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Will that be at home? Great to see both of them back.

It's not ideal prep for what is one of the hardest fixtures of the season

I'm a right mardy when things aren't going well and usually just turn it off but I love watching Brook and Smith bat, so left the tv on at 85/5 or whatever it was. Glad I did now, they've been exceptional! If the Indians don't win this game from that position they were in, they'll be wondering how they can get one on the board. Plenty of work for England to do yet though.

The difference is that origin is massively popular and a money spinner. If it was as popular as an England v France test match they wouldn’t play it.

In that your team is now Championship standard? That way?

Players could probably do with a break. Also I suspect an end of season England v France test a week before a three game Ashes series starts would be a loss maker.

Okay, just never really noticed it. Thanks fir the clarification

He will be long gone in 2-3 years, he hasn't got the money himself and can't get anybody else interested. Axiom not happening anytime this decade either. Bottom two side, crowds tanking, stadium falling apart, youth systems and womens team shot to pieces. Haven't even got a working website. Back done to a Grade B and clingling on next year. Only one show in the Wakefield area for years to come.

I hope Vuniyayawa and Wynne are fit. If so, Olpherts, Hatton, Stevens and Akauola miss out for mine.

Here's a very reluctant confession. After watching (and playing) Rugby League for over 50 years, this game was the first one where I felt the play wasn't of a high enough standard to be deemed ''Super League''. The players skill level (particularly passing accuracy) was very poor, the game error strewn as a result and the decision making, especially amongst the Castleford players was woeful. I hope it's not a sign of worse things to come. But, it left me with an ominous chill, a frightful sense of foreboding, like the first breath of a harsh and bitterly cold winter.

I know you've upset some of the pro-London crew with that statement, but I think based on how things are right now after 45 years of RL in London, it's quite hard to disagree. The key point being "enough". It doesn't mean that there isn't SOME interest. Of course there's always some interest for everything, in every area, but is it enough to sustain things at the level required? I think it's irrelevant for certain posters to say that there's some boys in London who like playing rugby league. Big deal. There are boys playing rugby union at my local park, but in no way could Southampton currently hope to support a Premiership RU team. Likewise there is an ice rink in Gosport where a few passionate people play ice hockey, but again it's not enough to enter the UK Elite League (or whatever it's called nowadays). If it's a no brainer that London can support top level RL, why can't Manchester or Liverpool? Both are cities on the doorstep of the RL heartlands, so surely it should be easier to make a success of them than in London, which is a bit of an island in RL terms. I would love RL to be successful in London and elsewhere, but there are only so many excuses you can make for it not doing so. When you think about it, sport is a very strange beast when it comes to locations. I doubt anyone can really fully explain why certain places have things and others don't. Why does Leicester have a top RU team, but Derby and Nottingham don't? Why can't you transfer those same ingredients and make Derby and Nottingham have a team? Are people that different just a few miles apart? Why does Salford have a RL team (for now) but Manchester doesn't? Why doesn't London (I think I'm correct) have a top level ice hockey team, but nearby Guildford does? It's one of those mysteries that's clearly not as simple as just replicating what happens in one place, in another. Otherwise every area would have high level teams from all sports.

I'm going an 18 point win to Wakefield similar to Huddersfield last night

Fair. I should have started a new paragraph for the second sentence.

adam reynolds with truly one of the kicking performances of all time

He never said they did.

Must be some chance of further problems for this game? Doncaster are now flying on the day of the game, and while the strike ends today, I'd imagine the disruption will continue into the weekend with lots of planes being in the wrong places and so on.

There was a set last night by Cas where every Giants ptb was slowed down.....while Cas were desperately trying to score a try late in the game to get a draw. At the same time the Giants were playing the ball as slowly as possible, I couldnt fathom how a message wasnt sent out to get the hell out of the tackle as quickly as possuble.

Its a function of those old fashioned lights used in Jimmy Stewart films which, when switched on, make the whole room go darker.

No. I think people see it as a problem because of the perception of there being five drives and a kick, then the other team does five drives and a kick and so on, and it can seem like there's not much variety, and this is a way to produce variety. I think the actual problem is that RL used to be mostly about what happened between the tackles, and now it's mostly about what happens during the tackle - who wins the wrestle, how long can you delay the next play the ball for without being penalised, and so on. A big part of gameplay now is about winning the collision and getting to the next collision faster than the other team wants (attack) or slower (defence). Very much like phiggins suggestion of second attacker joins means the tackle is completed, although as with all rule changes, there will be unintended consequences as coaches find ways to take advantage of it. I think there's a separate argument that the game has become too difficult to referee (compared with most other sports) and too difficult for most adults, even very fit young men, to play.

Absolutely hopeless, another bout of me shouting at the screen! The combination of poor resolution play-back and self indulgent/self-aggrandising video ref's is going to kill the game if allowed to go on unchecked. So amateurish, so boring, so annoying. When you add in the 3 ''decision pending'' oscillations of the Hughie Green clap-o-meter, (when the decision has already been made, before the clap-o-meter was even flashed up on the screen) nonsense, it's enough to make my hair fall out. God, bless us and spare us!

Wigan by around 14 at FT for me. Wigan will be leading 16-4 at HT, we will score a couple early in the second half as always to keep the score respectable and then fall away with Wigan scoring 2 more to kill the game off.

Catalans by 16

Worse in what way? Already said we are going spend full cap next season. Got us a Grade A licence I will judge him in 2-3 years

Let's not rewrite history. There's no evidence at all that IMG wanted minimum standards P&R rather than grading. There were plenty of folks on this board that wanted that, however.

Scrums in Union are not competitive, most end up with a penalty and non against the head. It's just they put more emphasis on the aspect of the scrum. On league scrums I would stop non forwards standing in unless they have changed position and have the ability to push because it would mean forwards using up energy in the scrum thus creates gaps through tiring players