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| Ward: 'Let It Snow' |
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| Micky Ward packs down at loose head prop |
| 4 April 2008, 2:02 pm |
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| Newcastle prop Micky Ward believes the Tyneside weather and a bumper Saturday night crowd could be just the boost his Falcons side needs, as they host French side Castres in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup (kick-off 8pm). |
The 29-year-old terrace favourite said: “I’ve heard there’s gonna be a good crowd here, and they will all be a massive help to the lads with the passion they always bring and the way they get behind us.
“Nobody likes to come up here, and they reckon snow is on the way, so I hope they’re right.
“The last thing you want as an opposition team is a night time game at Kingston Park with a 70 mile an hour wind, snow blowing horizontally and 8,000 Geordies going mental!
“Those lads will get on their plane today in the south of France, 25 degrees and beautiful sunshine, then they’ll land here today and it’s pretty fine at the moment too. They’ll wake up tomorrow, look out their little hotel room windows and see the snow coming down, the temperature below freezing and they’ll think they’re in the Arctic. We need to use that to our advantage.”
Now back in the side having worked tirelessly on his fitness and technique during the winter, a rejuvenated Ward said: “I’ve been working hard behind the scenes for the last three or four months, putting in extra sessions in the gym and focusing on areas of my game I knew needed to improve, so it isn’t something that’s happened overnight.
“I feel great at the moment, and I think the work I’ve done over the past few months has improved my game. I feel like I’m scrummaging well, I’m clearing rucks, making tackles and carrying the ball here and there, so I hope I’m making a contribution to the team when I play.”
With that all elusive victory having recently escaped the Falcons, a typically upfront Ward insisted: “From a team point of view obviously we need to be winning games, we all know that and everyone is working hard to make that happen.
“Nobody has their head in the sand about results, we’re not trying to kid ourselves that our performances have been good enough but we’re all putting the effort in to make it happen. The team spirit is great, we have a very tight-knit group of players and we’re confident in our ability.”
Up against a strong Castres side placed at sixth in the French Top 14, Ward said of Saturday’s opponents: “It’s pretty standard with the French, isn’t it, to have eight big hard nutcases upfront.
“Playing against any French team is always tough, because they’re physical and they love getting in your face. But this is our patch, and we’ve got to have the mentality that ‘this is our turf, you’ve got to do it the hard way if you’re gonna get anything tonight’. We just need to do to them what they want to do to us.”
With the European Challenge Cup now the focal point of the Falcons’ campaign, he added: “To an extent the whole season hinges on Saturday, even though we do have league games after that, because this is our last chance to win a trophy.
“Castres have a great side when they have the ball, they’ve won most of their last five or six games and they’re going well in the league over there so they’re a very good side, but this is a huge game for us.”
South Stand tickets for the game are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60, or from Kingston Park in person. |
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