Ally’s Hoppers ready to make a big leap and climb higher

■By GEORGE WELLBELOVE

Preston Grasshoppers captain Ally Murray

ONE-club man Ally Murray has had a rugby career that most locals would only dream of.

The Preston Grasshoppers captain is on the verge of an astonishing 300 appearances for the National Two North side.

Murray has seen the club through all sorts, from relegation to what was then known as the Northern Premier League to securing their latest promotion back to the National Leagues in 2022.

He told The Rugby Paper: “No matter where you go across the north of England, even across England, people know who Preston Grasshoppers are.

“I think it’s massively important that a club of this size, even for the National Leagues, is in their third year of this league.

“Indeed, we could be in the league above, considering the size of this club. We’re running six men’s teams and a women’s team, in fact sometimes two women’s teams. We then have over 500 kids on a Sunday morning in our minis and juniors section which is massively important.”

The Lancashire club has had many notable players on its books in the past ,from World Cup winners Paul Grayson, Will Greenwood and Iain Balshaw, as well as current England head coach Steve Borthwick.

Grasshoppers have had a mixed season so far and with only a handful of matches remaining, the club came into this weekend in 11th place and only nine points off relegation.

Murray said: “I don’t think anyone can be complacent, and there’s certainly no complacency from our point of view. I think to change things, we need to trust each other a little bit more, both in attack and defence.

“We need to try and cut out the silly errors. We double up on errors sometimes. So, we’ll knock the ball on, and then we’ll give a penalty away and then give a score away from a driving maul.

“It’s frustrating as it’s individual errors that are costing us.

“Before the season we set ourselves a challenge of sixth place. Now I think that is a little bit out of the realms of possibility, unfortunately. But looking at the teams we’ve got left to play, they are all teams that we’ve beaten during the last two campaigns apart from Sheffield and Chester. So we’re quietly confident that we will be alright.”

Despite Preston’s relative shortcomings, there has been a shining light in their season. Hooker Harry Holden is right in the race for top scorer in the league, with 16 tries.

Murray added: “He’s like any hooker. He gets himself at the back of a maul, lets everybody else do their job and then just gets the ball down! Harry is the epitome of what every National Two League player we play is or should be. He’s hard working. He’s fit, strong and fast.

“He had a great back end of last year and then a really solid pre-season and has reaped the rewards since. I really enjoy spending time with him, he’s a top bloke and he deserves everything he gets.”