tim2

After beating Fev away and Halifax, Sheffield and Bradford at home it's fair to say that Toulouse are back.

Or playing for a Championship side

Eagles 40 Thunder 0 Eagles never got out of second gear and won comfortably even without Thackeray. Newcastle will go down and it doesn't look good for Keighley if Newcastle beat them. 3 in the bin after a bit of handbags in the second half was the most exciting part of a one-sided game. Nice to see Titus Gwaze playing again after a Newcastle player broke his jaw in the retrun fixture.

FRIDAY 23rd JUNE Sheffield Eagles v Newcastle Thunder KO 19:30 SATURDAY 24th JUNE Toulouse Olympique v Bradford Bulls KO 18:00 SUNDAY 25th JUNE Batley Bulldogs v London Broncos KO 15:00 Halifax Panthers v Barrow Raiders KO 15:00 Keighley Cougars v Whitehaven KO 15:00 Widnes Vikings v Swinton Lions KO 15:00 York Knights v Featherstone Rovers KO 15:00

Rams, Cru, Town

<Mr Burns mode>Excellent...</Mr Burns mode>

I can. I hope they increase it.

My thoughts on this, for what they're worth. I'm a former ref who wasn't good or strong enough to play more than the odd game of full/semi contact. I've also sat on disciplinary panels. The O'Donnell tackle was horrendous. Obviously he'll get at least 6 and fully deserves it. Hardaker was lucky - he could have been red carded but the ref has a tough call to make as to the amount of rotation and point of contact with the ground, and both those were really beyond Hardaker's control once he'd gone for the lift and turn. Was 1 game enough? For me, no, but I can see why it was marginal on the grading. I did wonder whether both of these tackles were worse due to the relative strength of full-time highly conditioned SL players and part time players. Maybe not, but any thoughts? Still no excuse, it's the tackler's responsibility. Three games for Ellis? Four, if you count the nearly whole one he missed after his red. Harsh compared to Hardaker, but he was dumb and won't do it again. Griffin - 6, probably. 6 and a half, if you count the 40 minutes that helped Saints win. Utter stupidity given it was 12-12. Whether 6 is right I don't know but there has to be respect for officials regardless of what they may or may not have got wrong. I was never called a cheat in a game, or afterwards. At least not directly. That would have p***ed me off, though, as I genuinely didn't care who won. And even when I was forced to ref my own team I tried to forget who was playing. Once my "own" coach gave me an absolute volley so I binned him. I think some of the critics of refs and disciplinary panels should try reffing, or sitting on a panel. It's highly enlightening. By the way, I would recommend watching a few of Danny Tindall's headcam recordings of amateur games. It's the RugbyMadDad channel on YouTube.

Griffin was leader in the clubhouse with a brandy and cigar when the news came through that he would be politely asked to vacate.

Always worth playing Championship Top Trumps at this stage. They may play their "Super League Titles" card soon.

Well done, Donny. Didn't expect that.

Gordon McQueen - Man Utd, Leeds Utd and Scotland - aged 70. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63664992

I'm struggling with distance at the moment due to various niggles that flare up above 5 miles. It's annoying because I love long training runs. Long Eaton parkrun on Saturday was tough - I struggled with lack of sleep the night before and stomach cramps on lap 2. Still, another one done. That's 338 now. Armley parkrun for me next Saturday.

It's not my squad - I don't particularly like Leigh or DB but you've got to give credit where it's due.

Eventually passed away on 6th June.

Saints-Cats Grand Final?

This morning I thought Sheffield may have a chance against Toulouse next week. Now, not so much. To be fair to Fev fans, they've never said this wouldn't happen at some point. They are still favourites to be in top spot, and to reach the Final. But, in a one-off game, they aren't the overwhelming favourites that Leigh were last year.

Heat and humidity favouring Toulouse away from home for a change.

After which Saints will be Champions again, destroying all our optimism.

I'm old enough to remember Adrian Lam being blamed for Wigan being poor, and losing heavily to St Helens. Seems a very long time ago.

I'm fairly confident that Leigh won't go down now - I didn't think they would but I thought they'be be at best 9th. Next year will be harder but I can't see Fev (or whoever else comes up) finishing above them so they're probably in SL for a while now. Good planning by Beaumont and his board, and good player recruitment and coaching.

Not bad for a Friday night when a popular local band have a gig in town. I see "good Sheffield" rocked up tonight, when I couldn't go. The two key players who didn't play in the horror show last Sunday are 37 and 38 years old. The Eagles need a new plan for 2024 that isn't "I hope QLT and Thacks are fit". Welham got a hat trick and he's getting on a bit too. Congrats to Ben Jones-Bishop on his 200th career try.

Pat Robertson, TV Evangelist and arch-Republican, aged 93. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65846402 Or, has his Wikipedia entry currently says (but probably not for long)

Maybe in the last 10-15 when they got tired, but even then they kept the Eagles out and even when they made errors Eagles had conceded penalties just before so they didnt count. Either way, Haven were solid and Eagles were anything but.

Whitehaven were excellent today but were given a far bit of help by Sheffield's defending. Haven hardly made an error in the second half.