Ukraine in Serbia for the Slavic Cup and South Africa Prepare for WC

Various The Ukranian’s are on a two game tour of Serbia where they will play the next leg of the Slavic Cup. The South Africans are preparing for their World Cup Qualifiers with a warm up match against the Canadians. Also some news from the USARL AGM with more youth development. UKRAINE UNDERTAKE TWO GAME RUGBY LEAGUE TOUR OF SERBIA From Phil Caplan The Ukrainian Rugby league team arrive in Serbia this week on a...

2013 Rugby League World Cup European Qualifier Squads Announced

From Phil Caplan Italy, Lebanon, Russia and Serbia have unveiled their squads for next month’s 2013 Rugby League World Cup European Zone Qualifiers. Joint-captained by Anthony Minichello and Cameran Cirarldo, the Italian’s kick off the round robin tournament when they host Russia in Padova on the 15th October. Vice president Fabio Di Pietro noted that being on the road to the World stage is a massive...

Uate’s Selection Shows What’s Wrong in Rugby League

By Daniel Andruczyk Its silly season again, where New South Wales and Queensland take each other on in that Civil War that is State of Origin. However what many don’t realise is that State of Origin has basically become a somewhat crusade of mercenary players. Players who are ditching their nation of heritage to basically get a fatter pay check. Of course I am referring to Akiula Uate’s selection for the Country...

Ireland and USA Media Releases – Pope on the DBC and Strategic Plans

From the USA and Ireland Media Today two press releases from the Irish and USA. I am on the road at the moment and so articles and my replies will be sporadic till Friday when I will start coverage of the Donnybrook Cup with the press release at 1 pm. POPE READY FOR IRELAND The USA Tomahawks resume their international rugby league schedule this coming Saturday when they take on Ireland in the Donnybrook Cup in...

The Case Against Tours

By Daniel Andruczyk One of the debates that has come out of recently is that there aren’t any tours in Rugby League any more. The last Ashes tour was in 2003 when Australia went to the UK. But in hind sight I think this is not a bad thing. In fact not having tours ultimately is the best thing that can happen to Rugby League if it wants to truly expand internationally. Big 4 tours In the past tours were performed...

England Jump on the Bandwagon

By Daniel Andruczyk Last week England jumped on the Pacific Nation stealing band wagon. Willie Manu made himself available for England and he was embraced with open arms. But when you read the various articles on this you see a disturbing trend and attitude towards the English Jersey. Of course its not the first time England has done this, in fact from the home nations there have been other players that defected, or...

The 12 Year Master Plan

By Daniel Andruczyk The latest blog comes on the back of a discussion I had with a avid rugby league fan in New Zealand. Its also a re-vamp of last years series of blogs on the 4 ways to fix International Rugby League. Originally I did this back in 2007 before the World Cup where there was a 10 year plan, it was in answer to what Richard Lewis and the “RLIF” had announced at the time with the lead up to the 2013...

The Simulation – Rugby Leagues International Tournaments – Year 4.

By Daniel Andruczyk So far the first three years have had teams compete in regional championships like the European Cup.  The logical progression from these is that the winners then get to play in some higher cross regional tournaments, one being the RLIF Cup where its the natural progression from the current Four Nations, that is its been expanded to a six nations tournament. Today’s blog looks at the last year...

The Simulation – Rugby Leagues International Tournaments – Year 3.

By Daniel Andruczyk In the last blog the Regional championships were finalised and the winners went through to the next round of tournaments. Also the world cup qualifying rounds had begun. This blog I look at the 6 and 4 nations tournaments that the nations have qualified for. RLIF Cup (6 Nations) The RLIF Cup in a natural expansion of the current 4 Nations. But here rather than having set teams in the tournaments...

The Simulation – Rugby Leagues International Tournaments – Year 2.

By Daniel Andruczyk Last blog I started a simulation that is based on the 4 ways to fix international rugby league. I covered the qualifiers for regional tournaments in Year 1 and now in year 2 of the four year cycle we look at the Finals of these regional championships. At the same time, teams that did not make it to the regional championships they embark on their world cup qualifying. Pacific Nations Cup From the...