After once again being on the road with work, this time to Princeton, I now have no major engagements till May, when I take holidays, but this just means I will be traveling round to watch Rugby league. So the last two weeks has seen lots of news and results from the world of international Rugby League. From Ireland, to the USA, France to Australia, England to the Czech Republic. Much has been going on. So when I say the season is in full swing I mean that all around the world Rugby League is in full swing.
In the Czech Republic the Inaugural Rugby League 9s were played with 6 teams from 3 countries. 3 Domestic teams from the Czechs, Beroun, Pardubice and Vrchlabi were joined by Belgrade from Serbia and LAU and AUB from Lebanon. This would be an interesting look at where some of the domestic teams sit with respect to each other. Probably not many surprises that the Lebanese and Serbian teams were the top two.
The full article can be read here. The results and table standings were:
Round 1
LAU 12-4 Pardubice, Belgrade 10-0 Vrchlabi, AUB 24-4 Beroun
Round 2
Beroun 0-24 LAU, Pardubice 14-4 Vrchlabi, AUB 6-10 Belgrade
Round 3
LAU 12-0 Vrchlabi, Beroun 0-20 Pardubice, Vrchlabi 0-4 AUB
Round 4
Beroun 0-28 Belgrade, Pardubice 4-18 AUB, Belgrade 0-30 LAU
Round 5
Vrchlabi 10-10 Beroun, LAU 16-12 AUB, Belgrade 8-6 Pardubice
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pt | |
| 1 | LAU | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 94 | 16 | 78 | 10 |
| 2 | Belgrade | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 56 | 42 | 14 | 8 |
| 3 | AUB | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 64 | 34 | 30 | 6 |
| 4 | Pardubice | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 48 | 40 | 8 | 4 |
| 5 | Vrchlabi | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 50 | -36 | 1 |
| 6 | Beroun | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 106 | -92 | 1 |
Semi Finals
Belgrade 24-14 AUB, LAU 32-0 Pardubice
Final
LAU 38-0 Belgrade
Two rounds in the NRL have passed since I wrote last. Rounds 7 and 8 were played with few really surprising results. In round 7 which was the Easter and ANZAC day weekend: Canterbury 36-24 South Sydney, Parramatta 22-18 Gold Coast, Canberra 12-22 Newcastle, Sydney City 10-24 St George/Illawarra, Manly 22-16 Penrith, Cronulla 12-30 Nth Queensland, Melbourne 14-18 New Zealand and Wests 18-31 Brisbane.
Round 8 results were: Brisbane 20-12 Canterbury, Nth Queensland 22-12 Manly, St George/Illawarra 30-00 Parramatta, South Sydney 31-12 Cronulla, Canberra 12-49 Wests, Melbourne 42-12 Newcastle, Gold Coast 24-13 Sydney City, New Zealand 26-18 Penrith. The table stands after 7 rounds is:
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt | |
| 1 | St George / Illawarra | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 97 | 14 |
| 2 | Brisbane | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 78 | 14 |
| 3 | Melbourne | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 105 | 12 |
| 4 | Nth Queensland | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 54 | 12 |
| 5 | Manly | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 10 |
| 6 | Canterbury | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 10 |
| 7 | Wests | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 8 |
| 8 | Newcastle | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 9 | New Zealand | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -5 | 8 |
| 10 | South Sydney | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -37 | 6 |
| 11 | Gold Coast | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -39 | 6 |
| 12 | Parramatta | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -104 | 6 |
| 13 | Sydney City | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -41 | 4 |
| 14 | Cronulla | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -45 | 4 |
| 15 | Penrith | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | -63 | 4 |
| 16 | Canberra | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | -80 | 2 |
The representative season will begin next week in Australia as well with the ANZAC test between the Kangarros and Kiwis as well as the City/Country clash. Teams have been announced for the test, they are:
Australia Kangaroos
1 Billy Slater (QLD / Melbourne Storm), 2 Brett Morris (NSW / St George Illawarra Dragons), 3 Greg Inglis (QLD / South Sydney Rabbitohs), 4 Justin Hodges (QLD / Brisbane Broncos), 5 Jharal Yow Yeh (QLD / Brisbane Broncos), 6 Darren Lockyer [c] (QLD / Brisbane Broncos), 7 Johnathan Thurston (QLD / North Queensland Cowboys), 8 Petero Civoniceva (QLD / Penrith Panthers), 9 Cameron Smith (QLD / Melbourne Storm), 10 Matthew Scott (QLD / North Queensland Cowboys), 11 Ben Creagh (NSW / St George Illawarra Dragons), 12 Sam Thaiday (QLD / Brisbane Broncos), 13 Paul Gallen (NSW / Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks) Subs: 14 Cooper Cronk (QLD / Melbourne Storm), 15 Ben Hannant (QLD / Brisbane Broncos), 16 Jamal Idris (NSW / Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), 17 David Shillington (QLD / Canberra Raiders) 18th man – Beau Scott (NSW / St George Illawarra Dragons)
New Zealand Kiwis
Gerard Beale (Brisbane Broncos), Adam Blair (Melbourne Storm), Lewis Brown (New Zealand Warriors), Matthew Duffie (Melbourne Storm), Greg Eastwood (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), Nathan Fien (St George Illawarra Dragons), Kieran Foran (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles), Bronson Harrison (Canberra Raiders), Lance Hohaia (New Zealand Warriors), Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Sydney Roosters), Issac Luke (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Sam McKendry (Penrith Panthers), Simon Mannering (New Zealand Warriors), Benji Marshall [c] (Wests Tigers), Ben Matulino (New Zealand Warriors)
Fuifui Moimoi (Parramatta Eels), Jason Nightingale (St George Illawarra Dragons), Sam Rapira (New Zealand Warriors), Jeremy Smith (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks)
New South Wales City
1 Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta Eels), 2 William Hopoate (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles), 3 Michael Jennings (Penrith Panthers), 4 Beau Champion (Melbourne Storm), 5 Nathan Merritt (South Sydney Rabbitohs), 6 Kris Keating (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), 7 Mitchell Pearce (Sydney Roosters), 8 Keith Galloway (Wests Tigers), 9 Robbie Farah [c] (Wests Tigers), 10 Tim Mannah (Parramatta Eels), 11 Mark Minichiello (Gold Coast Titans), 12 Simon Dwyer (Wests Tigers), 13 Liam Fulton (Wests Tigers) Subs: 14 Tim Grant (Penrith Panthers), 15 Adam Cuthbertson (St George Illawarra Dragons), 16 Tom Symonds (Sydney Roosters), 17 Shane Shackleton (Parramatta Eels)
New South Wales Country
1 Josh Dugan (Canberra Raiders), 2 Michael Gordon (Penrith Panthers), 3 Josh Morris (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), 4 Joel Thompson (Canberra Raiders), 5 Akuila Uate (Newcastle Knights), 6 Jamie Soward (St George Illawarra Dragons), 7 Jarrod Mullen (Newcastle Knights), 8 Kade Snowden (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks), 9 Michael Ennis (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), 10 Aiden Tolman (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), 11 Chris Houston (Newcastle Knights), 12 Glenn Stewart [c] (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles), 13 Chris Heighington (Wests Tigers) Subs: 14 Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (Canberra Raiders), 15 Trent Merrin (St George Illawarra Dragons), 16 Matt Prior (St George Illawarra Dragons), 17 Tim Moltzen (Wests Tigers)
Three rounds have been played since last I wrote. The Easter weekend traditionally sees two rounds played, so teams have to back up a day apart. This provides something interesting and unique to the game in England to test the stamina of the players and also gives an opportunity for a weaker team to ambush one of the better ones. Does this actually happen who knows but it certainly provided some interesting results. Round 11 saw Catalans continue their amazing run where they already had the top two scalps. This time it was Harlequins turn to be on the recieving end of this remarkable run, one which went on into the next two runs where the French had a draw with Bradford and also beat Huddersfield. Round 11 results are: Bradford 22-30 Leeds, Castleford 24-28 Wakefield, Crusaders 32-6 Huddersfield, Harlequins 30-37 Catalans, Hull FC 36-18 Hull KR, Salford 0-60 Warrington and Wigan 28-24 St Helens.
Round 12 results were: Catalans 8-8 Bradford, Hull KR 37-24 Harlequins, Wakefield 0-26 Wigan, Warrington 10-24 Hull FC, Leeds 34-16 Crusaders, St Helens 22-20 Castleford and Huddersfield 52-22 Salford. While so far round 13 results are: Castleford 6-48 Leeds, Catalans 13-12 Huddersfield and Harlequins 16-34 Salford
| Team | P | W | D | L | B | PD | Pt | |
| 1 | Huddersfield | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 142 | 18 |
| 2 | St Helens | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 126 | 17 |
| 3 | Warrington | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 208 | 16 |
| 4 | Wigan | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 71 | 16 |
| 5 | Castleford | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 71 | 15 |
| 6 | Leeds | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 60 | 15 |
| 7 | Catalan | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 15 |
| 8 | Hull FC | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 9 | Salford | 13 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | -130 | 10 |
| 10 | Bradford | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | -110 | 9 |
| 11 | Harlequins | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 0 | -124 | 9 |
| 12 | Hull KR | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | -61 | 8 |
| 13 | Wakefield | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | -140 | 4 |
| 14 | Crusaders | 12 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | -128 | 2 |
The French Elite is into its play offs and are now two weeks away from finding out the winners of the 2010/11 season. In the first round of the play offs Limoux lost to Pia 8-22 and Villeneuve defeated Carcassonne 37-30. In the Semi finlas Lezignan won out a close won against Pia 25-24 and that takes them through to the Grand Final. Pia still get another chance in the Preliminary final next week. Their opponents will be Limoux who defeated Villeneuve 40-24.
RUGBY League Ireland have sowed the seeds for possible Super League involvement within the next five years with this week-end’s Scouting Academy, held at Tom Clifford Park in Limerick.
Young players from all four Irish provinces have been registered among over 30 participants for the academy which will involve fitness testing, interviews and a game watched by head coaches from top Super League clubs including St Helens and Wigan.
“Rugby League has been growing significantly in this country in recent years and the idea of this academy weekend in Limerick is to give players of high ability an opportunity to sign with some of the top clubs,” said Gordon Matthews, general manager of Rugby League Ireland.
He added that his organisation wanted to recruit young Irish players who will hopefully help to strengthen the Emerald Isle’s participation in the World Cup in 2013: “We have been encouraged by the response in Limerick this week. Within five years we hope to have a Super League team in Ireland with high profile games being played at venues such as Thomond Park.”
Young Munster back-row and Ireland rugby league international Brendan Guilfoyle was of the view that many senior rugby union clubs throughout the country did not have a problem with players playing rugby league during the summer break: “There are a lot of benefits and this academy provides an exciting opportunity for young players who wish to further their careers,” he noted.
Rugby League Ireland currently has registered 20 clubs throughout the 32 counties and their three provincial league season runs over 14 weeks. Neil Wood of the Rugby Football League was also present to discuss the prospect of Irish rugby league franchises taking part in Super League competition in the coming years.
For further Information contact:
Kieran O’Brien, O’Brien Communications
Conor Kelly, Rugby League Ireland
So after much waiting the AMNRL website is up and running, http://www.amnrl.com, and I have to say it does look good. Lets hope that it will be maintained and updated unlike the last one. If twitter is anything to be belived, David Niu, the AMNRL (i.e. Howard Wilensky) and Tomahawks accounts have been going about expansion in the Carolinas. Will be interesting to see what happens there as there is no other details I have read anywhere else.
What is interesting is that Detroit have a team in the AMNRL competition, not Chicago! Detroot have now taken on the name Vipers. Chicago will have two demo games one which was today and much to my displeasure there was absolutely nothing promoting it at all. Nothing on twitter or facebook or the website (amnrl or Stockyarders). Having made other plans I could not go. I hope that details of the Chicago v Detroit game will be announced soon.
Not much more has been announced about the Philadelphia 9’s which worries me. With only a few weeks away details should be out now about the teams groups and schedule for promotion. Anyway for those of you that have been wanting the AMNRL schedule, here it is:
Midwest Challenge, 1 May:
Chicago vs. Midwest Select XIII
Round 1, 04 June:
New York v Detroit, Connecticut v Aston, Northern v Buck County
Round 2, 11 June:
New York v Connecticut, Aston v Northern, Detroit v Bucks County
Round 3, 18 June:
Aston v New York, Detroit v Northern, Connecticut v Bucks County
Round 4, 24 June:
Bucks County v Northern, Detroit v Aston, New York v Canada A (In Canada), Chicago v Detroit (Midwest Challenge)
Round 5, 01 July:
Connecticut v New York, Bucks County Bye, Northern Bye, Aston Bye, Detroit Bye
Round 6, 09 July:
Bucks County v New York, Aston v Connecticut, Detroit v Northern
Round 7, 16 July:
Connecticut v Detroit, Bucks County v Aston, Northern v New York
Round 8, 23 July:
New York v Aston, Bucks County v Detroit, Northern v Connecticut
Play off, 06 August:
Rank 3 v Rank 6, Rank 4 v Rank 5
Semi Finals, 13 August:
Rank 1 v Winner PO 2, Rank 2 v Winner PO 1
Grand Final, 20 August:
Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2
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