within touching distance of eighth in the division.

“There’s still all to play for in the second half of the season.

“We’ve got players coming back and returning to the fold, so we’re probably strengthening.

“Touch wood, we haven’t done too bad with injuries this year.

“If we keep the squad together and have those additions as well, it looks good for the second half of the season.

“The lads have shown the same confidence attitude and commitment from the start of pre-season and looking at the last two games, we’ve shown we can grind out results.”

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12544/9063125/heineken-cup-jim-mallinder-reflects-on-northamptons-humiliation

Time for Scunthorpe Rugby Union Club to shut up and put up in new year, says ...