Rugby League

[Silas]

It's coming home, it's coming home...

....rugby league's coming home!!

😀😀

 

It won't. We'll bottle it and cancel.

[Gav]

Come on you Lions - Rugby Union not League, but on the international stage Union dominates for sure.

Going to be tough, World Champions in SA, looking forward to it.

[Gav]

Great bit of commentary:

He must have broken his nose, he’s just hoofed that into the Sherif of Carmarthen’s nose, ouch!

[Gav]

Unbelievable win for the Lions after a disappointing 1st half, just tremendous.

Next 2 tests in Cape Town avoiding the altitude, 3-0 Lions 🤔

[Claytons Left Boot]

Staying over in Hertfordshire after having watched the Warriors edge out Huddersfield in today’s Challenge Cup Final at the Tottenham Stadium.

What a venue. Superb stadium, the majority of the Wigan fans were packed into the single tier South Stand and it made for a great atmosphere. It usually does when you win. 

Hope it was a good watch for the neutral. A tight, close affair where Huddersfield probably deserved something from the game but it wasn’t to be for them and Wigan brought home the cup for the twentieth time.

For me, probably the best stadium in England, I would urge anyone to visit, given the opportunity.

Made up for our new Head Coach, Matty Peet, who has delivered in his first season. You could see in his celebrations after the final hooter that it really meant something to him.
 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Claytons Left Boot

[Claytons Left Boot]

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

10 hours ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Staying over in Hertfordshire after having watched the Warriors edge out Huddersfield in today’s Challenge Cup Final at the Tottenham Stadium.

What a venue. Superb stadium, the majority of the Wigan fans were packed into the single tier South Stand and it made for a great atmosphere. It usually does when you win. 

Hope it was a good watch for the neutral. A tight, close affair where Huddersfield probably deserved something from the game but it wasn’t to be for them and Wigan brought home the cup for the twentieth time.

For me, probably the best stadium in England, I would urge anyone to visit, given the opportunity.

Made up for our new Head Coach, Matty Peet, who has delivered in his first season. You could see in his celebrations after the final hooter that it really meant something to him.
 

I’d like to see that last try again. It looked like the scorer may have been off side to me. Great pass to the kicker though to open the field up.

[Darrenbot]

Great game yesterday,i also watched the 1895 final between Leigh and Featherstone earlier on the BBC Red button.2 good games in a great stadium.I wouldn't mind visiting Spurs if we ever get back into the Premier League.

[Claytons Left Boot]

23 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’d like to see that last try again. It looked like the scorer may have been off side to me. Great pass to the kicker though to open the field up.

Yeah, cracking pass by Tommy L. Watched the game again, last night, on catchup. Stopped it at the point where Smith kicked the grubber and Marshall was a good 3-4 feet behind Smith, so well onside.

It was a much better watch on tv, even the first half where I thought, at the game, that Wigan were poor. Huddersfield played a very safe, percentages game, trying to stifle us. Had that last try not happened, I suppose you could say that their tactics had been spot on, but with our flair players, we always have a moment of magic in us.

The attendances at Challenge Cup Finals have dipped over the last few seasons, after having been generally 75k+ for some time. With Tottenham’s capacity being 62k, it would be a good fit for future finals but it’s back to Wembley again next year. The attendance yesterday was just over 51k and that was tickets bought for both games. Not sure how many tickets Huddersfield sold but it couldn’t have been more than 8-10k.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

41 minutes ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Yeah, cracking pass by Tommy L. Watched the game again, last night, on catchup. Stopped it at the point where Smith kicked the grubber and Marshall was a good 3-4 feet behind Smith, so well onside.

It was a much better watch on tv, even the first half where I thought, at the game, that Wigan were poor. Huddersfield played a very safe, percentages game, trying to stifle us. Had that last try not happened, I suppose you could say that their tactics had been spot on, but with our flair players, we always have a moment of magic in us.

The attendances at Challenge Cup Finals have dipped over the last few seasons, after having been generally 75k+ for some time. With Tottenham’s capacity being 62k, it would be a good fit for future finals but it’s back to Wembley again next year. The attendance yesterday was just over 51k and that was tickets bought for both games. Not sure how many tickets Huddersfield sold but it couldn’t have been more than 8-10k.

It would have been an expensive weekend for Huddersfield fans. I have a mate who supports both teams. Luckily for him he’s got a few quid.

[Claytons Left Boot]

8 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It would have been an expensive weekend for Huddersfield fans. I have a mate who supports both teams. Luckily for him he’s got a few quid.

Yeah, there was a Giants fan in our hotel, near Ware, a few miles north of the M25. As we were leaving on Sunday morning, we had a few words and he revealed a Town shirt under his jumper. I wished him the best of luck saying that it would be a bummer if they lost as well…ouch!

[Admiral Nelsen]

On 29/05/2022 at 09:40, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’d like to see that last try again. It looked like the scorer may have been off side to me. Great pass to the kicker though to open the field up.

 

The angle from this shows it pretty well. Onside. 

 

Great pass from Leuluai to set it up, like you say. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Admiral Nelsen

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I just noticed Bill Ashurst has died. What a player he was, he could do it all, run, kick, pass, tackle. He was a natural who could beat teams on his own. They don’t make forwards like Bill nowadays. He was also no stranger to the early bath. In his RL Express obituary it mentions he was also a very good soccer player who had a trial at Blackburn Rovers.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[GHR]

Off to Whitehaven v. Newcastle in the RFL Championship today, nothing at stake for either side but hoping for a decent game at what looks a good ground, and a couple of nice pubs in a town I never thought I'd visit. Off to a couple of games in the World Cup too I hope.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

21 hours ago, GHR said:

Off to Whitehaven v. Newcastle in the RFL Championship today, nothing at stake for either side but hoping for a decent game at what looks a good ground, and a couple of nice pubs in a town I never thought I'd visit. Off to a couple of games in the World Cup too I hope.

Hornets v Oldham for me today. El Classico.

Last time I was at Whitehaven for the rugby Mrs Shoelaces was wearing a brand new Panama hat for the first time. I’d bought it her for her birthday. As we were walking by the harbour wall a big gust of wind came along and blew the hat into the harbour !

Gone forever !

She wasn’t best pleased.

Edited September 11, 2022 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[matt83]

Watching the RL World Cup vs France at the reebok. I assume this is the first one playing as England rather than GB not that it’ll make any difference in quality I suspect. As far as the tournament as a spectacle goes it appears the old pecking order exists, in that Australia are head and shoulders above New Zealand, New Zealand head and shoulders above England and England head and shoulders above the rest. 

Just been told been playing as England for a good few decades. 🤣🤣🤣. I’m right on the pulse of rugby league developments. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by matt83

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, matt83 said:

Watching the RL World Cup vs France at the reebok. I assume this is the first one playing as England rather than GB not that it’ll make any difference in quality I suspect. As far as the tournament as a spectacle goes it appears the old pecking order exists, in that Australia are head and shoulders above New Zealand, New Zealand head and shoulders above England and England head and shoulders above the rest. 

Just been told been playing as England for a good few decades. 🤣🤣🤣. I’m right on the pulse of rugby league developments. 

Australia are the best rugby team in the world - league or union.

[Norbert Rassragr]

France, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa are better in Union (in the men's game). 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

France, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa are better in Union (in the men's game). 

The Australian rugby league team would beat all of them - playing league or union.

[Norbert Rassragr]

That's......highly unlikely. The league team would give away so many penalties, and since League doesn't really punish high tackles, crossing etc. they'd probably get at least two yellow cards if we were playing union rules. Oh, and they'd give away penalties in almost any scrum. Then you have mauls, rucks, no 6th tackle rule.

I wish I could watch the NRL, as the quality of play is great, but the last time I watched our domestic game, it was dire. All they did was drive up the middle with a big ox until the 4th tackle, then try and do something different. There were 2 games between the top teams in each code in the 90s (possibly Bath vs. Wigan when Offiah and Edwards were playing), and both teams won the game in their respective codes. And that was when union was either amateur, or just had turned professional.

[Nate]

I've actually started to get into the Betfred Super League. They've been televising it on Fox Sports here in Australia. I used to support North Sydney Bears in the ARL, but once they were merged with Manly after the advent of the Super League war in Australia around 1997 I stopped following the game. Great atmosphere, which I expect no less from you guys over there!

[Admiral Nelsen]

On 24/10/2022 at 00:59, Norbert Rassragr said:

That's......highly unlikely. The league team would give away so many penalties, and since League doesn't really punish high tackles, crossing etc. they'd probably get at least two yellow cards if we were playing union rules. Oh, and they'd give away penalties in almost any scrum. Then you have mauls, rucks, no 6th tackle rule.

I wish I could watch the NRL, as the quality of play is great, but the last time I watched our domestic game, it was dire. All they did was drive up the middle with a big ox until the 4th tackle, then try and do something different. There were 2 games between the top teams in each code in the 90s (possibly Bath vs. Wigan when Offiah and Edwards were playing), and both teams won the game in their respective codes. And that was when union was either amateur, or just had turned professional.

 

They did, but Wigan won the League game by about 80 points. I think the reverse fixture was much tighter, and Wigan scored some amazing tries that you wouldn't see in a thousand games of Union. You're right though, the technical differences between the two games were too great for even that great Wigan team to overcome. 

 

I love watching the old Middlesex 7s games from that sort of period when Wigan and Bradford were invited at different times. Giving the likes of Edwards, Robinson and especially Offiah that much open space is only just short of cheating. 

[Claytons Left Boot]

Wigan 82 Bath 6

Bath 44 Wigan 19

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Aussies versus New Zealand tonight - what a brilliant game. Best game of rugby league I’ve seen in a long while.

[matt83]

Does anyone who watches Salford or sale know what the parking is like at the a j bell stadium? With it sandwiched in between some sort of air strip and the Trafford centre it looks slim pickins indeed.

Trying a bit more forward planning after rocking up to Leicester and nearly missing ko after finding resident parking schemes, being thwarted by railways and rivers ending up walking/jogging a good 30 mins.