***Rugby Super League XXVI (other RL chat welcome!)***

TonyM19 said:
Jackson Hastings suspended for one game for 'lifting' an injured player.
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Seems like BS suspensions are becoming the norm.

Meanwhile, some behind-the-scenes moves.

Controversial restructuring of British Rugby League revealed with a number of clubs set to be forced out.

The highlights:
  • Change the Super League name (clearly an urgent matter...*Spock eyebrow*)
  • 10 team 1st tier competition, 8 English teams and 2 external to begin with, 12 team 2nd, amateur-level 3rd tier
  • Independent Commission similar to the ARLC needed
  • Create an international calendar
[Shane] Richardson has stressed that tough decisions will need to be made.

“In my opinion there are only five clubs that are automatic in the eight from England. Wigan, Saints, Warrington, Leeds one team from Hull. The other three clubs should be beneficial to the growth of the game and the value of the business.

“Areas such as Newcastle, York, Wales and London stand out BUT this is for the IC to decide. Tough fair decisions will have to be made, but the supporters must feel that the decisions are for the betterment of the game, not for the political and vested interests of the past.

“In the beginning there has to be a two year moratorium on promotion and relegation to allow the competition to become embedded. One team promotion and relegation will start from the end of year three. Any team that is promoted, must meet strict criteria to show they value add to the game – Finance / Participation Growth / Stadia etc.

“The second tier or championship as it is called should be a MAXIMUM of 12 teams – a semi pro competition without promotion or relegation. If you are unable to survive, then expressions of interest can be called for to replace them. The third tier should be an amateur competition.

“There are so many well run amateur clubs in England who should be encouraged to invest in participation and pathways. The investment in the improvement of the amateur game needs to soak up this third tier and should be funded accordingly.”
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Love Rugby League has had a quick stab at dissecting it all here. But, as you might imagine, all this was rather poorly-received in certain quarters. Especially regarding the 'automatic entry' clubs for the top competition.
 
RL in the UK can't move forward until there is an independent (of all the clubs) body that oversees the whole game. The game is held back by the demands of Yorkshire pit villages (not that I am suggesting that Wigan is an international hub of business and entreprise). No clubs will vote to be in the 2nd tier and the Yorkshire mafia will pull together to prevent any of this happening
 
TonyM19 said:
RL in the UK can't move forward until there is an independent (of all the clubs) body that oversees the whole game. The game is held back by the demands of Yorkshire pit villages (not that I am suggesting that Wigan is an international hub of business and entreprise). No clubs will vote to be in the 2nd tier and the Yorkshire mafia will pull together to prevent any of this happening
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That's the idea with this Independent Commission plan. But as you say, the clubs will scream and dig their heels in.
 
I see this bugger's doing the rounds again:


Sickening, but you can't help watching it in grim fascination wondering what the hell he was thinking...

***edit***

Meanwhile, it's a bloody warm evening at Brutus where there's an actual rugby match being played! Marvellous concept, Dragons having a home game...

Leeds led 2-18 at the halfway mark, les Dracs shot back in the second with four tries in 20 minutes. Currently 24-18 with ~11 mins to play so Leeds aren't out of it yet.

***Edit 2: Electric Boogaloo***

27-18, first a Tomkins drop to get it more than a converted try clear and then Mourgue kicked a penalty. 5ish mins to go.

***last one***

27-18 FT :cool:


Quelle réaction from them indeed to come back in the second half the way they did. But it was warm, and the Med was doing its thing with the wind (a Tramontane was blowing) so it would have been a dry heat as well.

Ma & pa are headed out that way next week to make sure the house is still there and see les Villelongaises, hopefully the crew down there are enjoying this season!
 
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I have no idea what will happen with the RLWC now.

I can see both sides of this. Why should they come over here with infection rates sky high? On the other hand, the RU team is coming over and Aus teams are at the Olympics etc. The NRL can do what they want, whenever they want without considering the impact it has on anything else. I can see why the RFL Chairman came out with his statement, but its hardly going to help smooth this out. We've even had the haunted pencil (Rees Mogg) coming out with 'witty' statements in the Commons. It does my head in that the NRL have so little consideration for anybody else, but overall I think the least worst solution is to postpone until 2022, but get it out of the way before the football World Cup starts.

I see that the cricket are saying that it might cause a problem with the Ashes tour if families can't travel with them. Can you imagine the fuss in Australia if the cricket team refused to travel?
 
TonyM19 said:
I have no idea what will happen with the RLWC now.
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You and me both. I know what should happen...but what will happen is right up in the air.

TonyM19 said:
I can see both sides of this. Why should they come over here with infection rates sky high? On the other hand, the RU team is coming over and Aus teams are at the Olympics etc. The NRL can do what they want, whenever they want without considering the impact it has on anything else.
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Yep. They are the 800lb gorilla in the room with Rugby League, everyone has to dance to their tune no matter how atonal it is sometimes.

TonyM19 said:
I can see why the RFL Chairman came out with his statement, but its hardly going to help smooth this out.
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It wasn't mega helpful, no. And speaking of...

TonyM19 said:
We've even had the haunted pencil (Rees Mogg) coming out with 'witty' statements in the Commons.
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...this was even worse. What the hell is the point in that **** sticking his oar in?

TonyM19 said:
It does my head in that the NRL have so little consideration for anybody else, but overall I think the least worst solution is to postpone until 2022, but get it out of the way before the football World Cup starts.
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That's basically what we're down to. Whichever decision they take at this point will be damaging for the game thanks to the lateness of the Aussie and NZ announcement, so any plan now has to have "don't kill the international game entirely" as the absolutely key objective.

TonyM19 said:
I see that the cricket are saying that it might cause a problem with the Ashes tour if families can't travel with them. Can you imagine the fuss in Australia if the cricket team refused to travel?
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Oh Lordy, can you imagine it though? It doesn't bear thinking about. Wall-to-wall press coverage, no-account hacks pontificating on it all, endless whining from fans on the socials...
 
What will probably happen with the cricket is that some players will rule themsleves out. The more experienced ones with families. The Aus press will give them untold stick, but won't take it into account if they then sweep the series
 
10 on the bounce.


All credit to KR, who led for a good portion of it after not playing competitive rugby for five weeks and having agreed to the fixture at pretty short notice after Cas had to put off their visit. Damned shame that there were no TV cameras there - the beIN Sports deal (that was costing chairman Guasch fifteen grand a match - Dragons funding the production costs for the coverage) has ended, and Sky Sports doesn't send cameras to France.
 
It's looking good. This might be their year. It will be how they handle the play offs, especially if SL start messing about with their home play off fixtures ie not letting them play at home due to Covid issues. You know this is already in the heads of the Yorkshire Mafia/M62 Brigade. With the WC gone, a Catalan title is the best thing that can happen for the game
 
They won't let the 'home' fixtures in the play-offs be played at Brutus. They'll cite Covid, the lack of a TV deal, not fair to clubs and supporters (without explaining how fairness comes into it for les Dracs and their supporters, mind...), blah blah blah. Anything that they think they can get away with.
 
TonyM19 said:
I hope we can get some sort of Test matches up between England and France, preferably in France.
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That would be good.

Transfer news - Joel Tomkins is leaving Catalans at the end of the season to join Leigh. He reckons he's looking for a new challenge. I reckon he'll find it.

One of the French sports writers took the opportunity for a minor spot of trolling, going with the headline 'Tomkins s'engage avec une autre équipe de Super League pour 2022'. The comments were chock-full of people berating him for not putting 'Joel' in the headline :D
 
St Helens today. Think this is where our run comes to a (hopefully temporary) halt. The 12 wins in a row we currently have is the best since 2018 (St Helens, funnily enough) and a 13th, if we could, would equal Saints' run in 2008.

Can't fall off the top of the table anyway, which helps :)
 
Broncos v Toulouse is free on the Our League app tomorrow afternoon. Good opportunity to see Toulouse in action. The RFL have a few months to come up with some (in)valid reasons why they shouldn't be in SL despite being the best team in their comp by a mile. If Fev won the Championship, they would be in SL in a heartbeat.

Also a good chance for Wigan fans to see Hankinson and Miski in action
 
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