North Wales Crusaders v Salford. 

I must admit I feel really sad for the way things have gone so far this season in North Wales. After a terrific season in 2025 where they were crowned League one Champions things have gone from bad to worse. I don’t really want to delve deep into the politics of the situation but I’d like to wish the North Wales Crusaders the very best of luck going into the future. Players, supporters and the people running the club must be finding it very difficult. They conceded over 100 points in defeat last week and I don’t think anyone wants to see teams going through that. 

People might disagree and talk about liquidation and phoenix clubs but for this preview I am going to refer to the Crusaders from when they started as Celtic in 2005. Salford had a very competitive season with them in 2008 as both sides sought promotion to Super League. Since they became North Wales in time for the 2012 season Salford are yet to meet them in a competitive match. We did have a pre-season game booked in a number of years ago but that didn’t take place due to a weather postponement. 

Looking back to the last couple of seasons the Crusaders made fantastic progress under coach Carl Forster. Salford have a large contingent of players that worked under Forster and they all speak very highly of the work and team he built. Forster left shortly after being named League One coach of the year at the end of the 2025 season to take up a coaching position with Bradford.

Looking back to last Sunday, what a magnificent comeback in the final quarter of the match at Halifax. A very influential performance from young on loan half back George Whitby gave us a very unlikely but very welcome victory. I really enjoyed the whole day. My youngest daughter doesn’t have any interest in Rugby League but she joined me and our Imogen for the trip to Halifax. We arrived in the town centre around dinner time and went for a coffee. It’s a short walk from there to the ground and on that walk I got chatting to a Fax supporter who was probably a similar age to my dad. We chatted about our clubs and the state of the sport in general. We both seemed relieved that we still had clubs to support. Neither of us had over optimistic expectations for our clubs we were just happy to be on the journey. As we arrived at the ground we shook hands and wished each other all the best. 

It took me back to the 80s when I was a young lad with my dad. He’d always make a friend with an opposing supporter. The camaraderie made it special, I soaked everything up like a sponge back then and that’s perhaps why I lover our club and sport so much. I think a lot of that good will gets lost in the bright lights and razzmatazz of the Super League. The Championship is very raw. People seem to have a lot more honest and loyal support for their respective teams. 

Full away record.

Crusaders 3

Draws 0

Salford 2

*We are yet to meet North Wales Crusaders. 

2011 Celtic Crusaders 18 Salford 22

2010 Celtic Crusaders 60 Salford 16

2009 Celtic Crusaders 25 Salford 12

2008 Celtic Crusaders 20 Salford 10

2008 Celtic Crusaders 20 Salford 36 (Rail Cup Semi Final).

They played for both.

Here is a selection of players from both Celtic Crusaders and North Wales Crusaders that have played for Salford.

Steve Bannister, Adam Clay, Shaun Costello, Alex Davidson, Carl Forster, Matty Gee, Andy Gorski, Cole Oakley, Dec Patton, Toby Hughes, Gil Dudson, Weller Hauraki, Elliot kear, Tommy Lee, Gareth Price, Steve Tyrer, Rhys Williams, Joe Baldwin, Owain Abel and Jack Holmes.

A match to remember Saturday 14th June 2008.

Northern Rail Cup semi final. 

Celtic Crusaders 20 Salford 36.

It was a fair old car journey down to Bridgend in South Wales. On this particularly Saturday the sun was blaring and it was very warm indeed. 

The two sides had met a month earlier in a very bad tempered match at The Willows. Salford came from behind in that match to win a thriller 24-22. 

In the previous round of the Rail Cup Salford had won at Post office Road Featherstone in a very impressive victory 12-30. Celtic had thumped Widnes in the previous round 50-18. 

This match would have made a very good final but the draw had put both sides together in this semi final for a place in the final at Bloomfield Road Blackpool.

Salford were on the back foot in the early stages and were hammered in the penalty count by referee Gareth Hewer. The Reds were patient and clinical with the ball though and their pace on the edges did the damage in a frantic first half to go in leading at the break 10-18.

Jordan James and Malcom Alker carried on from where they left off in the previous meeting. Both players were aggressive and tried to get the better of each other in a bruising forward battle. Alker was everywhere, he tackled hard and ran from dummy half at every opportunity. Paul White scored two tries with Celtic having no answer to White’s blistering pace. Young half back Ritchie Myler scored a brace whilst John Wilshire bagged twenty points with two tries and six conversions. Wilshire’s goal kicking would prove vital as the season progressed and in particular when these two sides met in the Grand Final.

Salford met Doncaster in the Rail Cup final and won that match 60-0. It’s hard to believe it’s almost eighteen years ago.

The teams that day,

Celtic, Tony Duggan, Paul Ballard, Josh Hannay, Dalle Court, Dyer, Quinn, Lennon, James, Budworth, Dean, Beasley, Mapp, Wyatt.

Subs, Webster, Summers, Blackwood, Tangata-Toa.

Salford, Wilshire, Gardner, Littler, Bannister, White, Hunter-Paul, Myler, Nash, Alker, Stapleton, Sidlow, Adamson, Turner. 

Subs, Leuluai, Ratchford, Walton, Highton. 

Attendance, 1,760.

Referee, Gareth Hewer.

Sunday’s match.

Another exciting away day awaits this Sunday with a trip to Colwyn Bay. The Crusaders neat stadium is right by the seaside which promises to add plenty of enjoyment for the travelling supporters. I think it’s probably the first time this season that Salford will go into this game as favourites. We may have had the edge over Swinton at Easter and possibly the favourites tag for the trip to Hammersmith but going off the current circumstances the Crusaders are really struggling. Since the end of last season and throughout the first few months of 2026 they’ve lost almost 30 players with a fair chunk of those arriving at Salford. Widnes, Swinton, Leigh, Rochdale, Hunslet, Bradford, Dewsbury and Oldham have all recruited players from the Crusaders mid-season leaving the Welsh side with a very inexperienced group of players for new coach Sean Long and his assistant Mark Fisher to work with. 

Results recently have been really tough, last week they conceded 110 points at Batley and that’s the second time they’ve let in over 100 points this season with London scoring 106 in the capital at the end of February. 

For Salford though they need to just concentrate on their own game and be professional about it. The result will then look after itself. Despite lasts week’s victory Salford still showed plenty of vulnerability and that game could quite easily of ended up in a big defeat. Being favourites adds it’s own bit of extra pressure that maybe some of our players are yet to deal with in their short careers. 

The action gets under way at 3pm

Safe travels and enjoy the game.

Paul Whiteside. 

Big thanks to Steve McCormick for the photos and the Salford match day programme.