Rugby League news

Gareth Ellis has said he will make a decision on which team he will join before the end of March , his agent has said they have had offers from several clubs but have narrowed it down to 4 teams ...while he did not mention which clubs they were they are believed to be Leeds , Hull FC , Huddersfield and Warrington .

Catalan Dragons have denied Hull KR permission to train on the Stade Gilbert Brutus pitch before saturdays Superleague game , rules state it is the home teams choice if they allow visiting teams to use their pitches or not . Catalans have told Rovers to train elsewhere which hasn't gone down well with them , odd decision from the Dragons as they usually allow all visiting teams to use their facilities .

Ryan Bailey has been given a 3 match ban and a £300 fine for pushing a match official during Leeds Rhinos game against Warrington Wolves , Brent Webb was also fined £300 and given a verbal warning for the same offence in the same incident . Warringtons Mickey Higham received a 2 match ban for a high tackle on Rob Burrow in the same game .

Bradfords Jarrod Sammut was given a 1 match ban for a dangerous tackle against Hull KR , Hull FC prop Mark O'Melley was also given a 1 match ban for a dangerous tackle in Hulls game against St Helens .

SALFORD have offered Stuart Howarth a 3 year contract, with him having previously only signed a 1 year deal.

Brett Hodgson who is in the final year of his contract at Warrington, has said that he wants to stay in SL weather at Wire or someone else.

Mike Rush who has taken temporary charge at St Helens has said he does not want the job on a fulltime basis , he has stated his wish to carry on in his development role with the club which has seen him help bring through the likes of Lomax , Roby and Graham .

Huddersfield have said coach Nathan Brown will remain in charge for the rest of the season dispite bookmakers making him the favourite to take over at St Helens . Brown steps down as head coach of Huddersfield at the end of this season to be replaced by his assistant Paul Anderson .

Sorry i can't remember details like channel or for how long, anyway.

The RFL have agreed a deal with an American tv company for RL to be broadcast on there channel, this will cover SL, play offs, the grand final & the challange cup (i'm not sure about internationals), oh and the NRL as well i think.
This will enable RL to reach about 40 million homes in the USA.

Clint Greenshields will leave Catalan Dragons at the end of the season to return to Australia , no news on which club he will join at present .

Cardiff's Millenium Stadium will host the open 2 games of the 2013 World Cup , co-hosts Wales will play Italy followed on the same day by England versus Australia
Other Groups and Games
Headingley and Warrington's enlarged Halliwell Jones Stadium are the other quarter-final venues.

World Cup groups:

A: England, Australia, Ireland, Fiji (three to qualify)
B: New Zealand, France, Papua New Guinea, Samoa (three to qualify)
C: Scotland, Tonga, Italy (one to qualify)
D: Wales, United States, Cook Islands (one to qualify)

2013 World Cup fixtures and venues:

Group A:

England v Australia - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Fiji v Ireland - Spotland Stadium, Rochdale
England v Ireland - Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield
Australia v Fiji - Langtree Park, St Helens
England v Fiji - KC Stadium, Hull
Australia v Ireland - Thomond Park, Limerick

Group B:

France v Papua New Guinea - MS3 Craven Park, Hull
New Zealand v Samoa - Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
France v New Zealand - Parc des Sports, Avignon
Samoa v Papua New Guinea - MS3 Craven Park, Hull
New Zealand v Papua New Guinea - Headingley Carnegie, Leeds
France v Samoa - Gilbert Brutus Stadium, Perpignan

Group C:

Scotland v Tonga - Pow Beck Stadium, Whitehaven
Scotland v Italy - Pow Beck Stadium, Whitehaven
Tonga v Italy - The Shay, Halifax

Group D:

Cook Islands v USA - The Memorial Stadium, Bristol
Wales v USA - Glyndwr University Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Wales v Cook Islands - The Gnoll, Neath

Group C/D:

Wales v Italy - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Tonga v Cook Islands - Leigh Sports Village
Scotland v USA - City of Salford Community Stadium

Quarters-finals:

Winner A v winner D - Glyndwr University Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Runner-up A v 3rd place B - DW Stadium, Wigan
Winner B v winner C - Headingley Carnegie, Leeds
Runner-up B v 3rd place A - Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington

Semi-finals:

Winner of quarter-final 1 v winner quarter-final 4 (venue to be announced)
Winner of quarter-final 2 v winner of quarter-final 3 (venue to be announced)

Final:

Venue to be announced.

The BBC have signed a new contract to be the principal broadcaster of the Rugby League Challenge Cup until 2016 .

There are rumours going around Castleford that Hull FC have bought centre Joe Arundel from the Tigers for a sum of £100,000.

Hope it isn't true (as a Cas fan) but feels like the Tigers are going backwards more than going forwards.

A friend of the family works at FC and Arundel is a player they are looking at , dont think anything is signed though .

Heard Arundell requested to be on the same/similar contract that Shenton was on but Cas have denied his request. Not sure how much truth is any of it.

Challenge Cup Full Fourth Round Draw

London Broncos v Dewsbury Rams

Widnes Vikings v St Helens

Leeds Rhinos v Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Whitehaven v Salford City Reds

Featherstone Rovers v Castleford Tigers

Hull FC v Huddersfield Giants

Wigan v North Wales Crusaders

Swinton Lions v Gateshead Thunder

Hull Kingston Rovers v Catalan Dragons

Bradford Bulls v Doncaster

South Wales Scorpians v Halifax

York City Knights v Sheffield Eagles

Keighley Cougars v Warrington Wolves

Leigh Centurians v Rochdale Hornets

Oldham v Barrow Raiders

Hunslet Hawks v Batley Bulldogs

Ben Westwood banned for one match after admitting striking in the Wigan Warrington game , Epalahame Lauaki banned for 2 games for making a dangerous tackle in the same game .
Widnes's Hep Cahill banned for one match for striking in the Widnes v London game

Paul Sykes has joined Wakefield on loan from Bradford .

Warrington are understood to be intrested in Bradford's John Bateman, who made his debut for Bradford this season, and is the England academy captain, but who hasn't commited to the club beyond 2013.

Vultures circling Bradford , Hull FC intrested in taking both Elliott Whitehead and Jason Crookes

For the first time, both sky & the bbc will be screening challange cup games this season. The first games will be on sat 28th. With Sky Sports 1 showing the Featherstone v Castleford derby from post office road at 3pm. Followed immediatly by the Widnes v St Helens game on BBC2.

The RFL has announced that the 2nd England v The Exiles game will be held at the Galpharm Stadium Huddersfield, on Wed the 4th of July 7.45pm kick off. Prices are from £21 (£10 concessions). The 1st had already been confirmed as being played at Langtree Park St Helens on Saturday the 16th June, with a kick off time of 6.45pm. Tickets cost £18 (£9 concession) for standing & £21 (£10) seating.
Tickets are now on general sale for both games and can be purchased through the RFL ticket office on 0844 856 1113, or at rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk.

Lee Radford registered to play in Hull derby

Bradfords John Bateman banned for 2 games , St Helens pair Paul Wellens and Adam Laffranchi both banned for one game and will missed fridays derby with Wigan .

Hull KR have selected both Blake Green and Ben Galea in their 19 man squad for fridays Hull derby .

Ref Thierry Albert has been banned for one game. After allowing a try on the 7th tackle for the 2nd time this season.

tigerrobins wrote:Ref Thierry Albert has been banned for one game. After allowing a try on the 7th tackle for the 2nd time this season.

Good old Uncle Albert. He has improved a lot in the last year or two but he was very poor when he started off. I hope he doesnt let anyone else score on the 7th tackle or he will be sacked.

dublfcynwa wrote:

tigerrobins wrote:Ref Thierry Albert has been banned for one game. After allowing a try on the 7th tackle for the 2nd time this season.

Good old Uncle Albert. He has improved a lot in the last year or two but he was very poor when he started off. I hope he doesnt let anyone else score on the 7th tackle or he will be sacked.

To be honest, i actually don't mind him, and think there are alot worse refs in SL (Childs,Hicks). And have seen some very good calls/games when he refs.
But when he makes a mistake, he nearly always makes a big one.

Bradfords Heath l'Estrange has been banned for 2 games, after his dangerous/stupid spear tackle during the win against Leeds.

The RFL has opened an investigation into crowd trouble at the Wakefield v Castleford game last friday .
Incidents occured both inside and outside the ground and the RFL wants to see how this was handled .

Widnes Vikings release hooker Scott Moore

Widnes Vikings have allowed hooker Scott Moore to leave the club with immediate effect.

The Super League outfit released a statement confirming the news on Thursday, but have not disclosed a reason for Moore's departure.

The 24-year-old left St Helens to sign a three-year deal with the Vikings at the end of last season.

Moore was one of three Widnes players suspended for a breach of club discipline in February.

He made his last appearance for the Vikings in Monday's 38-4 home defeat to Bradford.

A club statement read: "By mutual agreement, Scott Moore will leave Widnes Vikings with immediate effect. The club will not be making any further comment on this matter."

Exciles Squad to face England

Exiles: Anthony Laffranchi, Francis Meli, Lance Hohaia, Tony Puletua, Sia Soliola (all St Helens), Antonio Kaufusi, Michael Robertson (both London Broncos), Brett Delaney (Leeds), Brett Finch, George Carmont, Thomas Leuluai, Jeff Lima, Pat Richards (all Wigan), Brett Hodgson (capt), Trent Waterhouse, Joel Monaghan, Michael Monaghan (all Warrington), Clint Greenshields, Lopini Paea, Louis Anderson, Darryl Millard, Scott Dureau, Setaimata Sa (all Catalan Dragons), David Fa'aologo, Jason Chan, Luke O'Donnell (all Huddersfield), Heath L'Estrange (Bradford), Jake Webster (Hull KR), Joel Moon (Salford), Willie Manu (Hull).

Leeds have taken Shaun Lunt on loan from Huddersfield for the rest of the season .

SALFORD

Luke Patten has announced his retirement from playing at the end of this season.

WIGAN

Amos Roberts has announced his immediate retirement from the game. This is because of his failing to recover from a knee injury.

According to reports in France, Bradford coach Mick Potter (whos contract runs out this year), is being heavely linked with the French national coach's position.

Rovers fans will be delighted to hear that Big Wille came of the bench for Newcastle yesterday and the crowd cheered. I wonder if they will be cheering him come the end of the season.

George Hotel1895 wrote:Rovers fans will be delighted to hear that Big Wille came of the bench for Newcastle yesterday and the crowd cheered. I wonder if they will be cheering him come the end of the season.

I dont think they will be , do you ?

Not Really Kenny, but questions have to be asked at your club why you signed Big Willie when you did. Who's idea was it to sign for your club?

It was a board decision apparantley after being put forward by Hudgell and Morgan , from what i have heard it was more about Willie Mason 'the name' rather then Willie Mason the player a kind of way of upping the clubs profile .

Well that worked but in all the wrong ways , a dark few months in the clubs history and i dont think they will going down that road again

To be honest Kenny i got the reply from you that i wanted. Morgans gone, Hudgell is still there and like with the signing of Mason and his recent commets about Rugby League i do question Hudgell's judgement. Obviously he's your club chairman and you understandly will defend him, but his pushing to the limit the quota rules really annoyed me, and i think you know what i mean by that, and Mason was a classic example.

Hudgell took over at Rovers atv a time when things were not going to well , he has done a lot of very good things in helping getting us into Superleague and then keeping us there .
However i do also think he has done a few things that were not very well thought out , the Mason saga being one of them also he became to friendly with Morgan which clouded his judgement imo .

I do think that with Sandercock being brought in that the clubs direction on players is changing there will obviously still be quota and non quota players signed but there have been more home grown players used this season which is good news for the future .

On the other side of the City , Wade McKinnon has left Hull FC after only 10 games to return back to Australia . McKinnon only joined Hull at the start of the season signing a 3 year deal but has not settled in the UK .
Unless Hull sign a replacement before this weekends game against Leeds , they will be without a recognised fullback .

KingKenny7Heaven wrote:On the other side of the City , Wade McKinnon has left Hull FC after only 10 games to return back to Australia . McKinnon only joined Hull at the start of the season signing a 3 year deal but has not settled in the UK .
Unless Hull sign a replacement before this weekends game against Leeds , they will be without a recognised fullback .

Just been announced on Hulls website that they have signed Wigans promising 18 year old fullback Mathew Russell on an intial one month loan

John Bateman (Bradford) banned for 3 games for "dangerous tackle" on Brett Hodgson during Saturday's Cup game at Warrington.

Keith Senior has announced he is 4 - 6 weeks away from starting full training , he has been offered a pay as you play contract by Leeds , but has also previously spoken to Hull KR .

WIDNES

Have released Anthony Watts, with immediate effect. A week after giving him a new contract!

FRENCH RFL

This years Championship final, will be contested between Carcassonne & Pia. This Saturday (12th), at the Narbonne Stadium.
In a quirk of fate, the final of the coupe de France, will also be between these 2 sides, at the same venue, 8 days later (sunday 20th).

Micheal Dobson has ended rumours of him returning to Australia by saying he is fully commited to Hull KR and will see out the 3 years on his contract

Shannon McDonell has turned down a new 2 year contract at Hull KR confirming he will leave at the end of this season .

Bradford chairman Peter Hood has left the club .

Wigan winger Amos Roberts has been forced to retire due to injury .

Gareth Raynor has also retired from professional rugby .

tigerrobins wrote:WIDNES

Have released Anthony Watts, with immediate effect. A week after giving him a new contract!.

Further news on the Anthony Watts Widnes saga , it has come to light that Watts was arrested 2 days after he was offered the new contract .... he was arrested for assault and drunken behaviour and whem searched was discovered to have a small bag of cocaine on him . Which explains why Widnes released him .

Leeds confirm Brent Webb will leave at the end of this season

HULL KR

Ben Galea has made a u-turn on his decision to retire at the end of this year, saying that he would like to play on for a futher year at Rovers.

Horrible news regarding Adrian Purtell, Bradford centre.

http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/purtell-suffers-heart-attack/2571875.aspx

Thoughts with him and his family.

Leeds confirm Brent Webb will leave at the end of this season

The French arm of the Al-Jazeera tv channel will begin it screening of RL games with this weekends Catalan Wigan game. After this it will show all Catalan games, plus 1 other SL game a week, and the rest of the state of origin series.

CASTLEFORD
Ryan Mcgoldrick has announced he will be leaving the club at the end of the season, no news as to where.

BRADFORD
Who in march, announced that they were £1 million in debt and need £500,000 immediatley to keep the club running.
Have announced that they are still £1.2 million in debt!

Exiles coach Daniel Anderson has announced his 22 man squad for the England game, on Saturday 16th june.
Laffranchi - St Helens,
Meli - St Helens,
Hohaia - St Helens,
Soliola - St Helens,
Puletua - St Helens,
Kaufusi - London,
Finch - Wigan,
Carmont - Wigan,
Lima - Wigan,
Leuluai - Wigan,
Hodgson - Warrington,
J Monaghan - Warrington,
M Monaghan - Warrington,
Waterhouse - Warrington,
Millard - Catalan,
Paea - Catalan,
Anderson - Catalan,
Dureau - Catalan,
Sa - Catalan,
Falumu - Huddersfield,
O'Donnell - Huddersfield,
Manu - Hull FC.

Adrian Morley has been left out of Englands squad to face the Exiles . On form i finally agree with a McNamarra decision !! Good to see Tickle selected aswell but i wouldn't have picked Jones-Buchanan or Ablett

England squad to face the Exiles: Ablett (Leeds), Atkins (Warrington), Briscoe (Hull), Brough (Huddersfield), Burrow (Leeds), Carvell (Warrington), Charnley (Wigan), Chase (Castleford), Crabtree (Huddersfield), Cudjoe (Huddersfield), Hall (Leeds), Hock (Wigan), Jones-Buchanan (Leeds), Mossop (Wigan), O'Loughlin (Wigan), Peacock, captain (Leeds), Roby (St Helens), Sinfield (Leeds), Tickle (Hull), Tomkins (Wigan), Wilkin (St Helens).