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I had thought that the Great Britain scraping past Burleigh Bears before going on to be utterly embarrassed in the 1999 Tri Nations was the lowest ebb. Turns out, I just didn't have the imagination.

Oh please. The French rugby league barely has 2 francs to rub together. Does the NRL expect Fiji RL to organise and pay for internationals? If the RFL had any strategic gumption they'd understand it is their role to lead the development of northern hemisphere rugby league, and that it is in its own interests to do so.

This really illustrates how much work there is to do even in the areas that are considered the RL heartland.

5900 licences in the full region of occitanie, it says that's 78% of all licences in France so really around 7000 licences in the whole of France, but licences doesn't mean players, it includes coaches, presidents, fitness coaches, kids and kids coaches, We're even put down as a comparison to other regional sports like bull running and tambourine tennis! It's amazing how the French manage to get so many good players, considering playing numbers, especially being competitive up to u19s against the English,

This escalated quickly

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES! https://www.townrlfc.com/article/807/town-join-seaton-rangers-to-support-archies-army-as-charity-partner-in-2024

I get it’s a thing in US sports when in practice they don’t associate positions with numbers and they go up to 99 so plenty available. I don’t think it should be done in our game, players can change their number each year, and squad numbers are a recent thing.

He played 80 minutes in second row against Wakefield and got Man of the Match

I've seen the Namo tackle several times and still can't see what he did wrong. He went for the hip area, didn't fall on Isas legs and didn't seem to me to trap Isas foot under him. It's something that you see every game every week.

So, what they really need to do, is get it down to 2 registered players, 1 of whom is decent.

It is poor regardless of who is the organising body. If the RFL are taking stick then I'm okay with that too. They deserve it. This bizarrely awful day is the only thing confirmed in England's diary so far this year.

The Kangaroos are a brand? Who knew?

I think most people understand that it's the same French organisation who utterly failed to deliver the World Cup they overpromised and underworked for who are putting on this budget triple header.

As cut throat as my comments may appear to be. The truth is this. No team in the championship is generally coming back from a 22 point deficit. We need to man up, cover the ball and put the opposition players on the floor, preferably on their backs. Need our tougher players back asap.

If that decided the 12th/ 13th place then it would create the mother of all meltdowns and accusations of corruption ever seen on this forum with the Moderators issuing more bans than the MRP do on week 1 of a new season

The number 6 shirt was retired at Hull KR after Roger Millwards passing.

Whilst we support a sport, for many players it is literally a job. They know one injury could end their career, they will likely be finished by early 30s. He's done everything, played internationals won GFs. Maybe he's had enough of media scrutiny in Sydney. I spoke to Joey Leluia and he said he preferred Featherstone to Sydney as he could go out without being hassled by fans/media. So maybe Manu wants a quieter life off field, a huge payday and chance to live in a very different country? In 10 years, no-one will care what he did or even remember if he stayed in NRL or not. Of course, no-one on this forum would change jobs for a huge pay rise and chance to live in Japan.......

I’m sure he won us the game the other week

Wigan seem to think that's where they're playing.

not as simple as that - someone will step in ,that's without doubt - but talents like Manu come round once in a lifetime - just like jonathan davies , ellery hanley and darren lockyer to name but just 3 - a huge loss to our game but money talks and if we were offered 5x as much money to do a far easier job then what would we say?

There have been some harsh things said on this site but this one takes the biscuit!

Because youve just randomly made up a completely different incident to defend your point of view, which is a complete waste of time and utter nonsense.

Hull are a weird example. People are making out they are bad now because they have no risk of relegation. Yet they've been bad for years when relegation was in place. They really aren't doing too much differently in 2024 than they have for the last few years.

No, you've answered a question that wasn't asked. You were asked whether you wanted the project to succeed. You've only said that you are against it. The inference I draw is that you want it to fail because that would prove you right.

So if he had done something completely different no one would have complained, what a bizarre post.

I do see that. The body shape into the tackle is the important part here. Did his body shape and angle cause unnecessary contact and was it reckless. I am going to take a look at the live round of matches this week to see if this body shape and angle is very uncommon. For me, the equation is simple. Do I think it was a deliberate attempt to target the ankle and cause pressure? No So, was it reckless. This depends on whether the technique used was reckless as a knee hitting an ankle cannot on its own be described as reckless. If other tackles have the same body shape and angle, and they go unpenalised and unrecognised then that adds to the discussion. But I don't know that yet.

I do think though clubs are allowed to make rubbish rugby decisions, that's part of the fun. My team have under-performed over the last couple of years, and Leeds aren't where they maybe should be. But these are the clubs that are strong off the field - playing in good grounds, doing well financially, getting sponsors, big crowds. The fact that Hull have been hovering around 8th for the last decade is for them to be peed off with, but they are still delivering 5 figure crowds, including one of the biggest games of every year. I think it's OK that a strong club is getting it wrong on the field, that's the interesting sport bit.

If it's a freak accident, there would be no charge - but the onus is always on the player. Players coming in 3rd man to hit around the hip don't normally have their knees involved. He got it wrong - that isn't on anyone else.

On your first line - I don't agree - the word unnecessary is important here - as per my first viewing, I think the tackler's body was in an unusual position, we see many third man in tackles that don't involve your knee being part of that tackle. On your second line - I'm not sure why you think it is impossible to do that intentionally or recklessly? The fact that these tackles are not common suggests it is possible to not do it - I don't think because he did do it it is accidental.

But surely that is because contact with a players head is explicitly stated as against the laws of the game. It is not against the laws for a player to make contact with an oppositions ankle with his knee and so the question comes down to whether he used his body to twist or bend the ankle or apply unnecessary pressure as the laws state. I would say no. Before we ban a player, I would want to know what foul he committed. I cannot see a foul here, I just see an unfortunate accident.

I'm loathe to spend too much time debating Wilkin's words, I think he is useless, but I don't buy that clubs aren't interested in winning and they are just happy with safety. There is no money to be made in RL, so spending money to just be at the top table for a club like Hull makes no sense.

@Harry Stottle - This is the closest that I can find to the interview with DB that I referenced earlier. Apologies, if it is just quotes from the YouTube interview, but didn't recall him stating that the finance score had been verified by the RFL: https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/derek-beaumont-makes-bold-img-claim-amid-relegation-rumours-87821/ Main claim is that there will be a 2.5 increase in finance score, and that has been verified by the RFL. That would take Leigh's score to 14.7 after the Challenge cup defeat, and I would expect a slight increase in stadium utilisation score. Though, I don't know if there are likely any deductions due because of off field disciplinaries.

1700 licences around the Perpignan region, so almost a quarter of all licences,

Stats- PLT-5 tackles. one offload. 15 tackle breaks. 2 clean breaks. 17 carries=162m M Turner-3 tackles.2 misses.2 tackle breaks. 2 clean breaks. 13 carries=103m Morgan-8 tackles. 2 misses. one try assist. 9 carries=62m J Turner-2 tackles. two offloads .4 tackle breaks. 2 clean breaks. 2 try assists. 10 carries=67m Tyrer-3 tackles. 5 tackle breaks. 5 clean breaks. 13 carries=102m Craven-8 tackles. 2 misses. one tackle break. one clean break. 3 try assists. 10 carries=65m Astley-16 tackles. 3 misses. 2 tackle breaks. 7 carries=53m Kopzcak-16 tackles. 2 tackle breaks. 13 carries=108m Aldridge-26 tackles. one try assist. 2 carries=8m Farnworth-17 tackles. one miss. 10 carries=94m Gallagher-16 tackles. one miss. 2 offloads. 2 tackle breaks. one clean break. 2 try assists. 9 carries=65m Lawton-27 tackles. one miss. one offload. one tackle break. one clean break. 11 carries=87m J Chapelhow-28 tackles. 14 carries=87m subs Paga-20 tackles. 3 tackle breaks. 6 carries=37m T Chapelhow-21 tackles. 2 tackle breaks. 6 carries=73m Taylor-14 tackles. 4 carries=29m Johnson-16 tackles. 3 misses. 6 carries=58m PLT amazing stats. Think that's the second most tackle breaks since I've started recorded the stats second only to McComb in the challenge cup against an amateur team.

Personally, if it was on TV I would mention it to people and encourage them to watch it. If it's on SL+ then I may still bring it up in conversation, but it will be less likely and I'm less likely to suggest people download an app, etc specially for it.

Are people in the wider world going to know about the internationals, never mind the Championship match? It looks as though it won't be on TV, just on SL+. I can't see there being much promotion of it to anyone who isn't already following RL.

A great signing and seems a great bloke too. He went up hugely in my estimations after Penriths WCC defeat. He and Nathan Cleary spent an awful lot of time walking round the ground meeting and getting photos took with fans when no other Penrith players bothered. Indeed he had his photo took with my kids and it was the cherry on top of a great night.

What brand? Sure Australia always have a quality team but they rarely play and their organisation of internationals is no better.

I place (most of) the blame with the RFL. The Championship is a RFL competition, the RFL chose to programme an international break for Super League but not for the Championship. It is obvious that Toulouse must have a week off if there is to be an England v France international, the RFL decided not to programme that into the fixtures.

Lots of strong criticism of the RFL here, but unless I'm mistaken it is the French who are organising this event. They have likely decided the scheduling of all 3 games based on their views what will do the most for them on a tight budget. It is their 90th birthday party, they are not a wealthy organisation and just getting this event on is probably quite an achievement. Let's consider this before jumping in and bashing the RFL.

So why didn’t he choose Cas

I could conceive of him retiring and moving into coaching. This move is slightly out the blue though, being in a wide ranging, non-hands on professional role. I mean the last time I saw him behind a desk it was year 9 history and he got sent to isolation because he wouldn't stop farting.

A full strength squad of French Super League players could look like this (assuming Catalans don't do what they did last year, and no injuries). Possibly missed someone. (In brackets - how many SL & CC games played this season, out of 9; team if not Catalans) Mourgue (7 of 9) Miloudi (7; London) Romano (7) Laguerre (5) Yaha (3) Rouge (5) Fages (8) Navarrete (9) Da Costa (6) Bousquet (8) Goudemand (7; Leeds) Seguier (8) Garcia (8) Tison (1; now on loan at London) Sangare (7; Leeds) Maria (2) Dezaria (7) T. Chan (2; Wigan) Salabio (5; Huddersfield) (Additional players from Elite 1 could include Benjamin Jullien, Bastien Scimone, Tanguy Zenon, Morgan Escare, etc) Interesting to see how many of the above make the squad!?!

Rhodri forgot to mention for the following season the FFR will have to pay the travelling expenses for all the English international teams to keep in line with SL policy.

You missed out the part where people who aren’t going or who are underwhelmed get lambasted and somehow become the reason for its failure.

Couple of interesting curtain raisers to the Toulouse v Fev game....

No disrespect to any players who have played with any number on their back with distinction, but if you start to retire the numbers you can soon end up with 1 to 13 retired and then it goes on

But is geoblocked so you need a VPN.

The Sky Sports article says the following; Myler's position will involve him overseeing all on-field performance aspects of the senior and academy teams, including rugby operations, recruitment, and the management of the club's coaching staff. So, for a start he will not only be managing people but managing people who manage people. In other words, he is being parachuted into a senior leadership role with no obvious examples of him managing people on his CV. All Rugby Operations and recruitment means the building of a squad of players (within a fixed budget) and the associate plans for player development as well as the budgets for non playing staff. For recruitment, he will need to work internally (for Academy graduates) and with a network of scouts and agents for player availability both here and abroad. Following identification of available talent, he would need to negotiate, length of contract and terms (again within a fixed budget). I expect this type of role would have to put into place performance criteria for the coaching staff and managed people against that criteria. He will also be an escalation point for any disputes, grievances and appeals so will need to sit in chair of those sessions. Finally, I expect he will be the person explaining club performance and culture upstream to the owner and board to stakeholder management will be a key skill. This is a role leading maybe 60 to 70 people and a circa £3 to 4 million budget. There will be more but this feels like a lot for a recently retired player to handle who hasn't progressed through a management or coaching role within the game. Good luck to him.