JonM

If I'd meant to imply that, I would have said it. Given the size of the WIdnes squad, I don't think he would've been taking the place of someone else anyway. It's going to get a bit boring if you keep making the same point about DR every week, particularly as most of us agree and I don't think anyone here has the power to do much about it. In any case, he's not in the 20 man squad that Widnes have announced on social media, so I assume that means he's not actually playing.

You can. It's £25 though (for the Widnes NRC game, at least. Maybe not for regular season fixtures.) £20 if you buy online in advance.

The forecast weather for Sunday afternoon might level a few games up. Toulouse's lack of a kicking game might not matter so much when any high ball is going to end up behind one set of posts or the other.

Where have you seen that, out of interest? Can't see an announcement from either club. I know he got injured in pre-season training and missed last week and was expected back this week, so it might make sense for Warrington.

Indeed. Not to everyone's taste, though. It seems some people think Salford should be concentrating on the rugby, and not worrying about stuff like trying to attract new fans... Anyway, I do hope expectations of 6k+ or even 8k turn out to be correct. Pretty much all of SRD's problems stem from the fanbase being so small.

The amount of moaning on social media from some Salford fans about it is quite impressive tbf.

I can imagine the receptionist at Haringey Borough Council. "Wait, there's *two* London rugby league clubs? Oh god, I thought you were just phoning up to confirm the booking."

They got 4473 vs Leeds last season, and 4770 for the opening fixture of the season. They had one home attendance in SL last season below 3000 and three more below 3500. The only times they get over 6000 was against Wigan or Leigh, the next highest attendances being against St. Helens and Warrington, all fixtures where you'd expect a four-figure number of away fans. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they top 5000 tomorrow.

Well, they were called Plymouth Northern Union club, played games under Northern Union rules and played games against Northern Union clubs. Another bit of history I hadn't seen before - this time the South Shields and Wallsend Northern Union clubs in 1901/02. https://www.northeastheritagelibrary.co.uk/post/try-again-an-early-history-of-tyneside-rugby-league

In the 1912/13 season, there was a Plymouth Northern Union club who played a game against Coventry NU, in Plymouth, and also played St. Helens and hosted an England v Wales game. They also played games under Northern Union rules against Teignmouth, Paignton, Torquay and Newton Abbot. That club did not, however, take part in the main Northern Union competition.

Quite a densely populated part of the country though - the WA and WN postcode areas have a combined population approaching 1 million people. I'd expect all 4 of the SL clubs in that area to achieve higher average attendances this year than any of the clubs in the WF postcode area.

There was a very brief attempt to start a Western League in 1912 by Plymouth. The NU said that if they could get 12 clubs together, the Welsh clubs such as Ebbw Vale would join them. They only managed to get six. Quite a detailed discussion of events (which I haven't seen before) here: https://the-cornish-historian.com/2024/02/03/the-great-cornish-rugby-split/

1. Will Wakefield score more than 2 tries against Hull KR? Yes 2. Will Hull v Wigan be a higher scoring game than Warrington v Catalans? Yes 3. Will Oldham score more points than Bradford? No 4. Will there be more than 1 away win in League One this weekend? No 5. Will a drop goal be scored during this round of Super League fixtures? No Tie breaker: How many tries will be scored across all Super League games this weekend? 47

Anybody seen @Bedfordshire Bronco recently - he doesn't appear to have been on here since posting in this thread at the start of the year?

I suspect the average 50 year old probably can't do a pull up at all, but 10 push-ups seems like a much more reasonable target. I suspect the average 50 year old also probably can't run 5k, but again I think it's a reasonable target for a fit, healthy 50 year old. The NHS couch to 5k thing is very good. Main thing is to avoid getting injured - your cardio fitness increases faster than the strength & flexibility in tendons, ligaments, joints etc. so don't be in any hurry. If you can walk 5k, I'd really recommend doing parkrun - plenty of arbitrary targets you can set yourself, a very supportive and friendly environment, people bigger than you and/or much older than you taking part and because it's every week, it builds a habit and constantly gives you something to aim for. Walk the whole thing the first time, then incorporate a little bit of a run now and then the second time you do it and so on? Amazing weight loss - I really can't imagine what it takes to achieve that.

TotalRL reckons about 11,000 - the temporary stand was stated to add an extra 1000 seats.

Yes, they actually made the draw before the first game of the season, at the beginning of September, even though the first round was not played until March. And, just to make things interesting, they did the draw for the whole thing in one go, before any of the matches were played, just like our Antipodean friends are suggesting The competition also featured amateur teams switching venues to the home of their professional opponents. In the final, Batley played in White shirts and Black shorts, and St. Helens played in Blue and White hoops!

Barrow v Hunslet 1604 Bradford v London 2698

Oldham v York 1521 Sheffield v Halifax 1101

Good analysis. The report in La Depeche quoting the Toulouse coaches says that Benjamin Laguerre wasn't able to touch the ball down. The pass really was quite a long way forward though, I had a very clear view, unlike the referee who was some distance away. Haven't watched the video, but a lot of Toulouse fans thought the winning try for Widnes came from a forward pass too.

Thank you - my French is OK, but not good enough to follow everything. Do you happen to know who did the kick-off? I thought it was the smallest Widnes following to Toulouse in all the years I've been going (wow, 2005 is a long time ago now). Mid-February probably isn't the best time to take families etc. TO's lack of a stand-off probably compounded by lack of a kicking game from Shorrocks. I'm reading in La Depeche that Peyroux has a ruptured achilles tendon, which might put him out for the whole season.

Played 4 (including the friendly), won 4. All away from home too. Three of those four we were behind for a reasonable part of the game too.

Great game, could've gone either way. Widnes really dug deep at the end. Olly Ashall-Bott looks way too good to be playing at this level. Could do with a bit less backchat to the referee from Widnes.

3 minutes on the clock, 14-18 the score.

It was several metres forward, the referee first of all gave it and then the touch judge told him.