Last weekend saw the final conclusions to to the 4 Nations and Atlantic Cups. To form the favourite team won but not after some scares and being pushed all the way by their opposition. The Discovery Challenge Began this weekend as well with the France Juniors taking on the GB Community Lions.
The 4 Nations saw the English Three Lions take on the might of the Australian Kangaroos, dubbed by the French newspaper Le’ Equip “The Die Hards” Referring to the Kangaroos ability to be at the top of their game for 40 years now and how hard it is to beat them. In the first half England seemed to bring the form that they showed in the second half of their pool game. From the kick off England dominated with some good tries to Sam Burgess. Australia were lucky to get the benefit call from the video referee for Greg Inglis’ try and went into the break with a 14-10 lead. But the English fans were buoyed by what they saw and they smelt an upset and their first series win over Australia in over 30+ years.
However the Aussies had other ideas, they weren’t about to let up on their dominance on the international stage, and to make up for the World Cup loss took England to the cleaners. Though it was tough going early on, with a barging Sam Burgess going over to take first points of the half. But after the 60 minute mark it was all one way traffic from the Kangaroos with Billy ‘see ya later’ Slater bagging a hat-trick of tries to make up for the wayward one in the World Cup. Australia in the end ran away winner 46-16 in front of over 31,000 disheartened English fans.
But what the final did show is that England can compete with Australia and their invincibility is not what it used to be, with many of the the old stalwarts like Darren Lockyer looking to retire within the next year or two England’s 2013 World Cup chances look on the up.
Eight hours across the Atlantic Ocean and equally enthralling battle was staged on the shores of sunny Florida in the USA. Reggae rugby league came to town with Jamaica’s first ever full international against their more fancied opponents and neighbours, the USA Tomahawks.
The Match opened up with some big hits from both teams. The Jamaicans played with lots a flair what has been dubbed ‘Reggae Rugby League’ which saw them go into the break with a narrow 12-10 lead. However in the second half this flair was also the down fall of the Jamaicans providing three intercept tries to the Americans. The Tomahawks eventually took the lead and held on to win 37-22. The Jamaicans should be proud of what they managed to achieve.
With the end of the 4 Nations and Atlantic Nations does not mean that there is an end to the international rugby league calendar. The Australian Institute of Sport Rugby League team is touring France and the UK this month and December in a 4-Nation tournament called the Discovery Challenge.
Two matches have been played in this series, with the France juniors taking the opening match 22-14 against the GB Community Lions at St. Cyprian. On the 17 of November the French also took on the Australian Institute of Sport losing very narrowly to the Aussies 16-13.
The Next game is in Wigan when the GB Community Lions take on the Australians on the 26 of November. The table currently:
| Discovery Challenge 2009 | ||||||
| Team | P | W | D | L | PD | PT |
| France Juniors | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Australian IoS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Wales | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GB Community Lions | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -8 | 0 |
twitter
RUGBY LEAGUE WILL BE BIG IN AMERICA ONE DAY DANIEL
Certainly that is where many of the the resources should be put. I’ll be living in the USA from September so will be doing what I can with David to promote and suport the sport not just in the USA but Canada and Jamaica.
Already got a few plans with them.
If the TV deal can be set up soon, then the USA will be a pro comp from next year with FTA coverage on TV.
GOOD BECAUSE AT LONG LAST WE MIGHT JUST HAVE A PERSON WITH A BRAIN INVOLVED IN THE SPORT OF RUGBY LEAGUE.I HAVE BEEN IMPRESSED WHAT I HAVE READ ON YOUR WEB SITE IN RECENT WEEKS AND I BELIVE THAT A SUPER LEAGUE TEAM SHOULD BE BASED IN JACKSONVILLE AT THE EXPENSE OF SAY WIDNES,LEIGH,HALIFAX,FEATHERSTONE AND BARROW.THEY HAVE HAD THEIR GO AND SUPERLEAGUE AS WELL AS THE ERL OR RFL,TAKE YOUR PICK,REMIND ME OF A DOG CHASING IT’S TAIL.SL GOES AROUND IN CIRCLES ALONG THE M62 HIGHWAY AND THAT’S WHY THEY[THE POMS] HAVEN’T WON ANYTHING SINCE 1972.IF IT WASN’T FOR BARLA DOING STERLING WORK IN NEW HORIZONS IN RECENT YEARS IT WOULD BE THE SAME OLD STUFF RUN BY THE SAME OLD PEOPLE,THE SAME OLD SAME OLD.THIS IS ALSO HOW THE AUCKLAND RUGBY LEAGUE WORKS HERE IN AUCKLAND BECAUSE RUGY LEAGUE IS A WORKING CLASS GAME WITH A WORKING CLASS MEMTALITY AND UNTIL THAT MENTALITY CHANGES NOTHING WILL PROGRESS IN A HURRY.I FEEL PEOPLE WITH YOUR OBVIOUS INTELLECT DANIEL ARE A NECCESSITY BECAUSE THE PEOPLE I HAVE STRUCK IN THE GAME ARE ONLY THERE FOR THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST,SEE OTHERS AS THREATS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER THEMSELVES AND IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS THEY GENERALLY STUFF UP.RL HAS A HISTORY OF ALL OF THIS AND AMERICA IS JUST ONE PLACE WHERE THINGS WILL CHANGE FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME.
God, this idea has been bandied around for 10 years and its daft and everyone knows it. You know how expensive that would be… It would kill the club. Geezus.
The RFL has actually started to become a good organisation, its stopped doing knee jerk reactions and is actually setting things in a place with proper ideas. Richard Lewis was a god send for them.
America will hopefully be going Professional next year, I rather see 4-5 professional competitions around the world fighting for the players and spreasding the game that way. Much better. Why do we want all our eggs in the one basket?
DAIEL IT IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT THAT THE RUSSIA V USA GAME IS REVITALISE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
What rivalry, there never was one. They played what one or two games, but never had any massive rivalrly there. What would this achieve in the overall spectre of the game?
WHAT ABOUT THE 40,OOO PEOPLE THAT TURNED UP FOR THE RUSSIA V USA MATCH IN MOSCOW IN SEPTEMBER 2002 WHICH THE THEN RRL PRESIDENT AKHMET KAMALDINOV BANKROLLED.FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER,RUGBY UNION PEOPLE WERE WORRIED WHEN THEY SAT UP AND TOOK NOTICED OF THAT PARTICULAR MATCH.IN FACT,VETERAN NEW ZEALAND RUGBY UNION COMMENTATOR KEITH QUINN WENT ON RECORD AS SAYING THAT WAS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RL WORLD EVENT OF THE YEAR,YET ALL THE RL PEOPLE THAT RELIGIOUSLY FOLLOW BOTH THE NRL AND SL DISMISSED IT AS A NON EVENT.FOR ARGUMENT SAKE WHEN HAVE THE WARRIORS EVER DRAWN A CROWD OF THAT MAGNITUDE HERE IN NEW ZEALAND FOR A GAME.IT READ WELL FOR THE GOOD OF RL AND IN THE LEAD UP MATCH,TATARSTAN JUST BEAT THE USA IN A TIGHT ONE BEFORE A CROWD OF 10,000 ON A WET AND WILD NIGHT IN KAZAN WHERE DINO VIKAS WAS THE REFEREE AND SINCE THEN WHERE HAS THERE BE ANY FOLLOW UP.
DANIEL IT IS ALSO WORTH REMEMBERING THAT AMERICAN MONEY SAVED ENGLISH RUGBY LEAGUE IN THE LATE 70′S AND THE EARLY 80′S FROM DYING WHEN THE RFL COULDN’T GET ANY SPONSORSHIP AT ALL LARGELY THANKS THAT RUGBY LEAGUE WAS ONLY SEEN AS A NORTHERN GAME.
AMERICAN CIGARETTE COMPANY STATE EXPRESS SPONSORED THE CHALLENGE CUP COMPETITION[THE ROAD TO WEMBLEY]TO THE TUNE OF 330,000 POUNNDS OVER A MILLION DOLLARS IN TODAY’S CLIMATE FROM 1978 TO 1983.IT WAS KNOWN AS THE STATE EXPRESS CHALLENGE CUP COMPETITION WHICH MADE THE SPORT WORTWHILE UNLIKE SAY THE NSWPREMIER LEAGUE COMPETITION NOW WHICH IS USELESS.MIKE MAYER THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA RUGBY LEAGUE DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME WAS THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE IN ARRANGING THAT HUGE SPONSORSHIP DEAL FOR THE BRITISH GAME DESPITE THE FACT THAT DAVE OXLEY GOT ALL THE CREDIT FOR IT AND SO THAT IS WHY AMERICA IS GOOD FOR RL.OK.HISTORY WILL AGAIN REPEAT ITSELF MARK MY WORDS.OK.
DANIEL,IT’S ALSO WORTH NOTING THAT THE USAv RUSSIA WORLD CUP RUGBY MATCH SCHEDULED FOR NEW PLYMOUTH NEXT YEAR HAS ALREADY SOLD OUT.RUGBY PARK IN TARANAKI HOLDS 25,000 AND THE ORGANISERS COULD OF SOLD THE GROUND OUT TWICE OVER.TO MY KNOWLEDGE RUSSIA AND THE USA HAVE HARDLY PLAYED EACH OTHER IN RUGBY OVER THE YEARS