DoubleD

Well why ask the question on here then?

WOMEN'S RUGBY LEAGUE ROUND-UP. St Helens 20-14 Leeds Rhinos St Helens ended Leeds Rhinos' unbeaten start to the 2018 season with a steely 20-14 home win on Sunday. In scorching conditions at Thatto Heath, the teams were locked at 14-all at the break, but Saints got the crucial second-half score. Saints' Katie-May Williams broke the deadlock six minutes in, before Hannah Butcher struck back for soon after. England star Faye Gaskin, who kicked two goals, put Saints back in front, ahead of a Suze Hill try for the Rhinos. In an end-to-end first period, there was still time for Williams and Leeds' Courtney Hill - who kicked one goal - to swap scores and leave it level at half time. A tight second period was to follow, but it was Emily Rudge's try on 46 minutes which proved to be the difference as they moved into top spot. York City Knights 12-40 Featherstone Rovers 2017 grand finalists Featherstone Rovers claimed their first win of 2018 with a 40-12 win at Bootham Crescent. Rovers raced into a 16-0 lead after 25 minutes, but in-form Kayleigh Waller struck back with a try for the hosts as they enjoyed the better of the second quarter. The visitors led 20-6 at half time, but York were undeterred and Ellie Hendrie scored their second half try on 55 minutes, Waller kicking her second goal. But Featherstone ultimately had too much for the Knights as they chalked up their first win of the campaign. Elsewhere... In the championship, Oulton Raidettes made it back-to-back wins as they triumphed 34-6 at Wigan St Pats, while East Leeds enjoyed a comfortable 42-4 home win over Brighouse Rangersin Championship 1.

Watkins should be back for next year. The issue with Keinhorst is not that Leeds don't want to keep him - far from it. But he understandably wants to be playing week in week out and can also probably earn more elsewhere due to SC restrictions so he will probably leave and good luck to him. Newman will be back next year from Leeds reserves and Alex Sutcliffe will also have a look in

I'm sure people will be flocking to see that.........

So Italy have qualified with a comprehensive win over Ukraine. Am looking forward to the finals http://www.totalrl.com/italy-qualify-for-u19s-european-championship/ Itali overcame Ukraine in comprehensive fashion to qualify for the U19s European Championship in Belgrade in August, with a 50-0 win in the 25 degree heat at the Stadio Fogliano. Clearly aided by winning a warm up game with Serbia and having spent ten days in camp together, in the run up, the Azzurrini scored nine tries. Antony Virzi and stand out loose forward Fabio Morosi both bagged a brace, as the hosts built a 22-0 lead at the break. “Today my team put in a very good performance,” said Italy U19 head coach, Salvatore Pezzano. “They concentrated for the whole game and our defensive structure was excellent. We had a young team; we had one excellent week in camp and one day in France before playing against a French regional selection in Toulon, and that all contributed to our performance. “I hope we will perform well in the European Championship. Our young squad contains plenty of good prospects. They will play in the Italian championship next, and we hope we will have the resources to prepare in a camp one week before we travel to Belgrade this August.” Morosi was superb throughout, making seven clean breaks and tying up three or four defenders in the tackle, and still, invariably, getting the ball away. On four occasions the hosts broke up the middle for tries and the visitors struggled to control the play the ball area, their mounting frustration seeing Vitalii Kovach sinbinned for throwing a punch. “Obviously, I’m not very happy but I believe in my team,” commented Ukraine U19 head coach Viktor Melnychuk. “The biggest problem is that we had no experience in international games. This was the first time for all these players and it was a big challenge for us. “I believe next time we will be stronger. We don’t have a physical problem, just a mental one. The boys don’t have enough rugby league experience as there’s no youth competition older than U16 in Ukraine and it’s a big gap to seniors. We must start with the younger players to prepare for the 2020 U19 European Championship and play a minimum of two U19 games per year.” ITALY U19s – 50 Giovanni Sciacca, Gianluca Priviterà, Antony Virzì, Stefano Dalmasso, Alfio Laudani, Giordano Arena, Francesco Mendosa, Leonardo Artale, Antonio Cacopardo, Giovanni Rizzo, Mario Di Sano, Fabio Morosi. Subs: Stefano Cenci , Salvatore Liperia, Nicholas Ferrero, Simone Leotta. Tries: Alfio Laudani (5), Giovanni Sciacca (23), Antony Virzi (8, 39), Simone Leotta (47), Antonio Cacopardo (51), Fabio Morosi (20, 60), Nicholas Ferrero (63). Goals: Francesco Mendosa 7/9 UKRAINE U19s – 0 Daniil Hapon, Volodymyr Brodovskyi, Taras Serafin, Dymytro Bedulia, Dmytro Vasilishin, Liubomyr Beznoschuk, Vitalii Puchkov, Daniil Chervinskyi, Vladislav Rudov, Anton Pyatnytskyi, Vitalii Kovach, Maksym Shvets, Oleksandr Petrenko Subs: Mykyta Ivchenko, Andrii Shelepovskyi, Oleksandr Moroz, Oleksandr Petrenko Goal attempt: Liubomyr Beznoshchuk 0/1 Sin bin: Vitalii Kovach, Ukraine (53) Half time: 22-0

Send Lionel a message and ask him - he has a profile on here

To clubs (foundations) that put together a business case to run it. Outside the heartlands, I think Coventry, London and Newcastle are the only areas to benefit

Are Coventry's crowds down this year? I thought they were averaging about 500......

I think sadly this is where we’re at. In pure business terms, we need to carry out a cost benefit analysis and focus resources on the areas outside the heartlands that will generate the best return - ie. have the most chance of sustainable success. In part this will be down to what local government/sponsors/business/community support they can generate from it too. I would hope some revenue generated from internationals might be able to be passed down the pyramid to development officers in future

They seem very low punishments

No, you are spot on with your analysis. He definitely hasn’t hit the heights of 2017, although has still generally been one of our better players

Really disappointed in that performance from Leeds. We haven’t been far off in most matches but that was awful. It says a lot when your best forward is an 18 year old prop. Too many players are underperforming atm and missed the likes of Garbutt and Singleton as we struggled to make metres. I’m not sure our recruitment has been the best in recent years but salary cap restrictions obviously play a part. I can’t see Ferres staying past this season and it could be JJBs last and Galloway hasn’t been replaced. We need some decent forwards and preferably one in now

I’m still wondering when Tyrone Roberts is going to turn up in 2018

Quite, if you’ve got it, you might as well use it but no doubt some Championship clubs would be only too quick to jump up and down complaining about something else

I know but that’s not what you said. Anyway im firmly of the belief that the removal of development officers in these non heartland areas is what really led to the demise more than those academies