Chris22

Thought tonight was a very good match, entertaining and pretty high quality. I'm not sure it was obvious from TV but Catalans line speed was exceptional, as was their goal line defence and composure. I think the scoreline was a pretty fair reflection of how little there was between the two sides. Over the last few years, we have been comfortably the best side in the league and if we played near or close to our best, we would win. The difference this year is that even where I thought we played very well, there are teams who are more than our match and better than us. I was frustrated at our failure to kick the 2 with 10 to go. We had scored one try all match and decided that the easier option was go for two tries in the last 10 minutes, rather than 1 try and guaranteed penalty? It made no sense at all apart from sticking to a very strange rugby league convention that we don't kick penalties unless we can avoid it. Perhaps with a little more pace out wide we could have nicked it but I'm not sure it would have been deserved. Catalans were outstanding tonight and sometimes you have to credit your opposition and accept that your best efforts weren't quite enough.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We have too many clubs who have ambitions to be a top flight club for one league and not enough to fill two leagues. Finding any kind of working structure against that backdrop is very difficult if not impossible.

It does seem very heavily skewed towards Super League clubs. For one, you get points for viewing figures on TV. There's no amount of work that a Championship club could do to achieve that. Also, for Super League clubs, Channel 4 gets higher viewing figures than Sky as its free to air. So if a particular club happens to be on Channel 4 more often, they will gain more points than a side that isn't, simply because of TV picks.

Some stadiums hide empty seats better than others. For example, it's immediately obvious at Wembley with its bright red seats but I've always thought less so a stadiums with darker coloured seats like St James' Park.

I think Wigan had either free or discounted tickets for 'blue-light' workers last night.

A lot of it is about pitch and tone of voice to me. The ability to generate excitement without it sounding forced or that the commentator is shouting at the viewer. A good commentator is one that you don't notice all of the time. One who supplements the action rather than a wall of sound over the top of it. TV Rugby League commentators have a habit of talking too much. Not every moment needs to be filled, knowing when not to say anything is important too.

We are almost a little embarrassed to succeed. Wider sports fans enjoy seeing England win and I think it would have been appreciated far more by a novice crowd than a knowledgeable one. I went to the England v France match at Bolton in the World Cup. The match was competitive up to a point but there was never really any doubt that England would win. I was sat behind a group of young-ish adults, one of which had a northern accent (and seemed to be an existing) fan and two who had southern accents, who by the questions they were asking their mate, seemed to be at a rugby league match for the first time. The comments I heard were not "this is boring, England are winning at a canter" but comments enjoying seeing English success (and a lot about what a freak of nature Dom Young is!) We have one of the best rugby league teams in the world. We should use this as a selling point and not be ashamed of it.

I don't think it's an ideal situation having two of the tests within 20 miles of each other as you are selling these events to the same crowd. Huddersfield or Leeds would have been fine but not convinced it should have been both. Obviously, a test in either a smaller London stadium or Coventry would have been better. I do think aiming for a 52,000 stadium in Newcastle may have been a bit much. But it's one thing thinking it's a good idea, it's another organising it at short notice, with the NRL throwing as many obstacles as it can in the way. Whilst I expect England to win the series, we have a competitive test series against a strong opposition probably live on the BBC this autumn, likely to be in front of near full stadiums. That is a success.

The decision to close one stand was probably the correct one as it made the rest of the ground look more full. It gave the impression of a higher crowd than last year's mid-season match at Warrington. I do have sympathy for the RFL. Play France and it's a tough sell because everyone in the heartlands knows it will be a walkover. Play a Combined Nations team and it lacks legitimacy.

I'll have a look at the full framework later but certainly seems like an enormous amount of thought has gone into this. I do think a lot more weighting should be given sporting performance and I worry that people have unrealistic expectations of what is a rehash of an old system is like to bring. Saying that, I'll keep an open mind and hope for the best. We all need this to be successful!

I agree. The article about London Skolars potential takeover is one I haven't seen elsewhere and the interview with George Stokes was a decent read. I was critical of some of the articles of late so also right to praise the higher quality ones.

We've had referees leave citing bullying, homophobia and intimidation and allegations that Rimmer ignored formal complaints about this. Is it a coincidence that Ganson is suspended a month after Rimmer leaves? Given the nature and extent of allegations (over the last 6 years), it's outrageous this investigation has taken so long to be launched.

Next article: "You won't BELIEVE who Tim Street's tache says the sexiest rugby league personality is!"

I agree. League Express' online output is tedious. I assume those in charge look at what generates more clicks and therefore more revenue and have decided that this is the best approach. A paucity of quality all sacrificed for quantity. It must work and League Express are entitled to do as they please but I do actively avoid clicking and interacting with these clickbait articles. In some ways, it's a shame that this is what is needed now to draw in fans.