yanto

Following on from the successful men's season and the ground breaking under 19 mini tour to England it was the turn of the Dutch Ladies to make their international debut yesterday in Athens. What a debut it was. "Netherlands women made a highly impressive debut against Greece at the Municipal Stadium Dimitris Nikolaidis. The Dames took a party of 70 players and fans to Athens, playing an ‘A’ team game and a senior women’s international and did not concede a point, winning 32-0 in the curtain raiser and 14-0 in the main game." Good things happening in the land of Windmills and Clogs.

Think I will let others "Test" it before I commit after getting burned and no refund when the last effort got pulled without any explanation. Used the Watch NRL app for a few years now and its great value.

Played in a 0-1 at Wilderspool ,played in a 2-2 at Widnes and im sure I played in a 1-1 v Hull KR. Will check the records

See my post. It is in place...has been for years. Its only European A that is not getting its act together. How can the Dutch (for example) play five internationals this autumn yet the European A group teams can't organise one? People are also pointing fingers at the RFL. Nowt to do with them whats happening in Scotland or Ireland.These countries now come under the RL European Federation who have less money in the pot than the RFL.

There is / was a CLEAR PATHWAY and if any of the minnows are/ were good enough they had the chance to step up to the next level. Up until 2018 there was a European A ,B and C which included Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France, and initially Russia in the top tier. As I pointed out once before it started in 2005 when Netherlands Serbia and the short lived Georgia came onto the scene. Georgia won the qualifying group to advance to play with the big boys in two groups of three with the two winners playing off in the final. France beat Wales. 2009 Italy and Lebanon came in as France seemed to not enter only to come back a year later (2010) when European A was France Ireland Scotland and Wales. 2012 was a strange one with only Ireland and Scotland in European A ...maybe Wales and France dropped out to prepare for the 2013 World Cup ? 2014,2015 and 2018 had the four usual suspects. While all this was going on European B (2007 till present day) and European C (from 2008) and eventually European D (2021) were developing . I know covid had an affect but it just seems like the Welsh, Irish, French and Scots (or the RLEF ) have made little effort since 2018 to get European A back up and running. Again this may have had something to do with the now cancelled world cup and the proposed qualification process... I dont know. For people to now suggest for a "tiered structure" its been in place since 2005 but has become a bit hit and miss at European A. Check out the link on the RLEF website for full details. https://europeanrugbyleague.com/competitions/98

I guess most of the replies are from a spectators point of view as most players mentioned are forwards with reputations. As an outside center / winger a slightly different point of view of "scary". Les Dyl and John Bevan are both players you didn't enjoy playing against as a nineteen year old just making your way in the game. Both had legs like tree trunks and were strong runners and Bevan had a nasty streak to him. Ask yourself what you would do with Mal Maninga running at you for 80 minutes Scary to face but you had a job to do. Frank Foster a great fella who coached me at two clubs.

Unlike a few European development teams the Dutch have not gone down the whole "lets get an Aussie based heritage team" path as such but if they have guys that are willing to fly half way around the world, at their own expense and stay for a month and put their hands up to help develop the game well good on em. Even back in 2006 Aaron de Jager was a heritage player who came over and raised standards and is still remembered today. Let's not forget England have used heritage players and let's not even talk about the Aussies looking at PI players backgrounds. These young guys are proud to pull on the "Oranje" shirt and if it helps to raise standards well "fair dinkum" But let's be typical of RL and look for negative points instead of celebrating how these small nations are growing the game and "doing the hard yards".

Doubt they could afford the airfares never mind the insurance for those guys

Would be interesting to name the UK based players in the top 3/4 levels. Infact any level Same goes for the Aussies. As the Dutch settlers headed for Victoria AFL will have more Cloggers than the CRL/NRL I would guess. Anyway great result today and believe it or not Serbia have never beat the Netherlands in what is now four attempts.

You will need to download the VEO app from the link. Sign in and it takes to Zwolle Rugby club site which also has a number if the Dutch domestic competition games on it. They kept that quiet Edit Redone because I posted on the quote

Not from "nowhere". Lots of things to be pleased about at international level with a surprise home defeat by Germany last October the only loss in twelve games Winning the European D championship v Czech and Turkey in 2021,a link up with Hull KR,experienced players taking up coaching roles,a stronger club competition all point to the Dutch quietly making progress. A big test this weekend when everybody's favourite development nation Serbia visit Zwolle. Im working on HS2 at the moment so won't be at the game but I'm hoping the boys can continue the unbeaten run v the Serbs (3-0 to Holland in previous encounters) As for the under 19s like most European nations its hard enough developing the seniors never mind age groups . There is no domestic under 19 competition. Trials were held for the 19 group and attracted a number of players from "other sports" and the successful ones, along with the younger guys playing in the domestic comp, have been selected for the upcoming short UK tour. It will be interesting to how they do against heartland clubs but I'm sure they will benefit from the experience.

https://www.bassets.nl/bassets-tv/ Netherlands return to Sassenheim where they played Scotland A and Scotland Students when the game started (again) back in 2002. Not sure of the quality as I am informed they are using The Bassets rugby club "AI" camera. Apparently this follows the play with no human inter action Technology eh. KO 13:00 UK time

Gonna be a long day for Serbia I think. 0-12 after 5 minutes .