Wirral Warrior

If Tomkins plays (the Sam variety) , Catalans win !

Are you for real? You are really that naive to believe the 'virus' excuse....sorry , reason. Even the great Gus Gould is confused. One minutes its the virus from a direct health point of view , then its the knock on impact to the start of next season. Which is it? He and the NRL never wanted the RLWC and have looked ( and will continue to look) for an excuse to cancel the whole thing. Sport is up and running around the world. Full respect to individual players if they choose not to tour, but the player pool is so large for both countries , surely they could forward 2 competitive teams rather than hide behind the virus excuse. That's why Johnson (Simon that is) referred to the decision as 'cowardly'. Would have had more respect for the decision if they just told the truth.......ie. it will impact on our pre-season and as its 'overseas' its not our problem!

Sign up?......we are talking about International Sport. They should not need to 'sign up' ......international competition is vital to grow and develop the game especially for a sport when a sister code attract talent with the prospect of national representation. Despite my anger at the arrogant and duplicitous nature of the way ARL/NZ RL have withdrawn, I am hoping that the powers that be in Aus/NZ ( ie the NRL Clubs) can look beyond the next SOO series and genuinely help build momentum and the fully participate in a fully exclusive 2022 WC. Broadening and developing the world game will inevitably reap benefits to all nations, including Aus/NZ. In many ways the International game is getting broader. The Pacific Island teams and PNG are certainly stronger . Tonga have beat Australia and England in recent years. So , nations should be privileged to be invited ( or qualify) for International tournaments....not having to 'sign up'!

Simon Johnson was spot on when he said the decision was cowardly. It was a cowardly decision because the explanation is misleading. Gus Gould in his rant on Wide World of Sports let it slip when after talking glibly about player safety then rambled on about potential quarantine time impinging on the agreed 8 week player break and then potentially impacting the start of the 2022 NRL season. Why not just be honest and be straightforward and give the real reason : NRL comes 1st, 2nd and 3rd! They have just used this as an excuse. Listening to the Gould podcast last year, there was not one mention of the cancellation of the 2020 Kangeroo GB tour. It was all about Origin moving to the end of the season. Australia do not need the World Cup and only pretend at supporting International Football. They believe International Football is Origin. Full stop. I went to the WC in Aus in 2017 and the experience compared very badly against the 2013 WC. We should press on with the WC this year as I would not believe a word from the ARL about supporting it next year. Some other excuse will be wheeled out. We live in hope, but....

Excellent summary of the issue and nominations

Thanks to your provision of the e mail , I also got a prompt reply. "Apologies for the oversight which you rightly say should not have happened. Hope it didn't detract too much from your enjoyment of the paper. Regards, Nick Greenslade, deputy editor, Sunday Times Sport" Proves it is always worth all of us highlighting poor media coverage as requested on the original post

Yes - I have - to both David Walsh and ST , both via Twitter. Guess what....no reply. However thanks for the e mail address and complaint number 3 will be soon on its way. You have nailed my basic point - its no use us whining and wailing about being overlooked , lets all get out there and call them out!

Eventhough I am not totally suprised, but I was disappointed not read any mention of the 2021 Rugby Leage World Cup in their preview of the '2021 Sporting Bonanza' either in the article or the accompanying chronological table of 2021 events. The article was actually penned by David Walsh who has a good reputation for investigative sports journalism. In my opinion his lofty reputation took a dent yesterday with this omission. There will be a pent up demand to view regular events such as Wimbledon, but to omit the RL World Cup to be played on home soil, is lazy jounalism at best. This is a global tournament that will draw upto 3/4m spectators and will be covered on terrestrial television Some initial Twitter reaction suggested that 'its the sports fault' for not pusuing a more aggressive PR campaign so Walsh et al could not ignore the sport. This is probably true, but my view is that it is incumbent on everyone involved in the spot ( fans, administartors, journalists etc) to publically and consistently call out such poor quality media reporting

I agree re scrums and water carriers. To be honest I havent missed scrums too much. However they should be restored if supported proerly by the officials , players and coaches. It does add potential variety to a game which some outsiders could view as one dimensional and attritional. The point about better management of the water carriers is a really good one. In recent years I have taken non RL people to big games ( WCC 2017 Wigan v Cronulla; GF 2019 Saints v Salford) and eventhough they were generally impressed with the game overall, they were staggered , and dismayed at the 'involvement' of the water carriers. Perhaps because I am used to their involvment, it was interesting to see another point of view. Clean up the scrums, limit the water carriers to being water carriers

Got to disagree. I think he thoughtful and provides really good insights from a recent top creative player and emerging coach. Really good technical explanations rather than tired cliches that many ex players use

The pre and post game punditry and analysis is currently really good . Jason Robinson and Jon Wilkin wre both enthusiastic, knowledable and extremely articulate in their presenting their opnions . Carney and Wells likewise. Agree sartorial standards have slipped , but that goes across all Sky Sports now. Similarly the BBC coverage is of a very high standard via Chapman and Woods etc The Sky Commentary team does require some 'rationalisation' in quantity and volume , but on balance I think they do a good job. To a degree you feel they are marking time until the new TV deal is finalised one way or another.

Fully agree. All parties have done a great job. Skill, effort, entertainment has all been in abundance. New rules have worked really well. Super League/RFL made the early call on using percentage wins as a foresighted contingency. Like every other walk of life in every other country , it is all about everyone doing their bit to ensure there is some form of return to normality as possible. I think RL both here and in Austraia have done better than most

Agreed...perhaps Joe Burgess doesnt cut the mustard at this level

You dont think Faz and Scully were greats?

Wonderful player and a wonderful career. Fantastic will to win attitude throughout his career. A good example was the opening match v Aus at last World Cup. I was at that game at Melbourne, and after battering their line for multiple sets , they got a breakaway which effectively won the match. Jammer was the only player who ran back full tilt to try and stop the try or at least force a harder conversion. Definitely in that group of Super League era greats who have played for GB/England along with Farrell, Scully, JP, Burgess , Morley and SOL. I wish him well however he wants to finish his career. Oh....and as an Evertonian, he has also got great taste in football