Steve Hossack with his latest offerings on Doncaster RLFC
Doncaster RLFC head coach Richard Horne remains the player with the longest sequence of tries in Super League.
Dons' coach Richard Horneplaceholder image
Dons' coach Richard Horne | DRLFC/X
The former Hull FC and Great Britain half-back scored a try in 11 consecutive league games in the 2006 season, during which he helped the Black & Whites reach the Super League Grand Final where they beaten by St Helens in front of 72,000 crowd at Old Trafford.
His long-standing record had looked to be under threat in recent weeks due to Leeds Rhinos’ Fijian winger Maika Sivo’s scoring exploits. But Sivo, who had scored in his last ten appearances, failed to touch down in the Rhinos’ win away to Catalans Dragons on Saturday evening – despite the frantic efforts of his team-mates in the closing stages.
Horne is listed ninth in the club’s list of top try-scorers – a list topped by another Hull FC legend to coach the Dons, But whereas the late Clive Sullivan MBE - the last man to captain Great Britain to World Cup glory - lasted just one season in charge in the early 80s in his first player-coach role, Horne recently celebrated his ninth season in charge of the Dons.
Not only is Horne the club’s longest-serving head coach, but of the current crop of team bosses in the Super League and Championship only Barrow’s Paul Crarey has been in post longer.
Horne will celebrate his 44th birthday this week and he will be hoping for an extra birthday present in the form of two points from Sunday’s Betfred Championship clash against lowly Swinton Lions at Heywood Road where his charges will be looking to bounce back from a 68-18 defeat against unbeaten leaders London Broncos at the Kuflink Stadium on Saturday evening.
The size of the defeat will have surprised many who follow the Championship, as it did the Doncaster coaching staff, given the Dons’ form going into the game. But on the night against the full-time Broncos their try-line defence fell well short of the standard set against Halifax and Widnes, as did their handling – areas Horne hopes will be much improved at the weekend.
Having beaten the Lions, who have adopted a policy of living within their means in the last couple of seasons, 74-6 at the Eco-Power Stadium in late March – winger Edene Gebbie scoring a hat-trick - the sixth-placed Dons will be looking to complete another double and boost their points difference.
Victory in the last of a run of five consecutive away games would give the Dons a haul of eight points on their travels and keep their top-four hopes alive going into the closing weeks of the regular season during which period they have a run of home games starting with the visit of Batley Bulldogs on Friday week.
Continue Reading