There is a massive amount of international Rugby League this week to cover! The GB Pioneers are touring Central Asia in July and have announced their matches. Also Tonga have got a schedule of their matches to me while Melbourne have been usurped of their top spot in the NRL. Super league is getting closer to its first big day of the season and Lebanon is also getting close to the end of the season. Also a few changes being brought in at Rugby League International Scores.
Tonga’s domestic season has started in earnest. There are four separate islands that have their own domestic competitions. The competition on the main island of Tongatapu will start at the end of the month while the second larges competition on Vava’u has started their 12 team competition. I am awaiting results still. On the islands of Ha’apai there will be an 8 team competition starting next Saturday and Eua Island will have their competition in June after the Rugby union season ends. Once these are done there will be an Island of Origin competition. This will be run in the same spirit of Australia’s State of Origin, where it doesn’t matter which competition the players play in, they end up playing for the Island team that they come from.
On the international front, Tonga will probably play England in a warm up to the 4 Nations in Wellington and then Tonga and Samoa will play each other as the curtain raiser to the Australia vs. Papua New Guinea 4 nations match in Parramatta.
Quarter finals results from Fiji’s Secondary Schools competition are also in. In the U15s MBHS Brothers 8 – 14 QVS Knights, Ba Provincial 6 – 14 Lelean Bulldogs, RKS Eels 4 – 7 Suva Grammar and Natabua 6 – 8 Sukuna Dragons. In the U17s Suva Grammar 10 – 4 RKS Eels, Ratu Navula 4 – 10 MBHS Brothers, QVS Knight 12 – 8 LMS Bulldogs, Natabua 10 – 20 Nasinu. The 19s Suva Grammar 18 – 16 RKS Eels, Ba Provincial 10 – 14 Nabua, Natabua 11 – 20 QVS Knights, Nasinu 30 – 2 Laucala Bay Sharks.
Also just a note from a previous blog, Samoa’s secondary school competition will be held in August.
England’s youth team (U16s) are in France this week on a two test tour. These are the youth from the professional clubs in the English system. England youth coach David Elliot took his charges to Stade Municipal in Carpentras for the opening test and they certainly came up against a challenge. Once again France showed that at the junior level at least they are a nation to be reckoned with. A strong performance saw the French come out on top 19-16 despite a late English resurgence where scores were 19 – 10 just 7 minutes from the end. Elliot had “immense pride” for his team despite the defeat. The second and final test will be this Friday in Entrigues.
They say that to win a final you first need to loose one, well this certainly has rung true for last years finalists, Team Alpenstoff, from Germany. The Germans went undefeated through the tournament. There were 6 teams in two groups. In one group had Team Alpenstoff, Vanersborg RK from Sweden and Oslo RK from Norway. The second group was Spartacus RK from Sweden, Boras RK also from Sweden and Lillestrom Lions from Norway. Results were: Alpenstoff 20 – 16 Vanesborg, Spartacus 28 – 12 Boras, Alpenstoff 16 – 14 Oslo, Lillestrom 16 – 16 Boras, Vanesborg 10 – 8 Oslo, Spartacus 24 – 4 Lillestrom.
The 5/6 play off between Oslo and Lillestrom was not played due to injuries to the teams, But the 3/4 play off Vanesborg defeated Boras 34 – 4. In the final Alpenstoff defeated Spartacus in a very tight game 12 – 8. Congratulations to Simon Cooper on a wonderful result and another piece of Silverware for the display Cabinet.
Melbourne’s unbeaten run came to an end on Friday night at the hands of the Gold Coast 20 – 16. The Broncos playing valiantly were still no match for the Dragons who take the top mantle now. The Dragons won 32 – 16. Souths good start continues against the knights defeating them 28 – 10. Wests beat the Cowboys 23-16 in a tight contest while on Sunday Cronulla’s dismal run of outs continued at the hands of Manly who won at Fort Brooky 40 – 12. Penrith thrashed Sydney City 28 –6 and Canberra had a surprise win against the slipper Eels 24 – 14
| Team | P | W | D | L | PD | Pt |
| St George | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 54 | 8 |
| Melbourne | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 8 |
| Wests | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 8 |
| Gold Coast | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 8 |
| Manly | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 6 |
| South Sydney | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 35 | 6 |
| Penrith | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 6 |
| Sydney City | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | -11 | 6 |
| North Queensland | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -16 | 4 |
| Canberra | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -33 | 4 |
| Canterbury | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -6 | 2 |
| Parramatta | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -34 | 2 |
| Newcastle | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -43 | 2 |
| Cronulla | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -57 | 2 |
| Brisbane | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -69 | 2 |
Huddersfield hold their place in the top 4 this week with a convincing 24 – 0 win over Castleford. Quins pushed St Helens to just lose 24 – 32, Bradford beat Catalans 36 – 14 and Leeds had a good win over Hull 46 – 30. Rovers upset Warrington 36 – 16 while the Crusaders once again proved they are a dangerous team beating Wakefield 20 – 10. Wigan had no problems disposing of Salford 18 – 4.
| Team | P | W | D | L | PD | Pt |
| Wigan | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 236 | 20 |
| Warrington | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 166 | 16 |
| St Helens | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 113 | 16 |
| Huddersfield | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 138 | 14 |
| Bradford | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | -20 | 13 |
| Hull FC | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 12 |
| Hull KR | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 12 |
| Wakefield | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | -42 | 12 |
| Leeds | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 67 | 11 |
| Crusaders | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | -71 | 8 |
| Castleford | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | -116 | 6 |
| Salford | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | -120 | 6 |
| Catalans | 11 | 2 | 0 | 9 | -176 | 4 |
| Harlequins | 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | -211 | 2 |
This week there were just three catch up matches to bring the French season back up to speed. There is only one round left and the anticipation is building in France. Avignion beat Pia 26 – 34, Carcassonne 18 beat Carpentras 6. While UTC had a big win over St Gaudens 66 – 10.
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt |
| Lezignan | 17 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 244 | 43 |
| Pia | 17 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 124 | 35 |
| Carcassonne | 17 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 155 | 34 |
| Limoux | 17 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 129 | 33 |
| UTC | 17 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 57 | 29 |
| Carpentras | 17 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 2 | -8 | 29 |
| Villeneuve | 17 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 2 | -97 | 26 |
| Avignion | 17 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 2 | -218 | 24 |
| St Gaudens | 17 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2 | -386 | 17 |
The Lebanese Season is also coming close to the end. Only one round remains and a few catch up matches before the play offs. Two matches were played over the weekend. LAU thumped AUST 30 – 0 and AUB beat USJ 34 – 16.
| Team | P | W | D | L | PD | Pt |
| LAU | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 498 | 20 |
| AUB | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 93 | 14 |
| Jounieh | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 32 | 11 |
| Wolves | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | -51 | 10 |
| Balamand | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 9 |
| USJ | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | -104 | 6 |
| AUST | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 | -464 | 0 |
Serbias National Championship on the weekend as well. Seven teams are competing this year from across the country. Radnicki beat Nis 36 – 4, Podbara beat Belgrade University 32 – 16, Car Lazar was beaten by Red Star 42 – 38 and Dorcol had the bye.
| Teams | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt |
| Radnicki | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 2 |
| Podbara | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| Red Star | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Dorcol | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Car Lazar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -4 | 0 |
| Belgrade University | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -16 | 0 |
| Nis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -32 | 0 |
The University Competition finished a couple weeks ago too. The Results are up on the web but 6 faculties fought out for honours with the Philosophy Faculty beating the Military academy 32 – 8. The final table standing is:
| Team | P | W | D | L | PD | Pt |
| FAQ XIII | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 6 |
| FON XIII | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 6 |
| FPS XIII | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -20 | 4 |
| PF XIII | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 3 |
| VA XIII | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -48 | 3 |
| SF XIII | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -34 | 2 |
You can also do your bit to help out Serbian Rugby League. You can donate money to SRL or buy merchandise on the website. Look for the PayPal sign to donate money
The GB Pioneers, who as the name suggest are a team that pioneers and helped the game of Rugby League set up, will be touring to the central Asian countries for a series of three matches in July. The tour goes from 1st July – 11 July and will play Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and a combined central Asian team which will consist of players from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Two things are happening with the website. I am making the results pages much more user friendly to navigate and view scores. So hopefully now you wont need a magnifying glass to see results. Also a new Rugby league International Scores forum will be coming on line, one that is now linked in with the actual website as opposed to separate. The old one will still be running as that is Ryan’s baby and I will still be on there, but I felt that the Website needed it own one.
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