Originally posted by Kevin S
View Post
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017
Collapse
X
-
Just watched it cos I was out last night, and managed to avoid the score, though did have two conversations today in which the other person said "you don't know the score? Oh", in a way that suggested things hadn't gone to plan. Too many errors from Cas in crucial places at each end. Hope they bounce back and remain a competitive force next year.
Comment
-
Originally posted by Kevin S View PostThe big day looms... so what has Hardaker done then?
Comment
-
Englands World Cup squad - John Bateman (Wigan), Kevin Brown (Warrington), Sam Burgess (South Sydney), Thomas Burgess (South Sydney), Ben Currie (Warrington), Luke Gale (Castleford), James Graham (St George Illawarra), Ryan Hall (Leeds), Chris Heighington (Cronulla), Chris Hill (Warrington), Josh Hodgson (Canberra), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield), Mike McMeeken (Castleford), Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan, capt), Mark Percival (St Helens), Stefan Ratchford (Warrington), James Roby (St Helens), Scott Taylor (Hull), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Kallum Watkins (Leeds), Elliott Whitehead (Canberra), Gareth Widdop (St George Illawarra), George Williams (Wigan).
No Sam Tomkins, but recent form would suggest that this isn't too big a surprise. Ben Currie and Alex Walmsley are the two yet to play for England, but unless my eyes are deceiving me, are there only two wingers in the squad (Hall and McGillvary)?
Comment
-
- Oct 2011
- 26998
- Cambridgeshire
- Ipswich (convert)
- Those chocolate-coated ring-shaped ones you get at Christmas
On the England Facebook page there are a lot of disbelieving comments about this but others point out that these are the two most experienced and best all-round wings we have in terms of try scoring, catching, movement and defending. Eden, for example, excels at (1) but less so at the other three.
There's a page here on the Tonga emergence on the RLWC website:
http://www.rlwc2017.com/news/hurrell...nd-tongas-rise
Comment
-
Originally posted by Kevin S View PostWho else wants to be a part of it? New York, New York.
Comment
-
- Oct 2011
- 26998
- Cambridgeshire
- Ipswich (convert)
- Those chocolate-coated ring-shaped ones you get at Christmas
Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View PostIt's important that these teams start to bring their own playing resources through, whether it's from amateur RL, RU or tryouts from other sports, because the global talent pool is too shallow.
Comment
-
Originally posted by Kevin S View PostIndeed. The Italy WC squad isn't really very Italian, for example.
At least with the French teams they have some degree of local talent to draw on, even if in Catalans' case they still have to rely on bigger Australian / English names to remain competitive in Super League. Even some form of reserve grade / development squad playing locally would be a start (not sure whether Toronto actually have something like this, I've not checked).
This will equally be a proper if and when the NRL adds new teams, and in that case it would tend to mean most of the rest of the England team playing in the NRL which would be good for their competitiveness but a disaster for Super League.
Comment
-
- Oct 2011
- 26998
- Cambridgeshire
- Ipswich (convert)
- Those chocolate-coated ring-shaped ones you get at Christmas
Just to mention, this World Cup has the same four group format as the 2013 tournament.
• The first two groups are made up of four teams whilst the other two groups feature three teams each.
• The top three teams in the first two groups* and the winners of the two smaller groups will qualify for the quarter-finals.
• Group play will involve a round robin in the larger groups, and a round robin in the smaller groups with an additional inter-group game for each team so all teams will play three group games.
* Yes, 12 of the 28 matches will have the net effect of eliminating two teams (and, to be fair, fixing who has which road to the Final).
The groups are also deliberately not of equal quality, e.g. England and Australia are in the same group, so that we don't end up with one team just destroying all of the others in their group I suppose.
The quarter finals are set up as: A1 v B3, B2 v D1, B1 v A3, A2 v C1.Last edited by Kevin S; 24-10-2017, 13:18.
Comment
-
Scotland's rugby league team proving that their football team don't have sole rights to complete and utter inadequacy...
Comment
-
- Oct 2011
- 26998
- Cambridgeshire
- Ipswich (convert)
- Those chocolate-coated ring-shaped ones you get at Christmas
So, the Pacific island teams have given Wales, Scotland and the US some spankings so far. I suppose we're likely to see one of them as 'the fourth semi finalist' assuming that England don't come unstuck against another of them before then.
It's only a year since Scotland managed a draw with the Kiwis, after all. This looks seriously powerful stuff from Tonga.
Last edited by Kevin S; 02-11-2017, 14:39.
Comment
-
Interesting article from the BBC regarding Lebanon's RL side
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41805294
Comment
Comment