In a week when Rugby League should be celebrating with two superb Grand Finals in Australia and England, news comes of controversy surrounding the round 24 betting scandal and teams going into administration. But aside from that there still was much Rugby League played around the world. From Australia to Serbia Domestic season continue.
The domestic Rugby League season came to spectacular end with the Dragons and Roosters fighting out the Grand Final in front of a Capacity 83,000 at the Olympic stadium. After a hard gritty first half where the roosters failed to capitalise on chances, the Dragons totally dominated the second half to run out 32-8 winners and throwing the tag of chockers once and for all.
Unfortunately, the week has been mired in controversy, Rugby League seems not to be able to get itself away from it. The betting scandal from round 24 between the Bulldogs and Cowboys has now seen not only players, but also the managers interviewed by the police.
The Super League also had their Grand Final. St Helens in their 4th straight Grand Final cam up against the Wigan Warriors who have had some lean years in recent times. In front of over 71,200 fans. The Warriors who have been dominant all season showed their dominance once more winning 22-10 and breaking St Helens’ hearts once more.
In the last couple of weeks it was reported that Whitehaven Rugby League club will be going into receivership. In great news they have managed to get a buyer that’s wiped their debts and the RFL has formally acknowledged the “new” club. So Whitehaven will play next year in Championship 1 however with a 9 point penalty. Unfortunately with one clubs fortunes going good another’s went south with the Blackpool Panthers now going into administration and in danger of being folded by Her Majesty’s Revenue Service.
Round 6 in the New Zealand Provincial competition was played out with Waicoa Bay 22-48 Auckland, South Island 36-20 Counties Manuka, Heartland 58-06 Northern and Wellington had the Bye. The table stands as:
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt | |
| 1 | Wellington | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 240.00 | 10 |
| 2 | Auckland | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 182.50 | 10 |
| 3 | Counties Manuka | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 170.69 | 8 |
| 4 | South Island | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 156.69 | 8 |
| 5 | Waicoa Bay | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 108.14 | 6 |
| 6 | Heartland | 6 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 94.64 | 4 |
| 7 | Northern | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 11.30 | 2 |
New Zealand’s Stephen Kearney has been appointed the new coach of Parramatta Eels in the NRL.
The Cup of Serbia had its semi finals over the weekend with the Dorcol Spiders 90 defeating Radnicki 2 and Red Star 20 lost to Car Lazar 32.The final next weekend will be between Dorcol and Car Lazar.
The Russian Grand Final once again has been postponed. The Treshers club asked for the final to be delayed again and so hopefully will be played in the last weekend of October.
The Bemobile Cup had the semi finals played. Mendi beat the Gurias 18-6 and Enga lost to Garoka 8-14. So the weekend final will be between Mendi and Garoka and comes in time for the players to be ready for the 4 Nations.
In Fiji the Battle of the Bati has been played this week. This is a tri series between Fiji Residents, Fijian Australians and Fijian New Zealanders. From this the Fiji Bati team will be selected to take on the Cook Ialnds, Tonga and NSW Country. The results have been Fijian New Zealanders 8 lost to Fijian Residents 58 and the Australians beta the New Zealanders 42-10.
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt | |
| 1 | Fiji Residents | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 50 | 2 |
| 2 | Fiji Austrlians | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 2 |
| 3 | Fiji New Zealanders | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -82 | 0 |
Two internationals of sorts were played over the weekend. England took on Cumbria in the Garry Purdham memorial testimonial. This was to raise money for the Garry Purdham trust. You will remember that earlier Garry was murdered in Whitehaven when a gunman went on a shooting spree in the seaside town. In a fitting results the Cambrians’ and the English fought out a tough 18-18 draw. England was not at full strength, this was meant to run out some of the cob-webs so not much should be read into this result.
Triploi, Lebanon saw the Cedars take on a Pakistani team. This is a team made up of British Pakistanis but its a start. The Lebanese ran out very convincing winners 30-10. The Wales Italy test was postponed due to the pitch being water logged and has been shifted to the 6th of October. So Gareth Thomas has a few days yet for his Welsh Rugby league debut.
Kangaroos
Darren Lockyer (C), Sam Thaiday (Brisbane Broncos); Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, David Shillington (Canberra Raiders); Paul Gallen (Cronulla Sharks); Greg Bird (Gold Coast Titans); Anthony Watmough (Manly Sea Eagles); Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm); Kurt Gidley (Newcastle Knights); Matthew Scott, Willie Tonga (Nth Qld Cowboys); Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta Eels); Petero Civoniceva, Luke Lewis (Penrith Panthers); Darius Boyd, Brett Morris, Dean Young (St George Illawarra Dragons); Todd Carney, Nate Myles (Sydney Roosters); Brent Tate (New Zealand Warriors); Robbie Farah, Chris Lawrence (Wests Tigers).
Kiwis
Adam Blair, Sika Manu (Melbourne Storm); Lewis Brown, Lance Hohaia, Simon Mannering, Ben Matulino, Manu Vatuvei (Vodafone Warriors); Greg Eastwood (Leeds Rhinos); Nathan Fien, Jason Nightingale, Jeremy Smith (St George Illawarra Dragons); Bronson Harrison (Canberra Raiders); Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Sam Perrett, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Sydney Roosters); Thomas Leuluai (Wigan Warriors); Issac Luke (South Sydney Rabbitohs); Benji Marshall – Captain (Wests Tigers); Fuifui Moimoi (Parramatta Eels); Frank Pritchard (Penrith Panthers); Junior Sa’u (Newcastle Knights); Antonio Winterstein (Brisbane Broncos).
Lions
Ryan Atkins (Warrington Wolves, Stanningley), Tom Briscoe (Hull FC, Featherstone Lions), Kevin Brown (Huddersfield Giants, Thatto Heath), Tony Clubb (Harlequins RL, Greenwich Admirals), Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield Giants, Newsome), Darrell Goulding (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks), Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos, Oulton Raiders), Luke Robinson (Huddersfield Giants, Siddal), Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks), Michael Shenton (Castleford Tigers, Upton), Gareth Widdop (Melbourne Storm, King Cross), Sam Burgess (South Sydney, Dewsbury Moor), Eorl Crabtree (Huddersfield Giants, Huddersfield YMCA), Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers, Castleford Lock Lane), Stuart Fielden (Wigan Warriors, Illingworth), James Graham (St Helens, Blackbrook), Darrell Griffin (Huddersfield Giants, Oxford Cavaliers), Ben Harrison (Warrington Wolves, Barrow Island), Shaun Lunt (Huddersfield Giants, Ellenborough), Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves, Eccles), Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks), James Roby (St Helens, Blackbrook), Joel Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks), Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton)
Kumuls
Aiton (c), Pora (vc), Ryan Tongia, Michael Mark, Larsen Marabe, Jessie Joe Parker, Elijah Riyong, Dion Aiye, Benjamin John, George Moni, Rod Griffin, Sigfred Gande, Glen Nami, Charlie Wabo, Joseph Pombo, Nixon Kolo, Pidi Togap, Johnson Kuike, Desmond Mok, Andrew Sam, David Loko, Joe Bond, Mark Mexico, Thompson Teteh, Aizue, Yere, Jack Cooper, Francis Ray, Richard Kambo and Haija.
This weekend the European Cup will have its first round with France taking on Ireland in Narbonne and Scotland taking on Wales in the Glasgow. With the Atlantic Cup the RFL have appointed one of their full time referees, Phil Bentham appointed for the three matches. Rugby League International Scores will be at the Atlantic Cup and will bring match reports and also hopefully do live commentary from the games.
Today I received an interesting book from Tony Squires. Many of you know him as a journalists and sports commentator on TV and Radio in Australia. He is an avid sports fan of all football codes and has written a book, a guide to understanding all four codes in Australia. I will be reading this book over the next couple days and my next blog will be a book review.
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