Half Time

[excolt]

30 v 8 to Keighley. Hornets coming down the slope in second half, maybe not over yet.

[ormskirknet]

Very disappointing.

Another big game we've just not turned up to. We are really hit and miss when it comes to playing the bigger teams away and have been for 3 seasons now.

March and Handforth bossed us all afternoon, we have no leader! this last week has been a mirror of what's gone before, a fantastic result at Cru, backed up with a shocker of a heavy defeat. Ok Cougars had a couple of huge chunks of fortune at key points, but that wasn't the only difference.

We will probably beat Hemel comfortably next week at home but it counts for nothing in all honesty, I said in pre-season away form will (or will not) win us this league. Thankfully our period of road games haven't been quite as damaging as in previous seasons, we've had a couple of good wins but we still lack a true leader with craft and guile even if our young halfback pair are shaping up well they aren't there yet.

Cougars will probably go on to win the league with ease, for us it's gone now lets concentrate on getting as high as we can and hit top form going into the play-offs.

Come on Hornets!

[glemiln]

Have to side with Ormskirknet's disappointment, particularly after last week's great win, and especially shipping 54points.  We do not like playing up a slope!  A win at Keighley was hoped for rather than expected given their greater Championship experience.  However, we have now lost to 4 of the fancied contenders, (3 from last season's lower league!) and 2 of these at home.  These two we play again away after Hemel, so we shall need two Cru' performances and better.  I would like to think that we have improved, learned from our limited Championship time and now have a better all round team - have we or have others just got better?  Certainly we need to be focused, build on the Cru performance, beat more of the 'fancied' teams to reach a play-off position.  Go for it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

On another tack - if we were to win the League what happens then ? Anybody know the answer ?

[ormskirknet]

Ok Tyrone tongue firmly in cheek......

The way we are shaping, Hell will freeze over, Shergar will turn up in the national, ridden by Lord Lucan or the lock ness monster will reveal himself in a special live edition of the one show.......Ok you get the picture.

Fair question I guess what with the recent super 8's, middle 8's, relegation and who 8 all the pies I'm really not sure, I'm assuming winning Ch1 gives you straight promotion to Championship with 1 other via the play-off but I'm not 100% certain.

[glemiln]

Unless the RFL has changed it (and may yet do so! ):

 

At the end of the regular season 1^st will play 2^nd with the winner promoted to the Championship as champions.

The loser of that match will join the teams which finished 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th in a play-offs series as follows: loser of the promotion decider v 5^th, and 3^rd v 4^th.

The winners of those semi-finals will contest a play-off final to determine the second promotion place.

A top five spot will need a huge effort over the second half of this season.

Two finals possible for either 1st or 2nd.

[CountyDurhamCougar]

The above post by glemiln is how I understand it too. I think that's how York finished top last season but still didn't get promoted.

[DiddyDave]

Hornets never seem to do any good when they cross the border. Can anybody please tell me the last time we won in Yorkshire,indeed how many times have we won there in the last ten years?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Unless the RFL has changed it (and may yet do so! ):

 

A top five spot will need a huge effort over the second half of this season.

Two finals possible for either 1st or 2nd.

Cheers for that. Now I understand the situation.

[mickhornet]

A pity we couldnt shut the guy on the tannoy up.Very loud, gloating, and irritating.

[Anita Bath]

Hornets never seem to do any good when they cross the border. Can anybody please tell me the last time we won in Yorkshire,indeed how many times have we won there in the last ten years?

5th June 2011. 31-30 at Keighley (I think). Since then we are 0-1, 0-1and 0-8 in the last 3 seasons over t'ops.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5th June 2011. 31-30 at Keighley (I think). Since then we are 0-1, 0-1and 0-8 in the last 3 seasons over t'ops.

Was that in the play offs ? I remember us going there and nicking it right at the death. I also remember the Frank Myler team going there in the Challenge Cup and absolutely murdering them about 45- 5 when you only got 3 pts for a try. A bit later on when Kel Coslett was coaching we won a more closely fought game there. Charlie Birdsall had a blinder for Keighley that day. I remember saying to my mate " I wouldn't mind that loose forward, he's a real handful ". Shortly after that we signed him.

[ormskirknet]

Charlie Birdsall now there's a blast from' past!

[mickhornet]

Hornets never seem to do any good when they cross the border. Can anybody please tell me the last time we won in Yorkshire,indeed how many times have we won there in the last ten years?

Two wins that come to mind both in the playoffs, Keighley, won in the last minute,The tackle of the season by Dale Cunniffe on Jon Presley in the very act of scoring the winning try.Away next round to York.Jono Muir galloping 50 yards for a superb try. And the great Leroy Rivett 5 try Wembley hero

with a brace.

Paul March sent off by Dave Merrick, Could not have been sweeter."LEROY!! LEROY!!" shut that drum up alright.

[ormskirknet]

I can remember a pre-season friendly at Keighley in the days before Cougarmania.

We had just won promotion to the Stones Bitter 1st division so it must have been very late 80's / early 90's and we had splashed out some of the left over Morrisons cash on players like Mike O'Neill from Widnes and Ian Gormley from Salford I'm sure we paid something like £60-80k for those two. And we got battered!

I do like going over but it's a graveyard that place!

[owfener]

Was that in the play offs ? I remember us going there and nicking it right at the death. I also remember the Frank Myler team going there in the Challenge Cup and absolutely murdering them about 45- 5 when you only got 3 pts for a try. A bit later on when Kel Coslett was coaching we won a more closely fought game there. Charlie Birdsall had a blinder for Keighley that day. I remember saying to my mate " I wouldn't mind that loose forward, he's a real handful ". Shortly after that we signed him.

 

Remember the Myler era game but not the score....part of a brilliant run of wins which ended with that draw at Post Office Road. One division and finishsd 8th, I think. At Lawkholme, much earlier, I remember Voate Drui getting his head ripped open and returning with a bandage...only to have it ripped off his head, at which Peter Birchall lost his rag and flattened the perpetrator, got the long walk.... we ended up with 11 men... and getting a late battering.

[Hornetto]

I can remember a pre-season friendly at Keighley in the days before Cougarmania.

We had just won promotion to the Stones Bitter 1st division so it must have been very late 80's / early 90's and we had splashed out some of the left over Morrisons cash on players like Mike O'Neill from Widnes and Ian Gormley from Salford....

That's precisely where the Morrisons cash went! There was plently 'left over' in 1989...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

That's precisely where the Morrisons cash went! There was plently 'left over' in 1989...

They were two of the worst signings ever made by the club and we made more bad signings than good in that era. i'd love to know where the tranche of money went that was specifically placed in trust so we could only use the interest.

[Hornetto]

They were two of the worst signings ever made by the club and we made more bad signings than good in that era. i'd love to know where the tranche of money went that was specifically placed in trust so we could only use the interest.

By the time it was broken down, the money was never going to guarantee a long-term future. I've emailed your other half with an overview.

[Larry Jones]

I don't think rugby league in Rochdale ever recovered from that period. The club could and should have really kicked on. However like a lot of organisations especially from a sporting slant no real medium or long term plan is ever nailed down. At least somehow the club is still going and are perhaps in a stronger position than Oldham or Swinton which I never thought would be the case when I started supporting the sport in the late sixties.