JonM

I think they still only have 4 days between the games - 1st, 5th and 9th for the England/ PNG/ Canada/ Brazil games and 2nd, 6th and 10th for the Australia/ NZ/ Cook Islands/ France group, followed by the semi-finals on the 14th and final on the 19th. Presumably keeps hotel costs down and minimises the amount of time amateur players have to take off work.

And I think the original intention was to tie that specific game into school dates too, but things got moved about with the delay. I suppose if the idea is to promote this specific fixture to children, and it needed to be a double header because PNG v Canada is going to be a tough sell, then you can't start too late in the evening. (Incidentally, I understand the actual sales for the Headingley match were 5000 odd at the start of the month, so the talk of beating 15 000 is still somewhat aspirational...)

I actually think this is one where they've got things dead right. It's during school half-term, they have children's tickets for £2.21, a Brazilian samba band in attendance and they have quite a lot of Brazil related activities scheduled for the run-up. Headingley could well be full for this, and it will look fantastic on telly, as we've seen with the football Euros. As a vehicle to promoting RL to a non-traditional audience in one of our heartland big cities, it could work very well. As a way to motivate the Brazilian team and officials so they go home with the idea that this is a sport worth building in Brazil with a view to qualifying again, it could do wonders too.

And yet still a bigger population than Wales, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand and all those other countries that make RU such a massive international sport. It is about the same population as Yorkshire though.

That pass from Ipape on the Whitehaven v Leigh highlights is worth a few seconds of people's time.

Indeed. When the world cup starts, it will be nearly 3 years since Australia last won a game. Tonga have won their last two games, one against GB, one against Australia.

It's still better than the last World Cup here, which was followed up by pretty much giving up on internationals. And I reckon a 3-match replay of the 2022 World Cup Final which gripped the nation's imagination could sell pretty well

Yes, wasn't intended as a criticism of Bradford fans - clearly something wasn't working and it was time for a change at both clubs. Just thought it was interesting that a coach can leave one club, go to another, and both seem to be playing better as a result. Suspect that now we've had the first full season of spectators in grounds, Widnes will have a bigger budget in 2023.

If Toulouse do go to Hull, Hull KR and Warrington and win all three, they will deservedly stay up, but I expect the bookies will have the home team as favourite for all of them.

You don't think Fev has to pay any money at all for stewarding, turnstile operators, electricity bills for floodlights, food for visiting team etc?

You don't think Liverpool get some value from having hundreds of millions of 'fans' worldwide, but only 50 000 spectators (or whatever the figures are)? You don't think that has any effect on tv contracts, media coverage or sponsorship deals? Widnes have 30 000 followers on Facebook, but only around 3000 people currently turning up to watch at a typical home game. That's a big pool of people who can be turned into customers, and increasing the size of that pool is pretty basic 'sales funnel' stuff that I'd expect a club CEO to care about.

There's a degree of truth to that, but Knowsley Road, The Willows, Central Park, Boulevard, Naughton Park all looked cared for. There weren't weeds growing everywhere, things did get a lick of paint, broken stuff got mended. Fartown was of course in an even worse state than Belle Vue. There are thousands of amateur sports clubs in the country that haven't had £20+ million over the last 20 years who have facilities that people actually take a bit of pride in and look after. Compare Batley, Dewsbury or Fev's grounds with Belle Vue - they're not palaces but people are looking after them. Everyone on the terraced street I'm currently living on has basically the same house, but a couple of people have a front garden full of weeds, a rusty bike and bin bags, others have nice flower beds. That's not down to money.

On the "funny old game" theme, John Kear, according to Bradford fans on here, was a rubbish coach, should've been sacked before the season started and so on. Yet Widnes have won 5 on the bounce after announcing his appointment.

Guess it works both ways - if that interception hadn't stuck and the ball had got to the Batley Winger, Batley might have won today in spite of Widnes having been on top for most of the game. Equally if Batley had scored first after half-time, it would've been game over.

Seems very unlikely that Widnes could catch Barrow even before today. With only 7 games to play, making up a 7 point deficit is quite a tall order, particularly as Widnes have Leigh, Fev & Halifax in those 7.

Batley 18 Widnes 24 FT

Long spell of Batley pressure ends with a Widnes interception try. 18-24 with two minutes to play.

One way traffic down the hill so far in the second half Batley 18 Widnes 20

Batley 18 Widnes 16. Home team barely touched the ball so far in the half.

Batley 18 Widnes 6 HT. Lots of errors in wet conditions, but a much closer game than the scoreboard suggests, with both teams bombing several chances to score.

My local garage in York has some RLWC promotion on the forecourt, courtesy of sponsors Reign. Not sure why all 3 teams are shown in Black. There's a link to their world cup tickets competition, which I assume is OK to post here: https://reignbodyfuel.com/en-gb/rfl22/

France will play Brazil at Cougar Park, Keighley on October 27, preparation for both teams' world cup campaign. I believe Keighley are hosting the game because co-owner Kaue Garcia is Brazilian. Interesting timing as I think Brazil play England 5 days later, but presumably they're playing not long after arriving off the plane.

Last update was this one, confirming date (September 1-11), location (Lignano Sabbiadoro, a beach resort in NE Italy) and competing teams (France, Ukraine, England, Ireland, Italy, Serbia, Scotland and Wales) and that it will be u-19s. https://europeanrugbyleague.com/articles/2148/ukraine-to-take-part-in-euro-u19s-champi French team had a training camp last week I believe. Wales have named a squad: https://wrl.wales/wales-name-u19-squad-for-european-championships

Can't see it - aren't Batley on an 8-match winning streak now? Last time we won there was 2010 I think. John Kear against his former assistant. I suppose Widnes are on a bit of a roll, having won 4 on the trot, but all against clubs below us in the table.

Comparing Queensland with PNG? One of them is a cultural backwater, with decades of political corruption, a dependency on mining to provide jobs and currency, problems with drink and violence. The other...