Rugby League News

First topic message reminder :

The dates and venues of the 4 nation's have been announced. They are -

Fri 28th Oct - Scotland v Australia - Craven park Hull.

Sun 30th Oct - England v New Zealand - John Smiths stadium Huddersfield.

Sat 5th Nov - England v Scotland & Australia v New Zealand - Ricoh Arena Coventry.

Fri 11th Nov - Scotland v New Zealand - Derwent Park Workington.

Sun 13th Nov - England v Australia - Olympic Park London.

Sun 20th Nov - final at Anfield Liverpool.

Yes,
congratulations to St Helens on winning, they now how to win big games.

Also Congratulations to.

Toulouse
on winning the Championship and getting promoted to SL next year, best team by a mile.

Workington
On winning and getting promoted to the championship. Great achievement, and with all 3 Cumbrian teams in the Championship, and Kells and Wrath Brow Hornets in there respective amature finals on Sunday, rl in Cumbria on the rise.

St Helens women's team
On there fairly dominant grand final win.

Huddersfield women's team,
Who won an exciting final to win the women's championship shield.

Wigan.

Have appointed Matty Peat (nope can't say I'd heard of him), to be there new head coach.

His assistant coaches will be Sean O'Loughlin and Lee Briers.

The England men's and women's games against France will be shown live on the BBC.

England Knights beat Jamacia 56-4, scoring 10 tries in an exciting performance by a side who's average age was 21. Though thought Jamaica where disappointing.

A couple of other internationals results from the weekend.

Wales men's wheelchair team beat the Irish 62-48.

And Ireland women's team beat Wales 26 -24, in there 1st ever women's international match.

Also well done to West Hull (shield final), and Thatto Heath (Grand final), on there respective wins in the amateur finals day.

England Team for Saturday;

Niall Evans
Tom Davies
Reece Lyne
Zak Hardaker
Tommy Makinson
Jonny Lomax
Jordan Abdul
Alex Walmsley
Paul McShane
Mike Cooper
John Bateman (C)
Liam Farrell
Morgan Knowles

Ben Currie
Kruise Leeming
Mikolaj Oledzki
Joe Philbin

Something of a scratch side but so be it. Hoping for a good entertaining game given the terrestrial television exposure.

James Webster leaves Featherstone. Speculation that Brian McDermott is in the running for the Coach's position, interesting times.

The England women's team beat the French women's team 40 -4. Being to strong and powerful for them.

The England men's team beat the French 30-10. After an excellent start which saw them 20-0 up after 18 minutes.

And Scotland and Jamaica fought out an exciting 30 - 30 draw. Including a brilliant Jamaica comeback from e0-10 down.

Regarding England I have heard some complaints over the performance. I am not sure what they expected to be honest, scratch team with ..8...9 likely players missing, one week and 3 training sessions to prepare for a one off game it was unlikely to be a classic.

Not sure where to start on this.

Ottawa Aces now confirm they won't be based in Canada and have chosen....Cornwall. I must say I am......puzzled at this.

Meanwhile Coventry Bears have re-branded as Midlands Hurricanes. Not relatively far from where I live (South Leicestershire), to be honest I am not that excited at this news.

There's been talk for years about Cornwall getting a team, based in Truro who are at some point building a new 10,000 stadium for there football club.
I'm actually not against this, never felt Ottawa was going to work. And think Cornwall has a better chance of success.

As for Coventry, personally feel that when you rebrand to an area rather than the city it takes something away from the club.


And also Catalan are in talks to take the Toulouse home derby game to ... Marseille and the velodrome stadium.
This I don't get, yes if it becomes established over a few years then fine taking it around the south of France. But for the first one, I feel sorry for the Catalan fans. And can think of better places (Montpellier just up the coast for example).

Congratulations to the Welsh wheelchair team on beating Scotland 70-34.

Featherstone have appointed Brian McDermott as there new head coach.

And

Salford have appointed Paul Rowley as there new head coach, with Kurt Haggerty and Danny Orr his assistants.

Is Paul Rowley's CV better than Richard Marshall's Ummmm.

Like the news about Cornwall getting a Rugby League club, especially as it's going to be based (for now) in Penryn which is the town I grew up in.

Will it work? Don't see how. There's very little appetite for professional sport as a whole in Cornwall. The Cornish Pirates in union safely ensconced as a second-tier rugby union side is doing decently, and Truro in seventh-tier football is about as high as they can go with the crowd numbers they have, but that's really the limit for both sides. There's little rugby league heritage in Cornwall so I imagine crowd numbers will be tiny, plus player recruitment will naturally be tough because Cornwall isn't the most accessible of places (Truro football club struggled with this a lot when they flirted with the dizzy-heights of sixth-tier football).

It also seems strange that other locations such as Glasgow and Birmingham were considered, but Cornwall came out on top. I guess regional identity and establishing a team like Catalans is the goal, ahead of a more forgiving location.

But I'll be interested to see how it develops and hope it works, despite many misgivings.

Thanks for that Duty.

From what I've heard, them and the pirates are going to have a close working relationship. And they are looking to be based out of Truro eventually when/if the rebuilding of the stadium happens.

As for if it will work, that depends on what you want. West Wales have been rubbish on the pitch, but are doing a great job in the community and getting young people interested in the sport, which in it's own way a success. It's going to be hard for the first few years, but if they can survive that I see no reason that they can't be a sustainable club battling on for promotion and succeed in other ways than just on the pitch. Which in many ways better than the Toronto type experiment. And to be honest more what the sport itself needs. To spread it's wings nor just on location, but on expanding and profiling the sport in new areas.
Your point about Catalans, they already had a club (UTC, who still play in the French Elite 1), and that area of France is a rugby league area, they just put in a super club (for want of a better word), to get into SL.
As for location, Glasgow might work, but given the mast majority it's 2 major clubs have. I couldn't see it being a long term success, Birmingham in my opinion would never work. Cornwall has the best chance in a strange way of not only succeeding but putting in long term roots and establishing the game for years to come.

Hopefully it becomes a London Skolars, North Wales etc type success.

I'll leave the geography to you guys (despite being born on the South Coast). I hope I am wrong and it is a massive success....I am not sure I see it.

Meanwhile Midlands Hurricanes have announced that they move from Coventry to Solihull from 2022.

SL magic weekend will be July 9/10 at St James park Newcastle (completely missing the original point that this was supposed to be a showcase of the sport in different areas).
It will include a Hull Derby, St Helens v Wigan, and Leeds Castleford amongst the fixtures.

LEIGH

Have got a new head coach, and it's Adrian Lam.

This is surprising, I fully expected him to go back to Australia after he left Wigan.

The world cup (which was changed from this year, to next year), games and venues have been announced.

WOMAN'S WORLD CUP


Group A - England, Papua New Guinea, Canada,Brazil.
Group B - Australia, New Zealand, France,Cook Islands.


Tues 1st Nov.
14.30 - England v Brazil.
17.00 - Papua New Guinea v Canada.
Both games are at Headingley Leeds.

Wed 2nd Nov.
17.00 - New Zealand v France.
19.30 - Australia v Cook Islands.
Both games are at LNER stadium York.

Sat 5th Nov.
12.00 - England v Canada - DW stadium Wigan.
17.00 - Papua New Guinea v Brazil - MKM Stadium Hull.

Both these games are double headers with men's games.

Sun 6th Nov.
17.00 - New Zealand v Cook Islands.
19.30 - Australia v France.
Both games are at LNER stadium York.

Wed 9th Nov.
17.00 - Canada v Brazil.
19.30 - England v Papua New Guinea.
Both games are at Headingley Leeds

Thurs 10th Nov.
17.00 - France v Cook Islands.
19.30 - Australia v New Zealand.
Both are at LNER stadium York.

Mon 14th Nov - Semi Finals
17.00 - Winner Group B v Runner up group A.
19.30 - Winner Group A v Runner up group B.
Both are at LNER stadium York.

Sat 19th Nov - Final.
13.15 - Winners of the semi finals.
Old Trafford Manchester.

This game is a double header with the men's final.

WHEELCHAIR WORLD CUP.

Group A - England, Australia, Spain & Norway.
Group B - France, Wales,Scotland & USA.


Thurs 3rd Nov.
17.00 - Spain v Norway.
19.30 - England v Australia.
Both are at the Copper Box arena London.

Fri 4th Nov.
11.00 - France v Wales.
13.30 - Scotland v USA.
Both are at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield.

Sun 6th Nov.
12.00 - England v Spain.
14.30 - Australia v Norway.
Both are at the Copper Box arena London.

Mon 7th Nov.
17.00 - France v Scotland.
19.30 - Wales v USA.
Both are at the English institute of sport Sheffield.

Wed 9th Nov.
11.00 - Australia v Spain.
13.30 - England v Norway.
Both are at the Copper Box arena London.

Thurs 10th Nov.
11.00 - France v USA.
13.30 - Wales v Scotland.
Both are at the English institute of sport Sheffield.

Sun 13th Nov - Semi Finals.
12.00 - Winner Group B v Runner up group A.
14.30 - Winner Group A v Runner up group B
Both are at the English institute of sport Sheffield.

Fri 18th Nov - Final.
Winners of the semi finals.
At Manchester Central Manchester.

MENS WORLD CUP.

Group A. England, Samoa, France, Greece.
Group B. Australia, Fiji, Scotland, Italy.
Group C. New Zealand, Lebanon, Jamaica, Ireland.
Group D. Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Wales, Cook Islands.


Sat 15th Oct.
14.30 - England v Samoa - St James park Newcastle.
19.30 - Australia v Fiji - Headingley Leeds.

Sun 16th Oct.
14.30 - Scotland v Italy - Kingston Park Newcastle.
17.00 - Jamaica v Ireland - Headingley Leeds.
19.30 - New Zealand v Lebanon - Halliwell Jones Warrington.

Mon 17th Oct.
19.30 - France v Greece - Keepmoat Std Doncaster.

Tues 18th Oct.
19.30 - Tonga v Papua New Guinea - Totally Wicked std St Helens.

Wed 19th Oct.
19.30 - Wales v Cook Islands - Leigh sports village Leigh.

Fri 21st Oct.
19.30 - Australia v Scotland - Rioch Arena Coventry.

Sat 22nd Oct
14.30 - Fiji v Italy - Kingston Park Newcastle.
17.00 - England v France - Uni of Bolton std Bolton.
19.30 - New Zealand v Jamaica - MKM Hull.

Sun 23rd Oct.
14.30 - Lebanon v Ireland - Leigh Sports Villiage Leigh.
17.00 - Samoa v Greece - Keepmoat Std Doncaster.

Mon 24th Oct.
19.30 - Tonga v Wales - Totally Wicked std St Helens.

Tues 25th Oct.
19.30 - Papua New Guinea v Cook Islands- Halliwell Jones Warrington.


Fri 28th Oct.
19.30 - New Zealand v Ireland - Headingley Leeds.


Sat 29th Oct.
14.30 - England v Greece - Bramell Lane Sheffield.
17.00 - Fiji v Scotland - Kingston Park Newcastle.
19.30 - Australia v Italy - Totally Wicked std St Helens.


Sun 30th Oct.
12.00 - Lebanon v Jamaica - Leigh Sports village Leigh.
14.30 - Tonga v Cook Islands - Riverside Middlesbrough.
17.00 - Samoa v France - Halliwell Jones Warrington.


Mon 31st Oct.
19.30 - Papua New Guinea v Wales - Keepmoat Std Doncaster.


QUARTER FINALS.

Fri 4th Nov -
19.30 - Winner Group B v Runner up group C.
John Smith std Huddersfield.

Sat 5th Nov.
14.30 - Winner Group A v Runner Group D.
DW std Wigan.
19.30 - Winner Group C v Runner Group B
Mkm std Hull.

SUN 6th Nov.
14.30 - Winner Group D v Runner Group A.
Uni of Bolton std Bolton.


SEMI FINAL.

Fri 11th Nov.
19.45 - Winner QF 1 v Winner QF 3.
Elland Rd Leeds.

Sat 12th Nov.
14.30 - Winner QF 2 v Winner QF 4.
Emirates stadium London.


FINAL.

Sat 19th Nov.
16.00 - Winner sf 1 v Winner sf 2.
Old Trafford Manchester.

Wow there is good news, really good news IMHO. Channel 4 will show 10 live SL games next season.

Channel Four SL Coverage

A win/win for me, more exposure on terrestrial television. For Sky and the clubs more watching will hopefully result in more interest, ticket and satellite dish sales.

Former St. Helens and Hull KR full back Adam Quinlan has announced his retirement.

Tv games, they have only announced till the 1st weekend of June (Which they always do). But these are the tv games till then.

RD1
Thurs 10th Feb - St Helens v Catalans - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 11th Feb - Hull KR v Wigan - 8pm - Sky.
Sat 12th Feb - Leeds v Warrington - 12.30pm - C4.
Sat 12th Feb - Toulouse v Huddersfield - 8pm - Sky.

RD2
Thurs 17th Feb - Warrington v Castleford - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 18th Feb - Wigan v Leeds - 8pm - Sky.
Sun 19th Feb - Hull FC v St Helens - 12.30pm - C4.

RD3
Thurs 24th Feb - Leeds v Catalans - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 25th Feb - Hull KR v Castleford - 8pm Sky.

RD4
Thurs 3rd March - Wakefield v Leeds - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 4th March - Warrington v Catalans - 8pm - Sky.

RD5
Thurs 10th March - Leeds v Hull FC - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 11th March - St Helens v Warrington -8pm - Sky.
Sat 12th March - Huddersfield v Castleford - 3pm - Sky.

RD6
Thurs 17th March - Wigan v Castleford - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 18th March - Salford v Leeds - 8pm - Sky.
Sat 19th March - Warrington v Wakefield -12.30pm - C4.

RD7
Thurs 31st March - Wigan v Hull FC - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 1st April - Leeds v St Helens - 8pm - Sky.

RD8
Thurs 14th April - Catalans v Toulouse - 8.30pm - Sky
Gd Fri 15th April - Hull KR v Hull FC - 12.30 - Sky.
Gd Fri 15th April - St Helens v Wigan - 3pm - Sky.

RD9.
Bnk Hol Mon 18th April - Castleford v Leeds - 3pm - Sky.
Bnk Hol Mon 18th April - Hull FC v Warrington - 5.30pm - Sky.

RD10
Fri 22nd April - Castleford v St Helens - 8pm - Sky.
Sun 24th April - Wigan v Salford - 1pm - C4.
Sun 24th April - Hull FC v Catalans - 6.45 pm - Sky.


RD11
Thurs 28th April - Wakefield v Huddersfield - 8pm - Sky.
Fri 29th April - Warrington v Wigan - 8pm - Sky.


RD12 no games have been announced

RD13 one game has been announced
Thurs 19th may - Warrington v St Helens - 8pm - Sky.

RD14 One game has been announced
Fri 3rd June - Warrington v Leeds - 8pm- Sky.




I'm so glad that I get to see Leeds 8 out of the first 9rds (rd 8 being the odd one out), despite the fact they haven't been good for at least 4 years. I thought they might have had to share the games around, but it good sky doesn't see that (This might be a little bit sarcastic).

Also how come Rovers who had a great season playing good rugby are on 2 out of the first 3 weeks. Then only on in the derby, yet Hull who have been poor for at least 2/3 years are on sky 5 times including 4 weeks in a row.

Dane Chisholm (Featherstone) has been banned for 8 games for allegedly making a derogatory remark to a physio.

Following some rumours and fines last year the RFL announce that clubs unable to fulfil fixtures this coming season will forfeit matches to the tune of 48 - 0. There is also a possibility of misconduct and compensation payments to the opposition club.

France are set to be announced as hosts of the 2025 World Cup.

The RFL confirm scrums will return for the 2022 season.

The championship starts this weekend.

And in a great bit of news for it, it has been confirmed that premier sport has signed a 2 year deal for there broadcasting rights. Current plans is for at least 1 game a week (mainly a Monday night slot), starting this Monday with York v Featherstone.

Also the summer bash will be at Headingley. This to me is a missed opportunity. With the buzz in Cumbria why not Carlisle, or Preston, or Plymouth, Or pretty much anywhere where there isn't an established to side. Use it for what the magic weekend was supposed to be, a showcase of the sport to new fans.

A great start to the season as regards crowds.
Keep up the good work clubs and keep the crowds coming

The big news,
Is that the rfl and SL are to form a new joint venture company that will handle all the games commercial asserts, and split the profits between the rfl and the leagues.

All I can say, it's about bloody time.

Luke wrote:The big news,
Is that the rfl and SL are to form a new joint venture company that will handle all the games commercial asserts, and split the profits between the rfl and the leagues.

All I can say, it's about bloody time.

Indeed. Both need to think of the game first and not their egos.

Leeds new Head Coach is Rohan Smith who has signed a 3.5 year contract at Headingley.

Aside from the obvious disappointments and concerns when Bradford were liquidated I have always felt somewhat robbed. Smith had taken over mid-season and I was very much looking forward to see how he moved the team forward with a pre-season. I also really did not understand why Andrew Chalmers did not seemingly offer him an opportunity to continue his work.

As you will gather I am slightly jealous, I have always hoped Rohan would find a way back to Odsal.

Good luck to him and the Rhinos, I do think the fans might have to show some patience but given time I think he will be an excellent appointment.

Zak Hardaker has bern sacked by Wigan.

Next destination is going to be interesting, given the amount of off field problems he has had.

Luke wrote:Zak Hardaker has bern sacked by Wigan.

Next destination is going to be interesting,  given the amount of off field problems he has had.

I can only really imagine a short term deal i.e. for this season being offered.

The Combined all stars initial squad has been announced. They are playing England in the mid season game, on sat 18th june, at Warrington's Halliwell Jones stadium. It is

Jake Connor, Joe Lovodua, Manu Ma'u, Ligi Sao, Chris Satae, Carlos Tuimavave (Hull FC).
Kenny Edwards, Jake Mamo (Castleford).
Jai Field (Wigan).
David Fifita, Tom Johnstone, Mason Lino, Kelepi Tanginoa (Wakefield).
Ben Garcia, Sam Kasiano, Semisoni Langi, Mitchell Pearce (Catalans).
Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Kane Linnett (Hull KR).
Tim Laifai, Ken Sio (Salford).
Ricky Leutele, Danny Levi, Tui Lolohea, Luke Yates (Huddersfield).
Peter Mata'utia (Warrington).
Rhyse Martin, Matt Prior, Zane Tetvano (Leeds).


No this is in no way going to be the side. But I'd go with

Field
Sio, Mamo, Kenny-Dowall, Johnstone.
Pearce,Lino.
Satae, Levi, Martin.
Ma'u, Edwards,
Connor.


Lovodua, Prior, Kasiano, Yates.

The Beast wrote:

Luke wrote:Zak Hardaker has bern sacked by Wigan.

Next destination is going to be interesting,  given the amount of off field problems he has had.

I can only really imagine a short term deal i.e. for this season being offered.  

It's Leeds, possibly straight in v Rovers on Friday.

So not only does Head coach John Kear leave Bradford by mutual consent.

But Simon Finnegan leaves Widnes.

Luke wrote:So not only does Head coach John Kear leave Bradford by mutual consent.

But Simon Finnegan leaves Widnes.

Jumped before they were pushed looks better on the CV

London Broncos have "parted company" with Head coach Jermaine Coleman.

The Beast wrote:London Broncos have "parted company" with Head coach Jermaine Coleman.

They have had a terrible start to the season for them.
Rumour suggesting Andrew Henderson to take over

George Hotel1895 wrote:

The Beast wrote:London Broncos have "parted company" with Head coach Jermaine Coleman.

They have had a terrible start to the season for them.
Rumour suggesting Andrew Henderson to take over

Not happening. Henderson has signed a new 2 year deal to stay head of rugby at Keighley.

Dewsbury sack head coach Lee Greenwood after a bad start to the season, his last game a 66 - 0 hiding at Fax.

Massive congratulations to Sean O'Loughlin on receiving the OBE in the Queens Jubliee list. Dull deserved as had a magnificent career (hated him as a player though).

Luke wrote:Massive congratulations to Sean O'Loughlin on receiving the OBE in the Queens Jubliee list. Dull deserved as had a magnificent career (hated him as a player though).

I will second that (didn't hate him though!!)

Widnes appoint John Kear as head coach from 1st July to the end of the 2023 season. Good appointment IMO, they appear to be in free fall, the perfect man to steady the ship.

In the NRL,
2 coaches have lost tbere jobs. As Michael Maguire (wests), and Nathan Brown (New Zealand Warriors) are both sacked on the same day.