Archives for "September, 2008"
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Wiki batters Soliola
New Zealand’s old man of rugby league shows one of Australia’s young men how to do it. Massive hit from Wiki, that said though Soliola gave Nathan Fien a fair old hit earlier in the game, clip after the click.
Both from the game at Mount Smart on Friday which saw the Warriors advance to the next round of the play offs with a win over the Sydney Roosters.
Tipping Baby Finals Week 2
Tipping baby is back predicting the two games of week 2 of the NRL finals.
I know you’re all wondering what happened last week but it appears tipping baby took a week off, either that or I’m going daft and missed the video.
Anyway this weeks tips are New Zealand to beat the Roosters and the Storm to beat the Broncos.
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Who should win the 2008 Super League man of steel?
The 2008 man of steel shortlist has been announced, who do you think should win?
Jamie Peacock will be hoping to become the fourth player to win the award twice whilst Pryce and Graham will be hoping for a fourth consecutive win for a St Helens player.
The winner will be announced at the Man of Steel awards in Manchester on the 20th September.
Related Links
Engage Super League website
Engage Super League website
(Pictures www.jamiepeacock.com, www.saintsrlfc.com)
Super League play offs – end of week 1
The first round of this years play offs highlighted to me how little of Super League I’ve seen or kept track of (I have an excuse as I’ve been in New Zealand and very busy for most of the season). Anyway I considered Catalans win against Warrington somewhat of a suprise, a pleasant one, it’s always nice as a Widnes fan to see the Wire lose. However when I thought about it, it wasn’t a suprise at all and Catalan are simply continuing to build on a season which has seen them achieve their highest Super League finish in third.
The weekend started however on Friday night with Wigan meeting Bradford in the 4th V 5th game. The game was played at Widnes’ Stobart stadium after a fixture clash with Wigan Athletic who share the cherry and whites ground the JJB. However the fans turned up regardless and cheered Wigan on to an play off opening win over Bradford for the second succesive year.
Wigan welcomed back Gareth Hock after a five match ban for grabbing the ref and the second rower grabbed a vital try in the game for the Warriors. Bradford meanwhile would have hoped to give a better send off to Kiwi prop Joe Vagana and Welshman Iestyn Harris who both made their last appearances for the Bulls.
Wigan led 12 – 8 at half time and the Bulls fans were disapointed when half back Paul Deacon failed to re appear for the second half after struggling through the first with a leg injury. The game remained close up with a four point gap before Calderwood scored for Wigan on 67 minutes and then Gareth Hock adding his vital try to give a bit of breathing room for the Warriors and send the Bulls out of the competition.
Saturday saw Warrington take a trip over the channel to the Catalan Dragons and they were duly dispatched back the UK out o the play offs by a crushing Catalan victory.
Catalan winger Justin Murphy grabbed four tries in a game as the Wolves succumbed to a 46 – 6 defeat. With a few key players fully fit Warrington didn’t look 100% going into the game and seemingly could do nothing right whilst playing it. At 22 – 2 down by half time the Wolves looked like offering little and took all but a Scott Grix try from the game.
The results sets up next weeks game between Wigan and Catalans on Saturday accompanying the already scheduled Saints Leeds clash.
Friday 19th September
St Helens V Leed (20:00 BST)
Saturday 20th September
Catalan Dragons V Wigan (18:00 BST)
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(Image from www.bbc.co.uk/sport – Micheal Platt tackled Bradford V Wigan)
NRL playoffs – end of week 1
Well the Warriors made history this weekend becoming the first eighth ranked team to beat a first ranked team in the McIntyre system with a last minute win over the Melbourne Storm at Olympic park. The result gave the Warriors a home draw against Sydney next weekend and gave Manly and Cronulla a weeks rest.
It also meant that after the first round we say goodbye to Canberra and St George Illawara.
The weekend kicked off on Friday night football with the Roosters playing host to the Brisbane Broncos. The Broncos came away 24 -16 winners in the 4 plays 5 clash. A big hitting game with both teams throwing everything at each other the Roosters will have been disappointed not to win but will seek to redeem themselves and stay in the competition when they visit the Warriors this Friday.
Saturday’s early game saw 3rd play 6th as the Sharks played host to Canberra Raiders and duly took home the honours with a 36 – 10 victory. A nervous game from both teams that left Canberra hoping for the Storm to win against the Warriors to stay in the competition. Sadly the Warriors had other ideas and the Raider’s season comes to an end whilst the Sharks look forward to a weekend off.
The second saturday game saw Manly book themselves a week off as well as they eliminated St George from the competition with a dominant seven tries to one victory. St George wave goodbye to Mark Gasnier, who is heading off to play rugby union in France, and Jason Ryles and coach Nathan Brown are headed to Superleage. However a poor performance couldn’t delay the swansong and they head off to rebuild for next years competition.
Then Sunday saw the story of the round as the Warriors took on Melbourne in a game everybody expected Melbourne to win. The Warriors started strong heading to a lead of 14 – 8 early in the first half. Still coming out for the second half it seemed like the Warriors challenge would fall off and they looked like they were exiting the competition at 15-14 down with 12 minutes to go. However they had different ideas and a try worked over 70 metres saw Michael Witt touchdown in the corner with two minutes to go and the Warriors stole the game 15 – 18.
You can check out all the highlights from the Melbourne / Warriors game in the youtube clip above.
That leaves the fixtures as follows.
Game 1
Friday 19th 2008 – Warriors V Roosters
Game 2
Saturday 20th 2008 – Broncos V Storm
September 26th 2008
Sharks V Winner Game 1
Manly V Winner Game 2
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How the playoffs work
Having a chat with some non rugby league following mates I realised that the playoff structure can be quite confusing for some so I thought I’d have a go at trying to explain it with the help of the accurate diagram above. After the initial explanation that the team who finishes top of the league don’t always win the league we can get into the nitty gritty of it.
The NRL uses something called the McIntyre system (I assume named after the person who came up with it) and the Superleague uses erm, something else. Both explained after the click.
The NRL and the McIntyre system
The starting point for the NRL playoffs is the league position for the top 8 teams.
| Manly |
| Cronulla |
| Melbourne |
| Brisbane |
| Sydney |
| St George |
| Warriors |
| Canberra |
Round 1 then sees the teams play off with the top 4 ranked teams getting home advantage. Then when the dust has settled all four winners continue on, the two highest ranked winners go through to round 3 and the two lowest go through to round 2. The two highest placed losers then go through to round 2 and we say goodbye to the two lowest placed losing teams.
Round 2 then gives us the following fixtures.
Game 1 – 3rd highest ranked winner V highest ranked loser
Game 2 – 4th highest ranked winner V 2nd highest ranked loser
Now there have been some complaints that the 3rd highest ranked winner gets a harder game the the 4 highest ranked, but I guess you’ve got to win the hard games whenever they turn up.
Round 3 then sees the return of the teams who didn’t play in round 2 for what are effectively the semi finals for the grand final and they play out as follows.
Highest ranked winner (Rd 1) V Winner game 1 (Rd 2)
2nd highest ranked winner (Rd 1) V Winner game 2 (Rd 2)
The Final is then contested by the winning teams from round 3 at the ANZ stadium on the 5th October.
Simpler really!
The Superleague System
The Superleague only takes the top 6 teams on to the play off stages and this years top 6 looked like this.
| Saints |
| Leeds |
| Catalans |
| Wigan |
| Bradford |
| Warrington |
Round 1 sees all but the top two play with the fixtures being
Game 1 – 3rd V 6th
Game 2 – 4th V 5th
Round 2 is the first time the top two play each other and the winners from round 1 play each other so the fixtures look like
1st V 2nd
Winner Game 1 V Winner Game 2 (highest placed team in the league gets home advantage)
Round 3 gives the loser of the 1st, 2nd game another chance to get to the final and can mean that the 1st and 2nd placed teams can play each other twice over the playoff series.
Winner 1st – 2nd game V Winner Game 1 – Game 2 game
Round 4 is then the final with the winner from the 1st 2nd play off game playing round 3’s winner.
Easy as pie.
And that my friends is a straight forward guide to the play off system.
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Wakefield hit problems with new ground
It appears Wakefield have had problems with their plans for a new ground having had their plans turned down by the council. Now I will try to not let this turn into a rant (being a Widnes fan it probably will) but how long have clubs like Wakefield had to build a ground? I am pretty sure part of the criteria for getting into Superleague to begin with was to have a ground that is up to scratch yet here we are more than 10 years into the Superleague era and teams like Wakefield and Saints (Knowsley road pictured above) have simply not got their act together.
Yet look further down the leagues and teams have in the past been denied promotion from National League 1 for not having grounds up to scratch and teams such as Widnes and Leigh now play from nice new all seater stadium, Widnes’ stadium even being used for a playoff game as Wigan’s is unavailable. (Note all seater I don’t see why Warrington have been allowed a standing section either?)
Apparently if teams such as Saints, Salford and Wakefield have failed to fufill plans for new stadia by the end of their 3 year licence than they are out, however that simply isn’t good enough. To my mind they should never have been in, and apparently Wakefield only just got in ahead of Widnes anyway and we see yet again how the RFL will bend the rules for certain teams and stick to them for others.
Rumours also abound that Celtic haven’t even got plans for a building a stadium that is up to scratch, but because they’re a “development” club thats allowed.
Some people also complain about the fact that teams like Wigan don’t even own their ground, granted this makes it much easier for certain clubs and seems a way out of spending the money. But they have come to an arrangement and they do play in a ground that is up to scratch.
I know there were other factors considered in the Superleague franchise decisions but presonally I think if the RFL are going to make rules they should stick to them and whilst I do hope Wakefield get themselves sorted if they don’t them come the end of the 3 years they should be straight out, quite frankly they’ve had long enough.
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(picture www.cavok.com)
Big Hits from the 2008 NRL
Five minutes of big hits from this seasons NRL. You know you’ll enjoy it.
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It’s Business Time
It’s that time of year again, September Football and the playoffs. The UK National League playoffs started this week with Widnes losing to Halifax on Thursday and the Super League and NRL’s last weekend of fixtures decided who plays who next weekend.
In the NRL the top eight finished as Storm, Sea Eagles, Sharks, Roosters, Broncos, Raiders, Dragons, Warriors.
This leaves the fixture list with the Roosters and Broncos meeting on Friday night, Sharks and Raiders then the Sea Eagles and the Dragons on Saturday followed by Sundays game with the Storm meeting the Warriors.
Paramatta missed out after going into Saturdays game with the Warriors needing a victory of 55 points or more to be in with a chance of qualifying where as the Warriors needed only a draw to qualify after the Knights loss to Brisbane on Friday night.
Meanwhile in the Super League Saints secured top place and Leeds had to settle for second despite an end of season win at Wakefield. That leaves the opening play off fixtures next weekend as Wigan, Bradford on Friday followed by Catalan Dragons and Warrington on Saturday. The first qualifying semi final the week after will feature Saints and Leeds.
Wigan meanwhile have had problems due to the JJB stadium being in use by Wigan football club on Saturday for a Premier League game against Sunderland. Wigan are looking at alternatives with Warrington’s Halliwell Jones or Widnes’ Stobart stadium being considered.
Spelly’s Wembley Report
First the bad news! My mate Sue, who was due to be driving, took ill with conjuctivitis, so couldn’t go to the game, and for the first time in a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng while, I took the wheel for a trip the Challenge Cup Final!
We (on the recommendation of a guy I speak to at work) drove to High Wycombe, and trained it in from there. It was exo! We left the car in the station car park, and the train drops you at Wembley Stadium Station, which is no more than a quarter of a mile from the ground. After the game, we were back in HW having summat to eat, within an hour of leaving the stadium. We’ll defo be doing the same again next year!
Oh yes, you’ll want to know what happened apart from our travels won’t you? Well, here goes……………………………..
We arrived in plenty of time, and dressed in Swinton shirt, Union Jack shorts, and my infamous multi-badged, went for a stoll. As ever we ran into people we know, and then we went inside the magificent arena that is Wembley Stadium! It was (very) late in completion, it was (very) over-budget, but it really is the dog’s wotsits!
Watched the kid’s game, and then listened to the choir, before what is for me, the moment of a Challenge Cup Final, which is……………..
The singing of “Abide With Me”. A guy called Jonathan Ansell, who the programme called “The Justin Timberlake of Classical Music” (Is that a compliment? I seriously asked myself!) was the guy charged with leading the throngs in the famous hymn, and (as ever) tears streamed down my cheeks, as I belted it out. It was the same a few minutes later, as Jonathan and me (plus a few thou others) displayed to the nation, how the nationalm anthem should be sung!
As for the game itself, it wasn’t a classic, with the first half, which was (at the best) scrappy. Saints went in 10-0 to the good, and the (predicted by many) points avalanche, looked on for after the interval, but………………………..
Hull had other ideas, and two Kirk Yeaman tries, the first an opportunist interception from a stray Cunningham pass, and the second, following some beautiful football, both of which were converted by Tickle, nudged the Black and Whites ahead, and a shock result looked possible, but……………………
Saints proved what a good side they are, by upping their game a notch or two, and within minutes they were back in front with a Francis Melli try. A John Wilkin touchdown followed soon afterwards, which was for me the gamebreaker.
Gareth Raynor, gave Hull a glimmer of hope with a four-ponter in the corner, but then Leon Pryce split the posts almost on the hooter, to make the score-line look more lop-sided than it really was.
There were no really outstanding individulal perofmances, and the writers awarded Paul Wellens the Lance Todd Trophy, but the likes of Yeaman, Raynor, and Pryce, must’ve all pushed him close for the prestigious award.
Wembley has a magic, an aura, a je ne sais quoi, all of its own, and whatever Eddie and Stevo might tell you about the Old Trafford Super League Grand Final, the Rugby League Challenge Cup, is still without question, the top trophy the Greatest Game on the Planet has offer!
Roll on Wembley 2009!
(image from BBC sport http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/7589849.stm)
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