Cougars centre Hamish Barnes believes his promotion-chasing side will continue to build a head of steam as they seek to put Oxford to the sword for the second time in eight days.

Paul March’s men breezed into the iPro Sport Cup semi-final with a resounding 54-14 home win over Oxford on Sunday, setting up a trip to London Skolars on the weekend of April 30-May 1.

Cougars now face Oxford again on home soil in league combat this Sunday as they bid to underline their title pedigree.

Head coach March brought in over half a dozen new faces during the off-season but Barnes believes they are beginning to gel and another win over Oxford would mark a third straight success since the Challenge Cup exit at York

Jamaica international Barnes said: “It has been a bit of a mixed start to the season for us but it’s still early and we’ve got a lot of new players, so we’ll get better every week.

“We will definitely up there come the end of the season, without a shadow of a doubt.

“Losing to York in the Challenge Cup was a massive boot up the backside for us in terms of our attitude and turning up with the right mindset to get the job done.

“We’ve proved that we can do it when we turn up with the right attitude and we just need to make sure that we do that every week regardless of who we are playing.

“We will definitely be in the final of the iPro Sport Cup and will have a very good chance of winning it.

“I’m confident we will be there battling right to the end for promotion as well.”

Cougars are overwhelming favourites to see off Oxford again but Barnes is taking nothing for granted.

The Halifax lad added: “We let in three silly tries that we weren’t happy about last week, but it was a cup competition, so it doesn’t matter how you win – it’s just about getting through to the next round.

“I think this weekend will be a different game and our focus is on stopping them from scoring.

“At the other end, we want to score as many points as we can but not through chasing the game – it’s about wearing them down and then running in tries towards the end of the game.”

Barnes will start a new full-time job working as a gardener for Calderdale Council on Monday and is delighted with how he has started the season.

He said: “I’ve played in every game so far and scored a few tries, so I’m just enjoying playing every week and getting that consistency.

“There has been increased competition this season, but now that I’m in, I’ve just got to work even harder to stay in.

“I’ve just got a permanent job as a gardener looking after parks which I start on Monday.

“It’s 8am to 4.30pm and then I’m over to Keighley for training three times a week and then play at the weekend.”