International RL Blog

You can't handle the truth

2011-12-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

The Four Nations series was an obvious success and proved that holding big international RL at big stadiums is the best way to showcase our game. Some success was desperately needed after a series of calamities e.g. the Crusaders fiasco

Unfortunately England lost and once again it emphasised our losing mentality and a continuation of the timid selection policy of picking out of form players out of position. At least we didn't try to get away with selecting any injured players as we have in the past. Burgess, O'Loughlin, Bridge, Atkins etc would've enhanced our chances but why were so many of our players injured? Some of them were involved in the play offs

Collectively and individually we still have the wrong priorities.We play too many games and have too many foreigners involved in an unsuccessful and stagnating club competition whose media profile declines by the hour. This is down to poor management and we are kidding ourselves if we can't see it.

During the SL war an ARL official mocked the RFL for not being able to " sell blankets to eskomos" Have things really improved since?

RL officials are like merchant bankers. They seem to be unsackable

They're Stealing Our Clothes

2011-12-01T01:15:00.000-08:00

I've just seen the schedule for the British Lions RU tour to Australia in June 2013.

Not only have they stolen the British Lions name (used by RL long before RU) but they are visiting similar places in a similar way at the same time of year as we used to do. They are even playing mid-week country matches.

They are stealing our clothes on and off the pitch and getting away with it

Still Crazy After All These Years

2011-11-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

Ah well, the dust has settled and as Robert Louis Stephenson said

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive"

RL fans in the UK have certainly been travelling for a long time and have stayed hopeful throughout.

During the preliminary matches, England demonstrated a gradual progression and I'm sure the intention was to peak for the final against Australia. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and it must go down as another missed opportunity. When will the next chance be? Will they continue to occur at the same frequency?

We defended quite well, although for once we were very lucky with some of the refereeing decisions. I thought our attacking options let us down and with the exception of the penalty try, which I thought was a fair decision, we didn't really threaten their line. I was disappointed that our pack didn't make much of an impression against theirs but the England team dropped the ball far too many times and players who could've made a difference e.g. Sinfield, Tomkins, Hall etc either played poorly or weren't allowed any space.

I thought we were starting to get on top after half time but mistakes cost us although it was still a close game. I was waiting for a modern English day hero to stand up but unfortunately, not for the first time, Jonathan Thurston was the man. He's been a thorn in our side for many years and as a comparatively young man, will continue for some time yet.

Nobody should begrudge Darren Lockyear his last minute try because he has been a truly inspirational figure for Australia over the years. Whenever they've been in trouble he has usually been able to produce some magic to save the day. The 2003 Ashes Series springs to mind.

The sad thing is that we have the potential to beat the Kangaroos if we perform to our potential. We're still hoping, still travelling and

"still crazy after all these years"

Come on

2011-11-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

England/GB have not won a major international RL tournament for forty one years but after their performance against NZ on Saturday

who knows

For once the English players lived up to their potential and reproduced club form. They have improved week by week and showed confidence, aggression, control and discipline. The bounce of the ball admittedly went their way and for once they got a fair shout off the referee. If they can continue this against Australia

maybe just maybe

Everybody was magnificent but I would single out Ben Westwood for his 100% commitment and effort. NZ played with spirit as you would expect but the partisan Hull crowd made a big contribution and acted as an eighteenth man. Another neutral referee did a good job, NZ can have few if any complain and coach Stephen Kearney accepted the defeat with dignity. It bothers me that somebody like Gareth Carvel who had a great season for Warrington but has not played for five weeks must've found it very difficult to come into the team such an important match. Surely some mechanism can be found to allow fringe players to maintain fitness and demonstrate some form.

Sam Tomkins was very fortunate that the Kieren Foran try was disallowed for offside and we must be on our guard early on because Australia often blow teams off the park in the early stages. Look what they did to Wales!!!!!

England/GB fans have built their hopes up before and had them smashed to pieces but it will be all down to who performs on the night, who wants it more, possibly the bounce of the ball or maybe a dodgy refereeing decisions. Heaven forbid

I'm looking for somebody to stand up and make a name for himself

Where are you now Clive Sullivan, Alex Murphy, Roger Millward .... Sam Tomkins, Kevin Sinfield, Ryan Hall???.

Come on

Ryan Hall

Onwards and Upwards

2011-11-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

Although we can't get too over excited about the result and I thought the crowd was slightly disappointing we can be very pleased about the higher profile and increased media coverage. I can't remember the last time a Rugby League match was featured on the BBC News on Saturday evening and this alone justified the decision to take the match to London. We must build upon these foundations and make these International RL "events" more frequent. Onwards and upwards.

The game itself was very exciting and just like proper old fashioned test matches used to be. At this level it is all about taking your chances plus minimising mistakes and Australia demonstrated their efficiency. Plenty has been said about the Billy Slater injury and how well Australia adapted but England played for most of the match without three forwards and can enter the rest of the tournament with confidence

Plenty has been said about the referee but I though he was no better or worse then the usual appointments. All referees make mistakes which should even themselves out and I've no doubt that a SL referee would have chickened out of the Williams sending off decision too. He was from a neutral country which is progress in itself but he works (or wants to work) in the NRL so he knows which side his bread is buttered. The criticism of referees by Tim Sheens and now Steve McNamara is a blatant attempt to influence future decisions and this is the real problem which needs sorting out.

A RLIF meeting has taken place where nothing of importance was discussed. They should be appointing referees and standing up for fair play. The silence is deafening.

Why not allow the people who run the RLEF to do something similar with the RLIF? They are doing a great job in terms of increasing participation in Europe and could easily expand their operations to work worldwide. Give them a budget, an office, more staff and more autonomy then watch them go. They may need some ex-political heavyweight to add suitable gravitas and the transfer of power might have to be phased but the RLIF must out rank all other countries. The veto that Australia seems to have in regard to International RL must be removed

Where are you now Vince Karalius?

2011-11-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

In general. RU people are very self confident if not arrogant and continually talk themselves and their game up despite seemingly obvious reality. It could be argued that this arrogance was the main cause of the 1895 split and the resulting chip on the shoulder of RL people who continually accentuate the negative and talk our game down. We need to be more confident, to think bigger and sell ourselves to the world

This was demonstrated last weekend when Fiji defeated PNG 26-12 in yet another low key, unpublicised international. France showed us how it should be done when another good crowd of 10000+ saw France beat Scotland 46-10 in Perpignan. The potential is massive if only France could be competitive again against the top nations.

It's a great pity that both Lebanon and Jamaica couldn't be included in the RL World Cup 2013 because we need some variety and exposure to new markets. The qualifying rounds were an undoubted success though and should be encouraged and expanded

Now it's all eyes on Wembley and lets hope both England and Wales can perform to their potential. Most people would agree that Australia are better than us and they certainly think they are better by far. Unfortunately, our players seem to think they are from some super human species which is obviously not true. We need to be more self confident as a team and need an individual to stand up and make a name for himself.

Where are you now Vince Karalius, Aex Murphy, Roger Millward ....?

because I love London Town

2011-10-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Friday night saw the first game in the much anticipated Four Nations series and Australia beat NZ at Warrington in a game played with very slow play the balls. A neutral referee was in charge so nobody can have any complaints but, as we've seen many times before, SL officials are often intimidated by the Australians. Tim Sheen's comments after the game illustrate why this happens and he should be disciplined for what he said. Any NRL/SL coach or Premiership manager (even Alex Ferguson) would be fined for criticizing a referee. Nothing will happen and we will never have any credibility or make any progress when one team is so obviously above the law.

England beat Wales at Leigh in a game with slow play the ball but again a neutral referee was in charge who did quite a good job under the circumstances. Let's hope we see more of Mr Perenara

We now move on to Wembley for two big matches on a big stage and a good opportunity to sell ourselves. International matches should be large scale, high profile events where we can showcase the skills of our amazing athletes who very rarely let us down. It is the first time we have had such a chance since the mid-1990s when RL had a much higher profile and this is no coincidence

The 2013 RL World Cup line up has been finalised with Italy joining the USA in England/Wales and Lebanon missing out with a last minute draw for a second World Cup in a row. Lets hope the schedule is announced early and every commercial opportunities is exploited.

Group A - 3 qualifiers
Australia, England, Ireland, Fiji

Group B - 3 qualifiers
NZ, France, PNG, Samoa

Group C - 1 qualifier
Scotland, Tonga, Italy

Group D - 1 qualifier
Wales, Cook Islands, USA

RL needs to expand into some new markets and Italy and North America would be a good start. SL & NRL are great products but neutral fans will be far more likely to enjoy international matches then games involving obscure UK northern towns or Sydney suburbs.

Mickey Mouse is no Spring Chicken

2011-10-24T02:37:00.000-07:00

Recent matches have seen good victories for Wales, Scotland and the newly formed England Knights against Ireland and France before very small crowds in low key events with little publicity.

The French showed us how it should be done with a 17000 crowd to watch the France v England game in Avignon which was very competitive. Although they look good on paper, France are weak in some positions and lack competition for places but they are definitely moving forward. If only Toulouse were in SL and could contribute another dozen players of international standard then matches involving France could be very, very interesting.

There was a good turnout for the Australia v NZ game in Newcastle in Darren Lockyear's last game on Australian soil and USA have qualified for the 2013 RL World Cup with victories against SA and Jamaica. Either Lebanon or Italy will fill the remaining place after their winner takes all decider in Belgrade next weekend. It's a pity that room could not be found for both plus Jamaica because sixteen would be the optimum number for a World Cup which is becoming more and more important by the day.

RU bound Joel and Sam Tomkins like Chris Ashton before them cannot be blamed for being attracted by money and glamour. The challenge for our administrators is to provide playing opportunities which provide enough money and glamour. With great respect to the people of Leigh who are RL supporters to the bone and have a nice, new stadium but Leigh is not the centre of the universe and doesn't even have a railway station. Surely we can find a more prestigious place to hold an important England v Wales match to be shown live on the BBC.

We need to think bigger and sell ourselves to the world because these Mickey Mouse international have gone on for long enough.

Your Destiny Awaits You

2011-10-17T04:33:00.000-07:00

Kevin Sinfield is very under rated as both a player and a leader but he is a four time Grand Final winning captain including the recent remarkable, never achieved before, feat of winning from fifth. History will be kind to him

He has never really performed at international level but then again he has never really been given the opportunity. Kevin has been picked on numerous occasions but always out of position with other lesser players in charge. Injuries to rivals such as Kieran O'Loughlin could present him and us with an opportunity

Now is your chance Kevin, step forward and meet your destiny. The glory will far exceed anything achieved domestically

Injuries and absences might mean that NZ and Australia might possibly be weaker but we have said that before. England too have their fair share of injuries too and the absence of Burgess, Lomax, Atkins, Bridge, Crabtree, O'Loughlin, Joel Tomkins, Shenton and especially Grand Final star Burrow, will be a handicap.

It saddens me that of most of these injured players were fit enough to play for their clubs in the plays off. I appreciate that it is a long season, we play far too many games and the players are tired but surely internationals should be prioritised.

We can call upon NRL products Jack Reed, Gareth Widdop, Chris Heighrington plus recent convert Rangi Chase and the need to do this reflects badly on SL and the scarcity of players good enough to play. However, international travel has changed the nature of international sport and other teams are full of ex-pats especially the England RU team and the England Cricket team. Among the biggest culprits are the NZ RL and Australian RL teams who regularly select players with a Pacific Isles background and deliberately insist the eligibility rules remain ambiguous so they can.

Australians will not complain if Akuila Uate scores for them so we should not complain either if Jack Reid or Rangi Chase score for us

With the number of overseas players playing in the Premiership I predict that the England soccer team will soon be forced to pick players on residency grounds too

The stuff that dreams are made on

2011-10-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

The international RL season is about to begin and during the next month or so matches will take place in such diverse places as Belgrade, Padova, Philadelphia, Moscow and Limerick. These add to the locations already visited this year by the International RL community which include Gothenberg, Frankfurt, Cassablanca, Oslo, Copenhagen, Kharkov, Budapest and Toronto, way beyond the wildest dreams of most RL expansionsists.

Just a few short years ago, International RL was confined to just a few countries and the RFL and the RLEF should be commended for the progress made. In 1995, Maurice Lyndsey organised a ten team World Cup to celebrate the games centenary and big strides have been made since then. It's pity that the ARL, with all their resources cannot make an attempt at something similar in the Southern Hemisphere.

Problems still exist and the recent last minute tour cancellation by Samoa due to lack of funds was a big disappointment. If properly organised a Samoan European tour could be very profitable

Unfortunately, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France always seem to play each other as do Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and PNG if they play at all. There are teams and players crying out for fixtures if only the organisation was there. This is obviously a job for the RLIF (who in reality are the ARL) but it must be the most ineffective organisation in existence. RL officials are like merchant bankers and seem to be immune from the sack

Some of International RL's most memorable moments involved France playing in Australia. It's a long time since France toured the Southern Hemisphere

PNG are one of our most enthusiastic nations but they have no fixtures lined up. I can understand the reluctance of other teams in wanting to visit PNG when safety cannot be guaranteed but matches could be played in Australia. Visits to the Pacific Isles are very expensive but games against visiting teams could be played in Australia or NZ in front of large ex-pat crowds

I can recall some memorable matches involving PNG in Europe and a draw against Lancashire at St Helens in the 1980's springs to mind. PNG have not toured Europe for many years and another visit is surely overdue but it must be done properly. Last minute organisation and low key matches with little publicity are no good

Other opportunities exist and teams such as Lebanon, USA, SA, NZ Maori, Australian Aborigines, Cumbria etc could all visit our new found friends and spread the word

RL desperately needs to find some new markets outside it's traditional heartlands. North America and the Middle East are possibilities as are Wales and Ireland but we must put our products into the market place. The recent Grand Finals show how exciting out sport can be and demonstrate how much we have to offer

Canada 22 South Africa 36 Toronto

2011-10-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

South Africa prepared for the upcoming 2013 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers with a 36-22 win against Canada in Toronto. Although not much was known about them, the South Africans proved to be big, fast and strong.

CLICK HERE for a full match report

Ah yes ..... I remember it well

2011-10-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

A great try scored by a GB player against Australia at Wembley in front of a big crowd.

Let's hope we can see more of the same soon

It's not how you start it's how you finish

2011-10-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

As we contemplate yet another SL Grand Final involving the same teams, Brent Webb, Danny McGuire, Danny Buderus and the whole Warrington and Wigan teams now understand that truly great players save their best performances for big matches.

The biggest matches of all take place on the international stage and the looming Four Nations is something that UK RL fans can look forward to with relish after months of gloom.

I think I'd prefer an Ashes Series, if only for novelty value, but entertaining our antipodean "Friends in Low Places" in big matches in large stadia is surely an opportunity that even the UK's inept RL administrators cannot squander.

Was it good for you?

2011-09-19T02:56:00.000-07:00

The SL play-offs are under way and and should be the pinnacle of the UK domestic season. Unfortunately, three out of the four matches played so far have been one-sided non-events in front of relatively poor crowds, with one in particular spoiled by inconsistent refereeing. An obvious contrast can be made with the NRL play-offs which have been wonderful.

Since the SL Grand Final was initiated, only five teams have taken part including the big four of Bradford, Leeds, St Helens and Wigan plus Hull. Three of these teams are still in contention despite the salary cap and licencing regulations which says very little about progress being made. All neutral supporters should cheer for Warrington & Catalans

It has recently been announced that Jack Reed of the Brisbane Broncos and Chris Heighrington of West Tigers will play for England in the upcoming Four Nations along with Gareth Widdup of Melbourne Storm. They are good players and I don't blame Steve McNamara for wanting to pick the strongest team available but these three are products of the NRL and the Australian system which again reflects badly on SL and the UK

Ignoring the recent Crusaders debacle (although what happened to £700K lent to them by the RFL?) teams in the championship are still unsure of the structure for next season and cannot plan for the future. Will Coventry, Hemel etc be admitted as was originally suggested? Are they having second thoughts about another misguided attempt at expansion? We are often told that businesses need to plan

The RFL cannot just sit in an ivory tower passing judgement over others involved in the game. Stakeholders must be able to judge their performance too and they must be accountable. Ideally judgement should be made on or around the field of play and the RFL has been inadequate in terms of organisation, marketing, promotion, player development and income generation. As a paying fan I award them a category Z licence and give notice that I am expecting an improvement

For expansion we should follow the Aussie rules model where new clubs e.g. Crusaders are owned and funded by the RFL until they can stand on their own two feet. This will cost money and highlights the need for the RFL to generate more income and make it available for distribution in an equitable manner. They could make a start by organizing successful domestic and international competitions e.g. the SL play off series

Big boost for Canada RL

2011-09-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

Canada 18 USA 16 Markham, Ontario

Canada RL received a big boost when the Wolverines secured a stunning, first-ever win over the USA in their Colonial Cup clash in Toronto.

Canada, for whom Matt Gleed was outstanding until forced off with injury, triumphed 18-16 in front of an ecstatic crowd, in a match televised on national television as part of the second annual Sports Day in Canada. It was their first success over their neighbours since matches started between them in 1993.

The decisive penalty for the hosts was kicked by 20 year old Harlequins second rower Louis Robinson after Canada led 12-6 at halftime and they eventually outscored the visitors by four tries to three. Louis Tulio, Michael Garvey and Ian Elliott crossed for the Tomahawks, Garvey converting two of the tries. For Canada, Danny Tupou and Robin Legault were their try-scorers.

CLICK HERE for more info

Return of Top RL Fights - Manly v Melbourne

2011-09-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

RL has been sanitised to the point where at times it is difficult to recognise it as the same tough game played just a few years ago.

Let's face facts and be realistic, RL is a contact sport and tempers are bound to become frayed at times but by and large it is honest which is more than other bigger sports (e.g. soccer) can say.

I do not condone fighting or bad behaviour but unfortunately we have let media organisations (SKY and News Corp preaching to us?) impose their inconsistent standards upon us and our sport has lost some of it's character.

Those same media organisations (certainly in the UK) now ignore us because we are obviously not interesting enough

Paperwork or Playing Field?

2011-09-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hull FC coach Richard Agar will be leaving his post at the end of the season and this could potentially be embarrassing for the club as they are just coming into a run of form. According to their SL license application Hull FC are top four team and they are certainly a big club who should be doing better than scraping into the play-offs. Their new owner will have big expectations and will expect players performances on the field of play to at least match the performance of their administrators although appointing serial loser Shaun MacRae is not a good start

It must be a massive cause for concern at the RFL that Featherstone Rovers (a good RL team) can comprehensively beat SL elect side Widnes (good at paperwork) twice in recent weeks.

As was widely predicted, Toulouse have resigned from the RL Championship and rejoined the French Elite. This makes sense and they are rejoining a competition which could and should be at least equal in stature to the RL Championship with the winners eligible to apply for SL. The problem the French face is that too few clubs remain with the financial muscle to compete at the highest level although we face the same problem in the UK

RL in Europe suffers from a serious lack of investment mainly because only a small fraction of the funds received by the SL clubs trickles down. Maybe more TV coverage for the Championship and French Elite would encourage sponsorship

In my opinion, the RFL should a huge cash generator and should be able to generate funds to distribute to clubs with an equitable distribution. International RL is the most obvious way of doing this especially if they exploit famous existing brands e.g. GB Lions or RL Ashes

Meanwhile the RU World Cup is about to start in NZ and will no doubt grab all the headlines and make big profits for everybody concerned. Note that it takes place during the RU club season which carries on regardless. In RU they prioritise international competition and prosper as a result

USA 18 Canada 2 Philadelphia

2011-08-30T01:31:00.000-07:00

On 27/8/11, the USA Tomahawks defeated the Canadian Wolverines 18-2 in the first match of the 2011 Colonial Cup, With Hurricane Irene only hours away, the kick off was brought forward and the match was played in terrible conditions in Philadelphia. The driving rain and wet pitch obviously affected ball handling.

CLICK HERE for more information

Crusaders want to play in the RL Championship

2011-08-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

Crusaders withdrew their application for a new three-year SL licence in July due continuing financial problems.

They have announced that they intend join the other Welsh professional outfit, South Wales Scorpions, in the second tier of the RL pyramid.

Campaign groups supporting the Crusaders have backed the move.

CLICK HERE for more information

Take off the pumpkin and put on your head

2011-08-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

After their laughably inept attempt at expansion it is time for the RFL to redeem themselves and start creating some excitement on the field of play. In the not too distant future we have the best RL players in the world coming to the UK and playing high profile international matches at top quality stadiums. Surely we can't cock this up

Not very long ago, European teams used to regularly beat Australia and NZ by out thinking them. More recently we have been content to contain by picking the same old same old players, often out of form, carrying injuries, out of position, with a track record of failure and the results have been plain to see. We need to be bold and pick some young, hungry, unpredictable players who will take the game to their opponents.

We desperately need a player (or players) who will stand up to be counted and are willing to make a name for themselves. I can remember a soccer player called Gerry Armstrong who was nothing special during his club career but represented Northern Ireland at the 1982 World Cup and was the star man as they beat hosts Spain and topped their group. Gary Schofield was far from ordinary during his club career but always saved his best performances for internationals and who can forget his GB performances at stand off in the early nineties. Unfortunately Gary's efforts were never quite good enough but Roger Millward stood up the last time we won the Ashes and we need to find his successor.

Canada record first victory in International RL

2011-08-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

31/7/11 Canada 40 Jamaica 10 Toronto

Canada gained revenge for the Atlantic Cup defeat in November with a convincing 40-10 victory over Jamaica in the Caribbean Carnival Cup. It was the Wolverines’ first victory in international rugby league and according to CRL chairman Eric Perez, “signals Canada’s intentions to be a force in international rugby league.”

We're all doomed Captain Mainwaring

2011-07-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Crusaders fiasco was very depressing for all true RL fans

Does this signal the end of RL expansion for good? Will we retreat to the M62?
I hope not. We must move forward or die and the alternative is a slow painful death where we gradually contract and eventually disappear up our own collective rectal aperture (as they say in Hull)

Expansion is possible if handled correctly. Despite some setbacks, Les Catalans have been a great success and are now one of the strongest clubs in SL. Let's tell Toulouse they can join in 2014 as soon as we can and give them every opportunity to prepare. They are a big vibrant club from a big city and can bring far more to the table than the other likely applicants which are, from at best medium sized depressed towns.

I still think Wales could be a big success to if handled correctly. The problem in Wrexham was lack of funds but why that should be a problem when the RFL receives millions from it's sponsors is beyond me. The whole episode has been embarrassing for the RFL and the Crusaders directors did not act in good faith. However, we have been continually asking Club directors to make business decisions based on logic rather than emotion and when they do we can't really complain

I liked Angela Power's twitter anecdote about her son's sports day
"Son's sports day today. 100 metre dash. Of course he won't run it, just explain to teachers why he deserves to..."

I'm undecided about the draft system. I like the way it's allowed clubs to introduce young players but hate the farcical off field situation it produced with Crusaders. It was supposed to help club's achieve financial stability but three team have had financial problems recently. The alternative is promotion and relegation which admittedly creates excitement on the pitch but I look at the lower reaches of the league tables and see numerous broken teams such as Oldham, Swinton, Workington who all suffered for paying inflated wages to elderly Aussies trying to compete with the big boys.

The real problem is the lack of high quality teams who can compete with the likes of Wigan, Leeds, Warrington and Hull

The Grim Reaper tolls the Death Knell

2011-07-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

17/7/11 Crusaders 20 Castleford 26 Wrexham

This fixture turned out to be the last match Crusaders played before the grim reaper tolled the death knell on their SL existence. It might turn out to be the last match they ever play.

They welcomed back seven players who were suspended for breaking the clubs disciplinary code which seems laughable now but they were keen to get some wins under their belt before the end of the season. Castleford were without star player Rangi Chase through suspension but welcomed back ex-Crusader Nick Youngquest after a long injury break

Castleford opened the scoring through Jordan Thompson before Jason Chan, Lloyd White and Jordan Tansey gave Crusaders a 14-6 half time lead although they were clearly the better side and were very unlucky to see two tries disallowed by the video ref especially one by Stuart Reardon in the corner.

After the break Youngquest and Jarrod Sammut swapped tries while Crusaders continued to dominate. Ryan O'Hara was unlucky to have another try disallowed by the video referee but they could not open up the decisive lead they deserved. A good try by on-loan prop Ben Davies converted by Kirk Dixon made the score 20-18 and fellow on-loan prop Rob Parker seemed as surprised as everybody else when he scored the match winning try in the final minutes.

Crusaders coach Iestyn Harris was clearly frustrated and he said "it is extremely disappointing because I was expecting us to kick away in the second half. We just kept giving them opportunities. The players are upset in there and we can't blame anyone else but ourselves" Ironic words

Castleford coach Terry Matterson seemed embarrassed to win after his team played so badly and he said after the match "we played dumb and I feel for the Crusaders, I really do." If only he knew

A crowd of 3055 is very modest by SL standards but the Crusaders have a nice stadium and a hard core bunch of loyal fans who have been treated very badly. It could be argued that these fans were growing in number and they will now be lost to the game. Probably true but you could say the same about Gateshead Thunder, Paris St Germain and other missed opportunities. The Crusaders were talismen for Welsh RL and who can predict what will happen now bearing in mind the importance of the upcoming Four Nations and the 2013 World Cup.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

2011-07-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

"The more things change the more they stay the same"

The Crusaders fiasco is Gateshead Thunder and Paris St Germain all over again.

I don't understand how a sport with an expansionist agenda, which receives millions of pounds from it's sponsors, can allow a team like the Crusaders to fail on financial grounds yet allow three other teams, recently out of administration to carry on. If this is a three year process why did it all happen at the last minute?

I feel particularly sorry for the loyal Welsh fans and hard working Crusaders players, some of whom have recently signed new contracts. The RFL and the club owners have a lot of questions to answer and Rod Findlay has a track record to defend. Will the Crusaders carry on in the Championship? If they don't, well it says it all

Where does this leave RL expansion? Will it ever be attempted again?

Where does this leave Welsh RL, the 2011 Four Nations, the 2013 World Cup and international RL?

Where does it leave the franchise system?

It's a sorry mess

Let's take it nice and easy

2011-07-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

Do you realise that during the Super League era from 1995 onwards, all the major finals have been contested by members of the big four of Bradford, Leeds, St Helens and Wigan except for Sheffield, Hull, Huddersfield and Warrington twice.

Thankfully, as we move towards the business end of this season, things seem to be improving. We are not quite at the stage where a club can finish bottom one year and top the next but it has been a very competitive with eleven teams still competing for the play off places. Bradford are not the force they once were, Leeds are looking increasingly like yesterdays men and Huddersfield and Warrington seem to be emerging as strong competitors. Harlequins and Wakefield have had their moments, even bottom placed Crusaders have been competitive and been very unlucky to lose some close games.

It's good to see some different trophy contenders and all true RL fans must be cheering on the Catalans, Huddersfield, Warrington or any other team from outside the big four. I'm sure all fair minded St Helens and Wigan fans know where I'm coming from although I wouldn't discount Leeds just yet, they have too many star players with big match experience for that

One thing that has struck me throughout the season is the way most teams seem to be coached to get play the ball penalties. These decisions are inconsistent, very subjective, prone to gamesmanship and result in easy yards into opposition territory which often results in a try. This seems to be SKY driven and their TV presenters are continually begging for penalties which often aren't there.

Our sport often resembles basketball with score lines such as 32-28 common. I suggest we take calm down, take things nice and easy and stop penalising players when they are genuinely trying to roll away from the tackled player. I don't condone slowing down tactics but common sense can be used just like in the England v Exiles game and World Club Challenge. Space will become limited, yards will have to be earned and scoring will be much harder. Our players will be forced to rely upon skill and guile rather than the easy piggy back penalty option. This will improve our game for spectators and improve our chances at international level