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 Poor old Widnes. In days of yore and the sight of Doug Laughton and his chequebook would spark fear and trembling in the Welsh valleys, the Chemics could pluck a Jonathan Davies or John Devereux from the Welsh rugby union bosom. Significantly, these two gentlemen were to the fore in lauding Celtic Crusaders' successful Super League licence application. Widnes, the great cup kings of the seventies and eighties, missed the original Super League cut in 1996 and have ended up disapppointed again, three years after their relegation that paved the way for the Catalans Dragons. What is it with the RFL and Widnes ? Do they not like this particular corner of Cheshire ?
Two decades on from Widnes's pilfering of leading Welsh players and it is now up to the Crusaders to show that they can poach a major rugby union signing, for that is where interest, credibility and real public relations clout exists in Wales. Naturally Shane Williams (above) has been mentioned and Celtic coach John Dixon has praised the wing whizz's qualities that could transfer to league. Indeed, any one of Wales's 2008 Grand Slam heroes would do the PR trick, even if the financial cost would appear to rule out such a move at this stage. Celtic, nonetheless, need to move (bread of) heaven and earth, for as astute a signing as Iestyn Harris would be as a player-coach, is he really going to cut the mustard with the Welsh rugby public ?
Continue reading "Top of Celtic Crusaders' Super League shopping list - Shane Williams ?" »
 The RFL have spoken. The three-year licences issued this morning will have delighted some and demoralised others. Into the engage Super League come Celtic Crusaders and Salford City Reds, while the other 12 existing clubs can also breathe a sigh of relief (although their inclusion hardly comes as a shock).
But it's the likes of Widnes, Leigh and Halifax who will be fighting for scraps after missing out on a place at rugby league's top table.
Did these sides deserve their fate? Would Toulouse or Featherstone have provided greater entertainment and money-making opportunities? Have the RFL got it right? Let off steam below.
 It's D-Day and I'm stuck at 30,000ft, ignorant as to what's going down on the ground at faraway Brighouse - scene of many a big rugby league announcement - while I'm over Dubai, a long way from home and with hours to go before I catch up with the rest of you and find out who is in and who has not made it. The pilot doesn't know, nor the co-pilot. The ears of an air hostess pricked up at the word Widnes, but she just thought I was asking for a whisky. "Are the Salford City Reds in ?" I ask. Confused faces all round. "What about Celtic Crusaders, you know Bridgend ?" "I'm sorry, sir, would you like a newspaper ?" Well, I would if I thought that the Gulf Times was devoting half a page to the make up of the 14 teams in the Super League next year. But somehow I doubt it. Ignorance, in this instance, is anything but bliss.
NO 1, KEIRON CUNNINGHAM: Better than all the rest. A remarkable performer whose brilliant consistency from the very start of the Super League through to the present day marks him out as a very special - dare one say, unique player. The one pity with Cunningham is that he never quite made the impact for Great Britain that he could have done because of injuries and withdrawals. For St Helens, he has never been less than immaculate in well over 300 Super League appearances as part of five title-winning Saints teams. A Man of Steel award has eluded him and yet those three words characterise his long and prodigious career. A mighty presence at hooker, he could easily have been a prop or half back - sometimes he has been all three in a game. Cunningham at his best invariably means Saints are at their best. He got to lift the Challenge Cup last year - another trophy he has won six times - as captain for the first time. James Roby has understudied the great man and St Helens will still prosper when he has gone. There will be the memories - and a bronze statue in the town of Keiron, the number one man.
Read on for the top 50 list in full ...
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players - No 1, Keiron Cunningham" »
 NO 2, JAMIE PEACOCK: If there was a player who you wanted to go out there and play for you, Peacock's the one I'd plump for. He looks permanently knackered and yet finds ounce after ounce of energy to expend over the course of 80 minutes. He'd go all day if he had to. His performances border on the superhuman at times. When he looks fit to drop, he gets back up and keeps on going. Is he fitted with Duracell batteries ? A natural captain who leads by example. Personal pride and pride in his country are powerful motivational forces for him. At international level, he raises himself farther still. There is no other man around better equipped to captain England in this autumn's World Cup in Australia. A Man of Steel award winner in 2003, three Grand Final victories with Bradford in 2001, 2003 and 2005 and another with Leeds in 2007. Believe me, it's taken one heck of a player to squeeze Peacock from the No 1 spot.
* As Rolf Harris might say of the No 1 choice, "Have you guessed who it is yet ?" Find out on Monday when I complete my list of the 50 Top Super League players from 1996 to the present day.
Players three to five on my top 50 Super League players list, starting with the man mountain himself,  known simply as The Volcano.
3. LESLEY VAINIKOLO: My first mistake with Big Les was to go to shake his hand on meeting him the first time. My hand was throbbing for a week afterwards. His grip was like that on the ball - vice-like. Hull once tried to take the ball off him and ended up waving him through for a Super League record six tries against them in 2005. The most lethal scorer the competition has seen - 136 tries in as many league appearances. Yet 2002, his first season, was by no means memorable. He got motoring in Bradford's all conquering 2003 season and touched down 38 times during 2004. With New Zealand team-mate Shontayne Hape inside him, the pair ran riot on Bradford's left side. Super League's best box office attraction, who left to seek more fame and fortune in rugby union and hasn't quite made it. League would have him back like a shot.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (3-5)" »
 We're into the top 10 of my 50 Best Super League players and we start with the competition's Great Showman, whose array of hair styles (dreadlocks, pig tails, braids, corn rows, etc.) have bemused and knack of winning big games have amazed. A prodigious talent, who was embroiled in a betting scandal in 2004 and was banned for three months and yet bounced back. The more he gets put down, the higher he springs up.
6. SEAN LONG: Has been known to run around with the head of Saints' St Bernard mascot on by way of celebration. Holder of a record three Lance Todd Trophy awards in winning Challenge Cup finals with St Helens, he kicked the decisive goal from the touchline to win the 1999 Grand Final and the dramatic last gasp drop goal to again beat Bradford in the drama-filled 2002 final at Old Trafford. Man of Steel in 2000, he top scored with 390 points that season and was also the joint top tryscorer on 22 with his half back partner Tommy Martyn. He has been Saints' danger man since signing for them from Widnes in 1997 after Wigan let him go for Lee Hansen. Not the smartest move - Long has haunted Wigan ever since. In his twilight years, no sign yet of any slowing up. Nor of his hairstyles improving.
7. PAUL NEWLOVE: An enigma. A strong, silent type who shunned the limelight and whose approach  was utterly dedicated, for all the talk of not being the greatest of trainers. He left Bradford because his heart and his mentor Peter Fox were no longer at Odsal in and moved to St Helens on the eve of the Super League era in a world record £500,000 move. He'd travel three hours there and back each day from his beloved Featherstone and Saints coach Shaun McRae assisted his transition from a centre, who simply ran over opponents, to one who'd use his powerful hand off to help furnish Anthony Sullivan outside him with over 100 tries and become an examplary defender. Between 1996 and 2003, he also touched down 106 times in 162 league appearances and won Super League titles in 1996, 1999 and 2002.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (6-10)" »
We're getting near to the top 10, but first meet the five players, four of them from St Helens, who  didn't quite make it into that ultra elite group. I can tell you that it took ten good ones to keep out the man at No.11 - a serial collector of cups and medals, who scored the most dramatic try in Super League history on the final play of Saints' 2000 play-off win over Bradford at Knowsley Road.
11. CHRIS JOYNT: Captain Incredible, yes, but the player whose autobiography was The Quiet Man. Quiet off the field maybe, but Joynt made a big noise in Super League from 1996-2004. He joined St Helens in 1992 and became synonymous with the success that began with a Super League and Challenge Cup double in 1996. Both trophies almost became Saints' private properties and the player lifting them above his head was nearly always Joynt, whose man of the match display in Saints' 20001 World Club Challenge win over Brisbane in the hail in Bolton was rightly hailed. Was him dropping to his knees on the last play after Sean Long's last gasp drop goal to beat Bradford at Old Trafford in 2002 a voluntary tackle ? Maybe, maybe not, but what a player.
 12. IESTYN HARRIS: The Leeds success story of recent times really couldn't have been written without the influence of Harris. He began the Super League era at Warrington before a £350,000 move to Leeds in 1997. The following season saw him named Man of Steel. Arguably only Jonathan Davies in the modern age had the better knack of creating time on the ball and spacefor himself, but Harris weaved sufficient magic from full back or stand-off to join the pantheon of Leeds greats. He almost operated in a bubble. Defences simply couldn't get to him. Not only was he Rhinos captain by 21, he amassed points at a prodigious rate - more than 2,000 by the time he switched to rugby union at Cardiff. He played 25 times for Wales before returning to league at Bradford, amid much acrimony as Leeds still had first call on him. There is the occasional glimpse still of a once great player, who was never the fastest but was indisputably one of the most skilful.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (11-15)" »
 Hello pop pickers. We get stuck into the leading 20 of my top 50 Super League players today, starting with the Wigan youngster, who looked as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth and who turned out to be not only one of the toughest hombres in the business, but one of the greatest support players and finishers of all time in the cherry and white. Born in Wigan, of Polish descent, he was an ardent Wigan fan. So much so that, although St Helens were set to offer him professional terms, he played as an amateur for a year at Central Park before he became a paid apprentice.
16. KRIS RADLINSKI: "Too small," they said. Radlinski was 16, on the dimunitive side, but fiercely determined. He took himself off to the gym. Radlinski grew in every way. He'd made only 28 appearances for Wigan when he was called into England's 1995 World Cup squad at 19 and played in the opening win against Ausatralia at Wembley. The glory years at Wigan were coming to a close but Radlinsaki, first at centre and later full back, was the consummate professional. The defensive duties he prided himself on were epitomised in his Lance Todd Trophy display in Wigan's 2002 Challenge Cup victory, just hours after pulling himself off a drip after a foot infection. A total of 134 tries in 237 Super League appearances - a number he extended after retiring and re-emerging to help Wigan avoid relegation. A copper-bottomed Wigan hero.
17. JASON ROBINSON: And talking of Wigan heroes. Yes, Jason Robinson was one once, in the mists of time before his glorious rugby union adventure. Associated, of course, with the great Wigan side of the early to mid 90s, he was another deemed too small to make it - by Leeds. Wigan were not so daft when scout Eric Hawley came knocking with his Hunslet prodigy. His Super League career (87 tries in 127 Wigan appearances from 1996-2000) featured the Grand Final victory of 1998, which he sealed with a typically lacerating try from a standing start to beat the Rhinos. He was named in the Super League Dream Team for each of the first five seasons. His league career ended with defeat in the 2000 Grand Final to St Helens but he carried the flag for the code in winning the union World Cup with England in 2003. There was only one Billy Whizz.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (16-20)" »
 My top 50 Super Players series continues with the first batch of players to make the cut of 25, starting with the elder of two New Zealand siblings, who together took the competition by storm on the same Bradford team.
21. HENRY PAUL: In his early days at Wigan, Henry spoke about a brother back home more richly endowed with skills and daring than he was. We'd laugh, because how could this other brother be better than Henry, who captained the Junior Kiwis and landed with a bang in 1993 at Wakefield ? He quickly moved on to Wigan, upstaged Va'aiga Tuigamala on his Wigan home debut and was a little stick of inspiration. He was at stand-off for Wigan's 1998 Grand Final defeat of Leeds but had already said he'd be joining brother Robbie at Bradford. The brothers united at half back led Bradford to glories, including their final match together in the winning 2001 Grand Final. Henry went to rugby union but in 2006 was back in league at Harlequins as a tough-tackling, no nonsense loose forward. At 34, it really will be goodbye at the end of this season - he's off back to union at Leeds Carnegie.
22. KEVIN SINFIELD: Once the apprentice at Leeds to Iestyn Harris, Sinfield has been the key figure in  the Rhinos side for more than a decade. He made his Super League debut at 16 in 1997. Six years later he was appointed captain. There are few better leaders - and if you want any convincing, just go and ask Jamie Peacock, who knows a thing or two about captaincy. He lifted the Super League trophy at Old Trafford in 2004 and 2007 and the World Club Challenge trophy for a second time this year. Call him the quiet revolutionary - a young man brought up at home on the sayings and writings of Che Guevara, who was born to lead.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (21-25)" »
 Part five of my 50 top Super League players countdown and we start with the little big man of the competition - 5ft 5in officially, although I'd swear that's a couple of inches on the generous side. Either way, he's a "giant" of the modern era.
26. ROB BURROW: If it came to the Biggest Heart in Super League Award, Burrow would win it hands down. Big of heart, small of stature, the Leeds scrum half brings a whole new meaning to the word elusive. He'll duck under legs and arms, weave the most extraordinary patterns and operate his legs like pistons to break into the clear. Once away, there's no stopping him. Burrow is an entertainer, pure and simple. Without him at No 7, it's unclear where England would go in the World Cup. A born winner.
27. TOMMY MARTYN: An innate talent with a rich lineage - two ball-playing  forwards, his uncle, Mick Martyn, for Leigh and GB in the 1950s, and his father, Tommy Sr, a veteran of Warrington's 1975 Challenge Cup final. Tommy Jr grew up in Leigh with one ambition. Driving lorries for a steel tube company while a semi-pro at Oldham made him appreciate the rewards that were later showered on him as one half at St Helens of two great half back partnerships, first with Bobbie Goulding and later Sean Long. A maverick stand-off and game-breaker, who scored 87 tries in 145 Super League appearances for Saints.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (26-30)" »
 As the TV programmes say, welcome back to the countdown (or count up) of my top 50 Super League players. We kick off our next five names with the 2007 Man of Steel, a super sub and a young man who could take the World Cup in Australia by storm this autumn. Let's hope so.
31. JAMES ROBY: Once the apprentice to the master in Keiron Cunningham, St Helens now have two master hookers. Cunningham inflicts the first blows and Roby comes on to finish opponents off with his lightning pace off the mark and vision. He's certainly no less dangerous starting matches, as he recently proved for England against France and in last year's Kiwis series. Mentally tough, his physique belies his strength and durability. Knock him down and he somehow gets up stronger. Give him an inch at dummy half and he'll steal a mile. A mainstay of the British game for many years to come.
32. GARETH ELLIS: A fine Great Britain and England international never afraid to test himself. A ball  player, a go forward merchant, a creative midfield presence, a slashing centre. Ellis can fill no end of roles and once did for Wakefield, for whom he was the fulcrum of the side from 1998 to when Leeds lured him away in 2004. An inspirational presence in Leeds's Grand Final success last year who made it into the World XIII but who remains unfailingly modest. In the second row and at centre, he always makes an impact for Leeds. But from 2009 he will move to Wests Tigers and set himself the ultimate test in the NRL.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (31-35)" »
 Part III of my top 50 Super League players begins with the Magic Man, a player who inspired New Zealand in ending Australia's domination in the 2004 Tri-Nations series and gave hope to his adopted country, France and the Catalans Dragons ...
36. STACEY JONES: No player has haunted Great Britain the past decade more than the former New Zealand scrum half maestro with the magical feet and daring vision. From a personal view, he went to Catalans to get away from it all, walk the streets unmolested and enjoy his footy. Famous in Perpignan for not even having a phone. But through his presence and brilliance on the field, Jones became as well known in Perpignan as he was in Auckland and was the pivotal figure in the Dragons' first two years, culminating in last year's Challenge Cup final appearance. In many respects, he paved the way for league success this year.
37. BRIAN CARNEY: Gaelic Footballer from Cork plucked from obscurity and his law degree studies in  Dublin, who not only made the Super League grade with Gateshead, Hull and Wigan, but went on to play with distinction for Great Britain and Newcastle Knights in the NRL. Carney is a great story by any stretch of the imagination and he was one heck of a player, with pace to burn. Not many players can step into Jason Robinson's boots and more than hold their own, but Carney succeeded in doing just that. He had hamstring like piano wires, but when they weren't playing him up, Carney was a joy to watch in full flight.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (36-40)" »
 Welcome to part two of the countdown of my top 50 Super League players, kicking off with a player who can make you gasp, make you groan, make you tear your hair out and make you believe in magic.
41. DAVID SOLOMONA: Naturally gifted. Beneath his ubiquitous headgear beats a rugby brain. He can thrill and infuriate in equal measure, but the New Zealand forward gives never less than full value for money. His philosophy is the simple one of if you never try, you'll never know. Solomona would rather tear off his headguard than die with the ball. Keeping the ball alive through the most consummate trickery is his stock in trade. Yes, there are mistakes, but as Wakefield and Bradford can testify, many more good things happen when Solomona gets hold of the pill.
42. STANLEY GENE: As old as the hills. Officially he's 33. Unofficially he's 56. Whatever his age, Stan  is The Man (or the old Man) of Super League. For Hull, Bradford, Huddersfield and now Hull KR, Papua New Guinea's most famous export has a centre of gravity at grasshopper height. He's as hard to nail down as one, too. Fantastically strong and not only a hero in his homeland for his rugby but now for his work helping with building projects in the community.
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (41-45)" »
 Pop out for some groceries and help your club. An innovative scheme has been launched today by The Co-operative, the RFL's newest Official Partner, who have teamed up with Super League and National Leagues clubs to form The Co-operative Rugby League Membership Scheme. Those supporters who join will raise potentially millions of pounds towards the ongoing development of the game through clubs' community trusts, who will receive fans' Co-operative dividend payment direct. Salford's Robbie Paul, The Co-operative "Good for Everyone" ambassador, said: "It will provide support to the game for many years to come and help across all aspects of the game, especially the development of players."
 Welcome to the first part of a series of my Top Super League 50 Players - the individuals I believe have best left their mark since Super League began in 1996, or are still making it in 2008. Over the next two weeks, I'll count down to my number one player. My list is unashamedly based on achievement, gut instinct and the pleasure factor. You'll find entertainers galore, no one-hit wonders, no overpaid Aussies who didn't pull their weight, and plenty of controversial admissions (and exclusions).
For instance, try as you might over the next couple of weeks, you WON'T find Andrew Johns, the world's greatest player in some eyes. Strike me down but his three games for Warrington do not add up to a place in my top 50. You will find Stacey Jones at some point, but you'll look in vain for Trent Barrett; sorry Wigan fans. Will you see Allan Langer cropping up, or is Lee Briers in a top squad at last ? Can Kevin Iro squeeze a place ? How high will Jamie Lyon rank, are both the Paul brothers worthy of inclusion, and who will rank above who between dynamic Sky duo Terry O'Connor and Barrie McDermott ? That's if they're included at all.
Carry on reading and you'll find out. The list will no doubt enrage, infuriate and, now and again, delight, hopefully. Anyway, please leave your comments and join in the debate. Let the countdown begin, starting with the five men who could be considered worthy or fortunate to make into the list at the expense of other arguably worthier or simply unfortunate opponents ...
Continue reading "Top 50 Super League players (46-50)" »
From the sublime to the pantomime. Super League round 20 - round 19 in Wigan's case - began with the  outstanding game of the season so far as Wigan pipped Leeds 23-22 in a classic, continued with the Leon Pryce show as St Helens put Harlequins to the sword to grab the league leadership from the Rhinos, onwards to Warrington going into overdrive against Wakefield and Catalans maintaining their fantastic away form at Hull. Even Castleford chipped in with a rare win over Hull KR.
But those of us unfortunate to be at the Galpharm Stadium on Sunday, buried our heads in our hands for nearly 80 minutes. When we looked up from the error fest, Chris Thorman had dropped an added time winning goal for the Giants and Paul Sykes, the Bradford centre, got himself a red card for dissent from Steve Ganson. A scrum, from which Bradford could conveivably have dropped an equalising goal at 25-24 down, was in the process of forming when the hooter went. Sykes saw red in every sense.
His dismissal followed four yellow cards and three on report incidents (two for Terry Newton) and a complaint by Bradford full back Michael Platt that he had his finger bitten. "I thought it was a pantomime out there," Bradford coach Steve McNamara, said. "We are here talking about officials' performances and the effect they have on results. I won't condone ill-discipline but frustration clearly got the better of him [Sykes].
"Obviously, he was aware the clock had been stopped and we would have had another play. We could have gone for a drop goal from the base of the scrum. I don't want to make excuses but what happened out there wasn't right." McNamara would have a better point had the preceeding 79 minutes not been so utterly awful. Bradford blew the game well before the last controversial incident - oh no they didn't, OH YES THEY DID.
 So Doncaster have reached their first final against Salford in the Northern Rail Cup in Blackpool, but in 57 years trying to scale such giddy heights how low did the Dons go ? Was it the winter of 1982 ? I am reminded by the Yorkshire Post's John Ledger, in his unmissable Friday rugby league page, of the lady pictured, one Diana Anderson, from Ashford, Kent. Following the 40-inch breasted Erica Roe's "behold, a comely female" moment in her topless intervention at Twickenham during an England rugby union international, Doncaster decided to go one better - well, two inches better (or bigger), to be precise - and advertised for a woman with a 42-inch chest to take part in the world's first organised streak before a match at Tattersfield. Of the 30 respondents, Ms Anderson apparently measured up best, but women's groups were up in arms and the streak was cancelled on police advice, much to the disappointment of a crowd of 1,276, funnily enough more than double Doncaster's then average. Ms Anderson did appear, fully clothed, as an official mascot.
 Calling all rugby league fans. Where in the world are you? From Leigh to London, Batley to Bangkok (a Thai franchise, perhaps?) Salford to Sydney, Dunedin to Doncaster, York to New York, Widnes to Wee Waa, please leaves us your comments here on the blog and let us know from where you are contacting us. Whether you're up a tree in Auckland, in a bar in Boston, your bedroom in Featherstone or surfing at Schipol Airport, please let us know your precise location. We want to build a picture of rugby league's global pulling power in World Cup year - yes, there is one in Australia from October 25-November 22. The results will feature on a global map in the book of the blog that will be published at the end of October - Down & Dirty, A Rugby League Blogging Year, in association with The Co-operative, sponsors of the National Leagues. To pre order and get your name in the book as subscriber see here for details.
* Watch out on Monday on The Rugby League Blog for the start of a series on my top 50 Super League players of all time - all time being 1996 to the present day, of course. Any suggestions will be most welcome. Can I be persuaded to include Andrew Johns? Will Tonie Carroll make it? Or Mark 'Spud' Carroll, or Bernard Carroll come to that? Any room for Blake Cannova or Anderson Okiwe? Surely you remember them? From Carl Ablett to Freddie Zitter, I'm sifting the names of everyone who has played in Super League to come up with my top 50.
Forget the team talk Ellery. Coach Hanley need only play his Doncaster side the video below and they'll be inspired in Sunday's Northern Rail Cup final against Salford - unbelievably the club's first ever final. I defy anyone with rugby league in their marrow not to be moved in some way by this wonderful compilation by Doncaster fan Craig Horne, featuring a club that has plumbed the depths, had to reinvent itself time and again, and 31 years ago starred in the unforgettable documentary Another Bloody Sunday, a time when the Dons really couldn't win a match. A club, indeed, that once made it into the Guinness Book of Records for sustained failure - and look at them now. Watch out for clips (and a classic commentary) from 1994 of Doncaster winning 29-20 at St Helens - they even led the old Championship for 48 hours that year - and of them coming down to earth at home to a Leeds side containing a certain Mr Ellery Hanley.
The Rugby League Blog has teamed up with the Rugby Football League to offer one lucky reader  the chance to win one of the new England rugby league shirts. The new shirt design was worn by the team for the first time in their 56-8 defeat of France in Toulouse last week. The shirts aren’t available in shops until July 18, but we have one to win by answering a simple question. Enter the competition here.
Closing date for entries is noon on July 11. The winner will also receive four tickets to England’s final World Cup warm-up against Wales at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium on Friday 10 October. Four runners-up will also receive a pair of tickets each to the game.
 The bloke going into meltdown in the Wakefield press box on the final hooter was me. Five hundred words on Catalans beating the Wildcats 30-14 disappeared for ever, as instead of cutting and pasting the report into an e-mail, I accidentally cut TWICE. What I pasted into the e-mail was nothing, zilch, zero, sod all. The one benefit of Sky matches kicking off at 7.30pm is that in deadline terms for the newspaper, it gives you a little leeway. But 8pm kick offs afford no such luxury, with your report supposed to be filed, sub-edited and fitted into the page back in the office in London, and "off stone" by 10pm.
I have had a laptop die in my arms at The Boulevard and another suffer a complete seizure at the JJB Stadium, but this was my own idiot fault and my Toshiba Satellite Pro U200 is utterly blameless. Of course that didn't prevent me hitting it. Not as badly, though, as one correspondent at a Great Britain-Australia Test, who famously set about his errant machine like Basily Fawlty beating his Austin 1300 with a tree branch. "You vicious bastard ... every weekend you do this to me on deadline. Well, I've warned before. I'm doing to give you a damn good thrashing."
Continue reading "It was on my screen, now its gone" »
 Three weeks today we will know the Magic 14. Know officially that is. The old grapevine is buzzing, the rumour mill is on treble time and Celtic Crusaders have read the runes, rubbed their crystal balls and concluded, or at least the Welsh press have, that Bridgend will be on the Super League map from 2009. The RFL have said that nothing is decided yet. Oh yeah ? The soothsayers I consulted on Scammonden Bridge and at Birch and Ferrybridge services all said something about Salford having to beware the Ides of March, or July. It looks like a yes for a revitalised Widnes, who crucially didn't kick up a fuss about Hull's ineligible player in the Challenge Cup, another yes for Celtic and a no for Salford, whose stadium will be ready for 2012, won't it ? Castleford will breathe a sigh of relief, as they and the other existing 11 clubs will keep their places. Any complaints about this prediction, in the unlikely event of it proving a load of old tosh, should be addressed to Madam Zelda, Fortune Teller to the Stars, Runcorn Shopping Centre.
 Long-term readers of this blog may recall the exception Doncaster coach Ellery Hanley took at the Northern Rail Cup launch in January to a question posed by the Press Association's highly respected rugby league correspondent Ian Laybourn: "You've obviously been used to dealing with elite players throughout your career. Have you made the adjustment to dealing with part-time players ?" Hanley's acid response was: "I think that's probably a bit of rudeness on your behalf to say part-time players. Yes, part-time players maybe, some of them, but they are elite in their own right and I think you respect that."
So with respect then, how does Hanley explain this in an interview previewing Sunday's cup final in Blackpool against Salford ? "Some people who've never crossed the whitewash to play the game may tell you that there's not much difference between full time and being part time, but that's nonsense," he says in League Weekly. "There's a massive difference because when you're full time, rugby league is your sole focus, whilst a lot of our boys are out there working tough jobs in the week."
 The difference between Toulouse Friday night and Odsal Sunday afternoon ? Fifteen degrees centigrade, to be precise. Even so, Bradford's Sam Burgess and Hull KR's Peter Fox hit the ground running, less than 48 hours after starring roles in England's demolition of France. But Super League round 19 was dominated by Beauty and the Beast, or Bradford's (now Bath's) Shontayne Hape and Maurie Fa'asavalu, England's (formerly Samoa rugby union's) hulking, pony-tailed assasin.
"Maurie is a beast and was brilliant. He just loves it," Saints coach Daniel Anderson said of Fa'asavalu's two-try contribution in the 46-16 thrashing of Huddersfield. Hape is Beauty, the seductively creative centre who thrived in Lesley Vainikolo's company at Bradford and has had a quiet time of it since his New Zealand mate left for the other code, but who came good in a tryscoring final appearance in the Bulls' 40-20 win over Rovers. "He's a special kind of player," Bradford coach Steve McNamara said, as yet another big name left the club, who have at least stabilised themselves with successive league wins.
 An impressive response, too, by the Bradford crowd, whose numbers have dwindled but whose loyalists stood to a man, woman, boy and girl to applaud Hape to the rafters and give him a fitting send off. It was the same when Vainikolo left last summer. There was a time when a player crossing codes would have been hung, drawn and quartered.
 First things first. England did a thoroughly professional job in duffing up France. Next stop the World Cup. The pity is that it's four months away. The team Tony Smith has put together, playing the way he wants them playing, is a good a national side as I can recall for many a long year. No, I'm not going to get carried away and say we'll win the thing in Australia, but I do know that we'll give it the best crack possible. You can tell how serious and focused Smith is, even though we press boys and girls caught him out having a late night celebratory drink - a milk shake!
It was a long old evening in Toulouse and if Smith wasn't putting the players to bed with a mug of Horlicks, at least he was setting the relaxing milky drink trend. If he then went on to a nightclub and danced the night away, then I apologise for the inaccuracy, although I suspect he didn't. The sixteen England players with experience of Great Britain's three-zip thrashing of New Zealand began where they left off against the Kiwis last autumn. Peter Fox, the one newcomer on the left wing, slotted in seamlessly on a night when Leon Pryce reaffirmed his world class status, James Roby seized control from dummy half, Kevin Sinfield tackled the French to a standstill, Martin Gleeson tap danced his way to the first hat-trick of his career and the new England brand was fittingly launched.
Continue reading "Super England, milk shakes all round but don't be sick now!" »
 The good news is that everyone here is talking about Le Match. The bad news is the match they're talking about is Toulouse's Top 14 rugby union final against Clermont on Saturday. Tonight's international at the Stade Ernest Wallon is nevertheless making a few ripples amid the tidal wave of union news and the England boys in their smart hotel on the splendid Place du Capitole are attracting some knowing glances at least. Strictly in the interests of the Blog, I can assure you that at 1.30am they were tucked up in bed, unlike this and one or two other stragglers propping up the hotel bar.
Having attracted horrified gasps from RFL bods over the dinner table that a French win would be good for the game - was that the final bottle of Minervois talking ? - I'll settle in the cold and sober light of day for a tight England win. Very patriotic of me. The next time this England team, or one resembling it, will play will be against Papua New Guinea in the opening World Cup match in Townsville on October 22. There is a danger that if Leeds and St Helens do reach the Grand Final, then the Wales fixture at Doncaster before the squad departs for Australia will be rendered fairly meaningless, in featuring many players who won't even be on the plane.
Continue reading "Toulouse awaits Le Match " »
It's nice to be travelling to Toulouse, if only to escape the tortures of trying to apply online for my media accreditation for the World Cup - deadline for submission middle of next month, under pain of death apparently. Three times I have filled the form in, downloaded a picture of myself, uploaded a letter from my office affirming I am who I say I am, loaded every detail of my life down to the colour of my underpants and the contents of what I had for breakfast, and three times it has chewed the lot up and delivered the dread warning message: "This page has expired." So did I, nearly.
No driving to France like two weeks ago for the original Le Blog . Just a whacking great couple of carbon footprints from Leeds to Paris and Paris to Toulouse. The Jet 2 cattle queue is heaving this morning at Yeadon and the ladies in blue jackets have their prods out and are looking menacing. All being well, I'll be in Toulouse by mid afternoon, although like a really cleverly thought out accreditation application form, the best laid plans often conspire against you. For instance, is my discovery just now that I have one of the sponsors' razors in my hand luggage a really bad thing ?
The Manchester-based press posse are taking the Liverpool-Carcassonne option and an advance party bizarrely routed through Amsterdam (I wonder what they were doing there?), so the race is on to a city which was never the happiest of hunting grounds for Great Britain against the French and should provide a rigorous test of England's ambitions in World Cup year. Several Lions sides came unstuck at the Stade Municipal in the 1960s and 1970s.
The unremarkable Stade Ernest Wallon, built in 1980 and home to the Toulouse rugby union club, is new territory, however, and England's first job will be to silence a home crowd of over 10,000 early on. Tony Smith has certainly picked a monster pack to do just that. More than 24 hours to the game and I've a 28-18 England victory feeling coming on. Now where's that cursed accreditation form ?
EXCLUSIVE By Tony Smith, England Head Coach
We're screaming out in the northern hemisphere for a competitive international fixture and in Toulouse  I reckon we'll get precisely that. France are going to be formidable in France, especially with a whole raft of Catalans Dragons players who are in such rich form. That's good for them and it's good for us. It's a Test match that will test our team and examine our character, not simply in terms of Friday's match but in terms of preparing us for the rigours of the World Cup in Australia in the autumn.
Of course we've got to be careful not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We've got to take care of this game, but there are things that we can take from this trip and this Test which we can learn from in fine-tuning our preparation for the World Cup. Having to travel, play in a different country and adapt to different weather conditions are all valuable experiences and, for the first time, we are playing as a new look England.
While we retired the Great Britain brand in this country on the right note with victory in 2007, it's important we carry that momentum through to the England brand. Every player is delighted to be playing for England. There's a real buzz about the squad and a fresh feel somehow. It's up to us to create history as England over the next few years.
Continue reading "THE TONY SMITH COLUMN: It is up to us now to create history as England " »
 Jason Robinson, Andy Farrell, Henry Paul ... and Joanne Watmore. The Halton Hawks player, an England rugby union international and England Students captain, is in line to become the first female dual code international. Watmore, a Leeds Met student who plays union for Thirsk, has been included by England coach Brenda Dobek (above left) in a squad of 19 to play France at Widnes RUFC on July 13. The women's team are also involved in their own World Cup in Australia this autumn at the same time as the men. Dobek's squad for the French game includes a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Emily Rudge, from Warrington, and seven players from league champions Wakefield Panthers.
And the international rugby league just keeps on coming. How, for instance, do you get this weekend from Toulouse to Tallinn in time for a 1pm Saturday kick off in the opening triangular Euro Bowl game between Estonia and Latvia at the Hipodroom Stadium ? The Estonians have been experiencing visa problems for their second game of the tournament in Ukraine, so the Latvian RL Federation have stepped in to host games two and three in Riga in August. Hats off to the splendid Latvians.
 Here are the logistics. England land back at Manchester Airport at 3.30pm from Toulouse via Gatwick on Saturday, two-and-a-half hours before Leeds kick off against Castleford and just 20 hours after the Test against France has ended. Will Brian McClennan have a Ferrari waiting to whisk Gareth Ellis to Headingley and a revolving door for him to burst through in his England strip and re-emerge in his Rhinos gear ready to wrestle some Tigers? And will Ellis give young Joe Westerman a lift in order for him to turn out for Cas ? Jamie Peacock will not be doubling up, but Ellis is one of a six-strong Leeds contingent on international duty certainly thinking about it. Unless Kevin Sinfield makes it back, his Super League record of scoring in successive rounds will end at 52. "If I'm fit and able, why not ? But it's the coach's call," Ellis said. Over to you Brian. Is it a bird, is it a plane ? No, it's Super Gaz.
 Peter Fox, a star of the 2008 Yorkshire Beef in the Buff calendar, cut an impressive figure (with his clothes on) at today's England press conference. The perfect choice, you might say, for Le Roast Beefs against France in Toulouse on Friday. Peter bared all before he left Wakefield for Hull KR this year but all in the best possible taste as part of a fund raising effort for Cancer Research UK. The last England man to pose naked with a ball covering his modesty was Sean Long in the pages of Cosmopolitan during the build up to the 2000 World Cup. Some team-mates posed with bananas - the official 2000 World Cup fruit. I wonder if there'll be an official team fruit in Australia ? The Mango Kangaroos, Pomegranate Kiwis, England Macadamia Nuts ...
Continue reading "Pin Up Pete, England's Foxy Star" »
 Some of us are happy with a short, back and sides, or one hair brushed back and one forward but can you imagine what Ryan McGoldrick, Castleford's colourful full back, asks his barber ? "Er, mate, I'd like a mohican with little pig tails and the beard plaited into a rat's tail, as per usual." Any daft hairstyle Sean Long can do, Ryan can do dafter. Not that it was a bad hair day for McGoldrick, who juggled Brent Sherwin's kick for the opening try in Cas's 22-22 draw with Wigan on Sunday and was excellent throughout. Play like he did every time and Cas fans would forgive him shaving the lot off and painting his head orange. No, Ryan, that's not a challenge! Anyone who knows McGoldrick's barber - Mr Teezy Weezy, of Glasshoughton, perhaps ? - the Rugby League Blog would love to hear from you.
PICTURE BY ANDREW VARLEY AGENCY
 Much of the buzz about next Friday's France v England international is centred on the stunning form of Catalans Dragons, especially at their Stade Gilbert Brutus fortress. A 52-14 walloping of Warrington in Perpignan on Saturday night maintained Catalans' pursuit of Leeds and St Helens, and the prolific Thomas Bosc, a definite Homme of Steel candidate, again underlined the threat he'll pose in Toulouse to the boys in red and white. Tony Smith announces his England squad on Monday and he will need his team in top form to get the better of John Monie's France.
Not knowing who is in the squad at this stage, my England line-up would be: Wellens; Gardner, Atkins, Senior, Raynor; Pryce, Burrow; Morley, Diskin, Graham, Peacock, Ellis, Sinfield. Interchange: Roby, Burgess, McGuire, Hock (if fit)/Fa'asavalu.
 The day finally dawned when Steve Ganson, from St Helens, would referee St Helens. It came in the biggest game of the Super League season so far against Leeds, and, guess what, it all ended in controversy in Saints' pivotal 26-12 win. That's if you believe some sections of the Headingley crowd and those obsessives still hung up about refs now being allowed to officiate their hometown clubs.
What was Ganson supposed to do ? Ignore Leeds substitute Nick Scruton's spear tackle on Keiron Cunningham, Ryan Bailey's suspicious "chicken wing" tackle on Maurie Fa'asavalu, Leeds's persistent offside offences in the second half ? He dealt with all appropriately, correctly and professionally. Where others refs might have taken the easier option in placing Scruton on report, Ganson quite rightly produced his red card. Leeds coach Brian McClennan spoke of "a bit of confusion about some of the decisions" but Leeds, whose lead over Saints has shrunk to two points, are surely a bigger club than one that unfairly blames the referee for their failings on the night.
 Kylie Leuluai, Scott Donald and Brent Webb show off their mean machines, okay then mopeds they pedal - sorry, ride - to training. No helmets lads ? And poor old Scott can't even afford a pair of socks. But will the Rhinos phut, phut trio do a wheelie over St Helens Friday night ?
Victory would move Leeds six points clear again and you really couldn't then see the champions being caught at the top of the engage Super League. Lose and Saints move to within two points and steer three points clear of Catalans, who Daniel Anderson regards as a potent threat to his team's intended top two finish.
He should be worried, too, because a St Helens defeat at Headingley and a home win for the Dragons against Warrington Saturday night would see the French team leapfrog Saints into second spot. Mick Potter may be on his way to Knowsley Road next season, but the wily Catalans coach is in no mood to do his future employers any favours at this stage. Formidable in Perpignan, a home draw or two for the Dragons in the play-offs and we could quite easily see a Leeds v Catalans Grand Final in October.
PICTURE BY ANDREW VARLEY
* Another sign of Catalans' intent comes with news of their capture of former Australia Test prop Jason Ryles (below). The 29-year-old St George Illawarra forward has agreed a three-year contract and will be a direct replacement for ex-New Zealand front rower Alex Chan, who is to retire at the end of the season. The 6ft 4in, 18st 10lb Ryles, who made 15 Kangaroos appearances from 2001-05, is the second signing made by Kevin Walters, who succeeds Potter as head coach next season, following recruitment of Manly centre Steve Bell.
 "Finally I have lived the dream, I am extremely proud to have worn the armband and been captain of England and for that I will always be grateful."
Proud words on the new England rugby league team website. From Andy Farrell, England's last World Cup captain, perhaps ? Er, no from David Beckham ... DAVID BECKHAM! If it takes David Beckham to legitimise the name change to England, then give me back Great Britain NOW.
Just a personal thing, but I don't consider myself English, or Scottish come to that (I'm a Jock under the grandparent rule). I'm British. It says so in my passport - nationality, British citizen. The website talks about "for team and country"; "a national identity"; and a "logo for the nation to get behind". But a country, a national identity and a nation that unfortunately I, like many others, identify as Britain. Having grown up supporting Great Britain, sorry but the RFL's battle for hearts and minds after mothballing the GB name has some way to go to convince this sceptic.
So far I've seen the new England shirt described as looking like something from the Ann Summers  nurses outfit collection, a band aid, a first aid post, a tube of toothpaste, a helicopter landing marking and a replica of the new Switzerland rugby league team jersey. And don't you just want to pull that stripe at the front down a little farther ? Did they run out of red ? The more I look it, though, the more I like it, until we lose, of course. PS: Like the patriotic colour ?
Le Touquet to Leeds 326 miles. Road tolls, 3 Euros; £1 for Dartford Tunnel. On the CD: Oasis.
Le Touquet is an old fashioned seaside resort that is almost deserted. We left the car on the road but  safe outside the police station, or so we imagined. The next morning we discovered that someone had scraped their key down one side, inflicting a yard long gash. To add to yesterday's speeding fine, this is all getting insanely expensive. The Porsche potters to Calais, overtaken by a battered Clio and old Skoda. The train is quiet back, unlike the M25, which surprised us as we'd heard the UK had run out of fuel. Francoise, or Frankie now we're back home, detours us north via the clogged M11 and A1. It's a long old road home but we've made it and with our wine and jars of cassoulet intact. The car is looking a bit sad for its scrapes, including a bump with a bicycle rack in a car park in Lyon and a dead fly count conservatively estimated at five million, but for all the pitfalls and expense, Le Blog has been a blast.
Journey's end 2152 miles. Petrol £485. Euro Tunnel crossing £115. Road tolls £90. Parking £80.
So would we do it again ? See our top ten dos and don't and the best of Andrew Varley's Le Blog pictures ...
Continue reading "LE BLOG Day 8, Le Fin, The End" »
 David Topliss, who died suddenly on Monday, was among a pantheon of great half backs with the likes of Alex Murphy, Roger Millward and Alan Hardisty at a time when Great Britain would whistle down a coalmine and up they'd pop. His speed and finishing were a lethal combination, whose ski
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Poor old Widnes. In days of yore and the sight of Doug Laughton and his chequebook would spark fear and trembling in the Welsh valleys, the Chemics could pluck a Jonathan Davies or John Devereux from the Welsh rugby union bosom. Significantly, these two gentlemen were to the fore in lauding Celtic Crusaders' successful Super League licence application. Widnes, the great cup kings of the seventies and eighties, missed the original Super League cut in 1996 and have ended up disapppointed again, three years after their relegation that paved the way for the Catalans Dragons. What is it with the RFL and Widnes ? Do they not like this particular corner of Cheshire ?
