Wolford6

Jesus, I find myself agreeing with Lobbygobbler!!!

I never realised that the Mosely RUFC badge had a dragon on it!

RL Forwards, Paul Johnson, Lee Gilmour, Chris Nero, Sean O'Loughlin, Steve Menzies, Paul Cooke, Michael Monaghan, Kevin Sinfield. RL Backs, Paul Johnson, Lee Gilmour, Chris Nero, Sean O'Loughlin, Steve Menzies, Paul Cooke, Michael Monaghan, Kevin Sinfield. They clearly ARE the same.

Plenty of room for fat lads in RL. Watch any amateur and semi-pro team and there are quite a few. The honed bodies in superleague are a reflec tion of: - - full time training and dietary control - the nature of the game doesnt require a bit of padding which is necessary for players in the RU forwards ... the full-time-RU pros aren't as fat as they were but still carry far more timber than their RL equivalents. - the continual-interchange system means they only have to play in 20-minute bursts ... bodies can be honed for impact at the expense of endurance. - the perfunctory scrum and playing in a summer season means no one gets heavily fatigued by playing in heavy mud and prolonged pushing and pulling in scrums and mauls. Take no notice of the people on this board who disparage the RU scrum; they've never packed down in one and don't understand the value of wearing the opposition down, wearying both sets of forwards to allow the backs to flourish and the raising of morale that a strong pack can engender. The RU scrum is fantastic to play in, but not so good for spectators ... that's why RL, which had to survive on its gates, reduced it to a mere restart. Most teams now put backs in the scrum to allow harder tackling/running forwards to either reinforce the defence and/or provide a battering ram for the first reception. Both RU and RL scrums fulfill the separate purposes for which they are intended. I really enjoyed playing in both. It's just that some posters on this board think that, because RL is great, RU must be rubbish. Perhaps one day they'll grow up.

Or a professional rock guitarist who doesn't want the fans to think you're going bald (cf: Mark Knopfler, Miami Steve Van Zandt, Keef)?

The definition of a gentleman is someone who can play the bagpipes but doesn't.

By and large, in my opinion, we have the better props, the Aussies have the better second rows. This is reflected in this season at the Bulls. Our best forwards have been Nick Scruton and Steve Menzies. God knows how good Menzies must have been when he was 28.

Yes, you were much nicer to her guidedog.

quote name='Kenilworth Tiger' date='Sep 13 2010, 09:19 AM' post='2119365'] As for Fozzard, too late in my opinion - he has no passion for the club whatsoever and is very injury prone. He's had plenty of passion for everbody he's played for against the Bulls. He's given our defence some right pounding.

January 2010 finds Brian Noble with a team of fewer than 10 players, playing in a town 100 miles from its home base and where there is little indigenous support and a negligible number of juvenile local rugby league players. Financial constraints mean that he cannot pay transfer fees for players and cannot pay wages up to the full salary cap. He signs journeymen with no top-level international experience to play in Superleague but also continues the development of Welsh players via a link with the South Wales Scorpions, who are also starting from scratch at a new ground and under new ownership. Young Welsh players such as Elliot Kear, Lloyd White, Ben Flower get some opportunity to play in Superleague that no other club would have offered them. September 2010 finds the Crusaders in the playoffs, ahead of Bradford, Wakefield, Castleford, Catalans and London. The Scorpions finish sixth in Championship 1, ahead of Workington, London and Gateshead. You're right ... after following up a career history of winning three Grand Finals and a Challenge Cup with Bradford, the saving Wigan from relegation with this kind of abject failure at Wrexham ... he must be a rubbish coach. How many effing medals have you got?

During their worst-performing season for over thirty years, Bradford attracted an average crowd of over 8,000 casual fans/handwavers. How many hardcore RL fans did Leigh attact when they had their one glorious season in Superleague, or even the season when they won the Challenge Cup? You've got a good stadium and - if your business plan was good enough - if you could attract an average crowd of 5000 - 8000 - if your team was good enough to win something or reach a final at their current level then you'd get a franchise. Till then, you're just a small town in Wigan. Nothing to see here, move along, move along

I think you may be overlooking the inconvenient fact that there are two Yorkshiremen in the Australian Dream Team.

He's no pace and, though a very skilfull player, his kicking from hand was no better than Paul Sykes' has been in his absence. (Honestly!) For me, it's more of a problem if he stays against his will, picking up a mega salary every week that could go to someone happy to be at Odsal. When signing Aussies, some you win, some you lose.

Not one Bulls player? It's a conspiracy. If only Danny Sculthorpe had been fit.

We thought he was mediocre when he was at the Bulls. Didn't half miss his tackling rate when he left though. He's a proper pro workhorse, and he doesn't hide when he makes a mistake.

Also had a great game that day.

Every season without fail at Odsal. I wish he could be the same at Headingley.

I've been going to both Wilderspool and the HJ stadium, standing on the touchline terrace whenever possible. I'm a fairly vociferous spectator, but have never had any problems with the Warrington fans. I think it would be different if I stood behind the sticks, but that's the case for several away grounds. The most obnoxious fans I've come across in over thirty years of watching were pre-Superleague ... at the Boulevard, Clarence Road and Post Office Road. NB: I just had to look up the name of the former York ground, having forgotten it was called Clarence Road. Aptly, it was built on land originally leased from the York Lunatic Asylum.

Other people could be making a big mistake by writing Leeds off after their showing in the CC Final. Not me though, I'm a Bradford fan!!

Probably started by accident ... other fans being jostled when the Leeds fans made their early stampede for the exits.

I think one of those seats might have been bought by Kevin Sinfield. I didn't see him on the pitch either.

Good, let's hope Matt Orford goes there as his replacement and we get someone who more obviously wants to play for the Bulls.

I've played in the front row in both amateur codes. When I played RL, during the contested scrum era, the standard scrum involved Team A feeding the scrum with the Team B hooker nearer to the feed than the Team A hooker. The (illegal) objective of the Team A front row was to occasionally (so as not to be constantly penalised) "pinch" the oppostion head by not meshing heads properly and leaving the Team A hooker nearest the feed ... giving almost certain possession. The result; much nutting and retribution with too many weak referees turning a blind eye. Many promising young players were getting bullied and quit the game for soccer or for no other sporting involvement. In RU, the feeding team always has the head, with Team A feeing the scrum with the Team A hooker nearer to the feed than the Team B hooker, and maintaining almost certain possession. The common way for Team B to disrupt this possession was by nutting the Team A front row at the point of engagement, plus illegal binding and boring to subject the Team A hooker to body-torsion. Many promising young players were getting bullied and quit the game for soccer or for no other sporting involvement. There was also the risk of serious injury Both RL and RU addressed the issue of losing players ... the RL by going to uncontested scrums, the RU by controlling the point of engagement and banning low-level scrumming. However, by retaining "proper" scrummaging, the RU has maintained the primary purpose of the scrum which is not (as in RL) merely to restart the game after an infringement, but is also to provide a trial of strength and technique between two organised packs of forwards. A tired pack enables backs to see more ball and to run in less-contested space. I prefer to watch RL but, by God, I loved those RU scrums.

Two poor teams and a poor ref, but it was an enjoyable game to watch.

Interesting to read in today's T&A that Glenn Hall didn't miss the Saints game through injury ... he was dropped and not before time.