Lameck Juma reflects on Hornets debut

Rochdale Hornets outside back Lameck Juma says it was a special feeling making his debut for the club away at Batley Bulldogs last weekend in the Betfred Challenge Cup.

Juma joined the club less than two weeks ago, having previously spent the entirety of his career in the capital playing for London Skolars and London Broncos. 

He made his first Hornets start in last Sunday’s battling 30-14 defeat at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium but says there was cause to be optimistic for the season ahead, both personally and collectively as a group. 

On his debut, the tough-running 33-year-old said: "It was nice to get back out there playing, I really enjoyed it.

"The first half was really good. The boys dug in and stuck at it. [The result] slipped away a little bit, but it was a good game.

"It was good to have those supporters there too, pushing us on. Hearing their voices encourages you to do more. They travelled to be here, so we needed to give that back to them. 

"I thought [I was going over] too! I was just unfortunate that I missed out on a nice debut try.

"Hopefully they'll start coming when the season starts. It was good to play with the boys, get the ball and do my bit. 

“They made it easy for me because everyone knew what they were doing.”

There is not long left to wait before Juma makes his first Betfred League 1 appearance for the Hornets, with the season set to begin on Sunday 17 March with a trip to Midlands Hurricanes.