This week there finally has been some news on the tournaments in Europe. Aside from the Cup, The shield and Bowl as well as the MENA championships have been announced. Around the world most of the domestic championships are either well into their season or in the case of the French are coming close to the end.
This week the Rugby League European Federation announced the teams for this years European tournaments. Aside from The European Cup, where France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be fighting it out, the European Shield has been expanded to six teams. Two groups of three will fight it out with one group having Serbia, Germany and the Czech Republic. The Other will see the old eastern block with Russia, Latvia and Ukraine . The winner from each group will play in a final. The European Bowl tournament will have Norway, Belgium and Malta playing. Germany and Holland will also have an international and Italy and the USA will have a home and away series as well. The Middle East and North Africa Championships will also be played. Though no teams have been confirms it is understood that at least Lebanon, Morocco and United Arab Emirates will be involved. However news still remains on the other 8 nations in Europe and what their plans are for this year.
Round three is starting to produce some clear favourites for the title already and unfortunately my Sharks are coming close to setting an NRL record for the most consecutive loses. Results overt the weekend are: Wests beat Parramatta in an exciting match 23 – 12. St George continued their winning was against the Cowboys 33 – 8. Melbourne beat Penrith 16 – 10 while Manly brought Newcastle to earth 36 – 12 and the Gold Coast thumped Canberra 24 – 4. Brisbane suffered a home loss to the Warriors 48 – 16 while the Bulldogs absolutely thrashed the Chooks 60 – 14 and Souths got off the bottom beating Cronulla 30 – 8.
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt |
| St George | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 6 |
| Gold Coast | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 6 |
| Melbourne | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 4 |
| Wests | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Sydney City | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -8 | 4 |
| Canterbury | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| Manly | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| Brisbane | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 2 |
| Penrith | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| South Sydney | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -5 | 2 |
| Parramatta | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -13 | 2 |
| North Queensland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -23 | 2 |
| Newcastle | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -26 | 2 |
| Canberra | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -30 | 2 |
| Cronulla | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -40 | 0 |
Round 8 of the Super League was completed with results again showing that the early trends seem to stay. Wigan defeated the champions 24 – 4, Bradford beat Quins 19 – 12. Castleford had a close one with the Crusaders 22 – 16 who are really showing to be a surprise packet. Warrington had a win over Wakefield 32 – 16 and Salford beat Hull 27 – 20. Rovers went down to the Catalans 16 – 10 and St’s thrashed Huddersfield 24 – 6.
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt |
| Wigan | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 174 | 14 |
| Warrington | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 137 | 12 |
| St Helens | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 79 | 12 |
| Huddersfield | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 84 | 10 |
| Hull FC | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 51 | 10 |
| Wakefield | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -5 | 10 |
| Hull KR | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -42 | 8 |
| Bradford | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -46 | 8 |
| Leeds | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 41 | 6 |
| Castleford | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -45 | 6 |
| Crusaders | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -77 | 6 |
| Salford | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -88 | 4 |
| Catalans | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -102 | 4 |
| Harlequins | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | -161 | 2 |
The French elite has one more regular round and then catch up games to complete. But after round 17 as I mentioned last week Lezignan cant be beat even with a Bye this week. No real surprise results at this end of the season though Carcassonne did go down to Pia 12 – 25. In other matches Carpentras beat St Gaudens 24 – 18, Limoux beat Villeneuve 30 – 10 and UTC beat Avignion 58 – 24.
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt |
| Lezignan | 17 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 244 | 43 |
| Limoux | 17 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 129 | 33 |
| Carcassonne | 15 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 137 | 32 |
| Pia | 16 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 116 | 32 |
| Carpentras | 16 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 28 |
| UTC | 16 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 26 |
| Villeneuve | 17 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 2 | -97 | 26 |
| Avignion | 17 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 2 | -218 | 24 |
| St Gaudens | 16 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 2 | -310 | 16 |
The Bank of Beirut Championships are also getting close to their season end, only 3 rounds and catch up matches remain. Over the weekend LAU thrashed Balamand 52 – 8 while AUB annihilated AUST 78 – 0.
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt |
| LAU | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 468 | 18 |
| Jounieh | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 11 |
| AUB | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 69 | 10 |
| Wolves | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -51 | 10 |
| Balamand | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 9 |
| USJ | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -170 | 4 |
| AUST | 9 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | -240 | 0 |
Results from Catalonia are in from the University Championships. So University Ramon Lull beat the Autonomous University in Barcelona 22-18, The University of Girona had two wins against Autonomous and Ramon Lull 46 – 16 and 32 – 0 respectively.
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt |
| University of Girona | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 62 | 4 |
| University Ramon Lull | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -28 | 2 |
| Autonomous University of Barcelona | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -34 | 0 |
The University of Girona were crowned Champions. There was also a representative game between Catalonian Universities and Rossello. Rossello won this match 68 – 6
The Jamaican Rugby League are sending a team to the Cheltenham 9s on the 24th of April. Once again its wonderful to see this thriving Rugby League nations getting out there and testing them selves. Many of the players are home grown which is great to see. The team is:
Duane Nelson (Dudley Hill ARLFC)
Daniel Thomas (Dudley Hill ARLFC)
Duain Scott (Student Rugby League International)
Edgar Herbine (Jamaica Defence Force Warriors)
Andre Reid (Duhaney Park Sharks)
Romaen Campbell (Duhaney Park Sharks)
Ethon Dwyer (Jamaica Defence Force Warriors)
Tyronie Rowe (Vauxhall Vultures)
Roy Calvert (Duhaney Park Sharks)
Jason Bineham (Jamaica Defence Force Warriors)
Ryan Grant (Duhaney Park Sharks)
Robert Rodney (Olympic Angels)
Claude Yen (Vauxhall Vultures)
Hubert Thomas (Jamaica Defence Force Warriors)
Orien Smith (Jamaica Defence Force Warriors)
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