Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

Well, don't let any of us on here stop you, GYJ!

MJ, surely, but I agree, a good one of his.

Today, by coincidence, Geoffrey Boycott and Manfred Mann are both 83. Also celebrating a birthday today is someone called Kim Kardashian (a mere 43) who, younger members of my household tell me, is famous for being famous and, bodily, for having a generously proportioned rectal area.

How tall is Audric, Gordon?

I was told recently that red admirals have had an exceptionally good year in this country. I understand they are now heading south on migration in large numbers. It's incredible to think of something so small and delicate just setting off across the channel.

We are about half way through this year's pannage season in the New Forest. It is running from 11th September to 17th November. This is the time of year when commoners who are entitled to exercise the common of pannage (also known as the common of mast) can turn out pigs on the forest (and in New Forest jargon, I mean 'on' and not 'in'!) This is so that they can eat the acorns, ideally before the ponies do. Apparently, ponies like the taste of acorns, but if they eat too many, they can be, at best, quite ill and, at worst, die. Pigs like them too and suffer no ill effects from eating them, hence this simple approach to minimising the risk to ponies. I am told that the pork from pigs that have been eating acorns has an attractive and distinctive flavour, but have never come across any such pork for sale.

Fully agree - well said!

I don't have a favourite style of try. I enjoy the variety. I still recall a great Thomas Bosc solo effort (possibly against London?) when he did a chip and chase to beat the main defensive line, collected the ball and did another chip and chase over the full back, collected again and touched down. I also recall a memorable last minute, fifth tackle try for Les Dracs at St Helens (possibly in 2012) that went from side to side before the Saints' defence was broken on the Dracs' left wing. Scott Dureau added the goal from the touchline to win the match. I equally appreciate a short pass break down the middle, the most memorable I ever saw being by Roy Evans in Wigan's 7-2 challenge cup 2nd round victory at Central Park against Saints in the '64-65 season. In my mind's eye, it seems like he galloped half the length of the field, but it was probably more like thirty yards. Unlike the two instances above, which I saw on TV, I was lucky enough to be in the massive crowd at Wigan that day.

Isn't the solution to avoiding losing Williams for the forthcoming internationals in the RFL's own hands? First, before the start of this international series, arrange an England Knights fixture (in which Williams would obviously have played), maybe against an All-Star 'Anybody who fancies a game' Select XIII. Then, the day after, introduce a new one-game cup competition for teams that topped the SL table for more than one week during the season, but didn't win the grand final. It will be between the Wire and Saturday's GF losers. Sorted!

John Godber's Up 'n' Under is £10.99 in paperback on Amazon...but that may not be what you had in mind!

No need to apologise, Trinity1873, and welcome! I am now trying to think of England's three smaller cities. Without looking it up, my guess would be Ely, Wells and Truro.

Hull?

Places with Anglican cathedrals are deemed to be cities, hence Ripon's status (and Wakefield's, of course). Coincidentally, another small city also has a workhouse museum (or maybe more accurately, a re-created workhouse in its original building); that is Southwell in Nottinghamshire. You are right, Crashmon. Sorry for my part in it. Back, more or less, on thread, I think there is a possibly critical difference to this TOXIII season and the one that led to their previous promotion to SL. On that occasion, they had to carry over a lot of contractual commitments on players, some of whom were always at best going to be borderline SL quality. This year, they seem to have gone with a smaller squad and an explicit policy of filling gaps from their existing elite (i.e. French first division) squad. I do not know whether this was clever foresight or a financial necessity. However, if they beat the Broncos (and I think that is quite a big 'if'), then they should have space to bring in some good, SL standard players, if - another 'if'! - they are still available. As posters closer to Toulouse are suggesting there is new money available for TOXIII from the new owner, then money may be less of an issue for them than for London, though a repeat of the pernicious and punitive 'pay your visiting teams fares' rule wouldn't help. Incidentally, when that applied before, did the Toulouse club have to find all the cost of travel for visiting teams? At the very least I would have expected it to be the total cost LESS a typical travel cost for an all-British away game.

My dog - a Catalan sheepdog (arguably, as befits a fan of Les Dracs!) - is currently insured with Tesco's Bank. I have just begun my second year with them. I have not had to make a claim so far, so, in that sense, have no idea how good they are. I can say, however, that - and this relates to Derwent's point - existing or previously known conditions are not covered. At the time of renewal, an interesting phenomenon occurred. I got the paperwork from Tesco's Bank and thought that, after a claim-free year, the increase, though not outrageous, was a bit steep. So I went on some comparison websites. One of the prices for one of them was from Tesco's Bank and was lower than my renewal quote. I scrutinised the two prices more closely and realised that the comparison site had a lower price for exactly the same deal. So I have have not renewed my Tesco Bank insurance and gone with Tesco Bank! This resulted, the other week, in my receiving two letters from Tesco's Bank on the same day: one said they were grateful for my custom, but sorry to see me go; the other said "Welcome..."! You will deduce from this that the Tesco Bank price was, at least, competitive and worth considering. I recall a similar experience with car insurance a few years ago with LV. When I rang and asked for an explanation, I was told that they had to give rock-bottom deals to the comparison websites to get accepted by them. Oh, and in case you were wondering what a Catalan sheepdog looks like... Catalan Sheepdog | Breeds A to Z | The Kennel Club

Somerset has a Leigh too - Leigh-on-Mendip. I once went to a meeting in the church there in my time working for the Diocese of Bath & Wells. I cannot recall how they pronounced 'Leigh', but I think it was probably like 'lie' in RP English. It didn't have a railway station, but then one of Somerset's dubious boasts is to have a city without a railway station!

I agree.

No. As Leonard reminds us, everyone knows the rules and must play by them. So, the structure is accepted. As I noted, a range of important 'players' in the process - not least of all Viaplay - are entitled to know what they are signing up to. So the competition format is established pre-season and should not be tinkered with. All I was doing was expressing sympathy with Fev fans, not least of all because, unlike SL with its loop fixtures as well as Magic Weekend, the championship just has the Magic equivalent (i.e. one additional game) to add imbalance to the 'pure' league structure. Thus, this season as it turns out, Fev were undeniably the best team as they finished a full twelve points ahead of the runners-up. If they had been just two points ahead of Toulouse, then the imbalance of the extra fixture would have been a ral issue. But, to reiterate and answer your question simply (wouldn't I make a sh*t MP or government minister!), 'No'.

I have a lot of sympathy for Fev generally and the specific point you make, Steven. However, if you have a regular season structure which is not 'pure' (by which I mean not every team has the same playing schedule), then, arguably, you need a process, other than regular season league finishing positions, to determine who is promoted. I can see a flaw in my own argument when, in that regular season, one side finishes so far ahead of the runners-up (i.e. this year, your 12 points lead over Toulouse Olympique XIII). On the other hand, it would be impossible to organise a competition along the lines of "There will be play-offs, unless..." Incidentally, the temptation to contrive sudden-death matches at the end of a season is now established in sports that do indeed have 'pure' league schedules. Look no further than this country's favourite spectator sport, soccer. The promotion play-offs below the Premier League level have little logical basis. If you get promoted for finishing first or second, and there is a wish to promote three teams, why the side finishing third does not get the final place seems quite illogical to me.

A small and not terribly significant point. I thought James Ford, when being interviewed post-match, was exceptionally gracious in defeat, if, quite understandably, struggling emotionally. In particular, how refreshing to hear a coach say that the yellow-carding of one of his players was the right decision.

Avignon may not be an expansion area, in a French context, but is one of the bigger places in Elite 1 (and I don't think currently has a professional soccer team). Now the SO Avignon club president, ex-Catalans player Younes Khattabi, has said that his dream would be to steer the club into Super league: Elite 1 - Younes Khattabi rêve de Super League pour Avignon - Rugby à XIII - Treize Mondial

Allegedly, today is International Poke Day. Sounds promising, but apparently it relates to an aspect of Hawaiian cuisine...oh well!

Actually, Griff, I don't think you do mean 'literally'. Here is my group of eight - Cornwall, Doncaster, London, Midland H, Newcastle, Sheffield, Toulouse, York. I take matches between York, and Doncaster, and Doncaster and Sheffield to be local derbies. I don't think other matches would be local derbies and have not suggested that I thought they would be. Four of the other teams were willing and able to travel to Toulouse this season and a fifth has implied a willingness to do so under current arrangements for 2024. Cornwall and Midland Hurricanes have shown this season a willingness and ability to travel to London and Workington, and next season, unless they withdraw, a willingness to go to Newcastle (which, in terms of mileage, will be about on a par with travelling to Workington) Yes, not least of all to maximise local derbies elsewhere. I consider all matches involving teams in my West Yorkshire group to be derbies and some in my North West group - i.e. Whitehaven v Workington games, plus those involving any two of Rochdale, Swinton and Oldham and, possibly (depending where the latter play), Widnes v North Wales matches. This thread is about the 'what if' scenario that sees the championship and league 1 combined. I would prefer to see two competitions retained, with ability on the field of play being the basis for choosing who plays in which. But, as I say, that is not what this thread is about and in the spirit of it, I have suggested an option to a two-division/conference format. So, come on, Griff, how would you organise a single (and that's the key word) competition for the 23 teams in question? Please share your masterplan with us!

Yes, in a way, I have! In a mix of geographically far flung clubs, there are bound to be some long trips, as there have been this season.

As noted in posts above, any amalgamation of the Championship and League 1 will have shortcomings. However, if it is felt to be a necessity, then a third structural option (don't think it's been suggested, but apologies if it has) would be three, loosely geographically based divisions, as follows: North West: Barrow, NW Crusaders,, Oldham, Rochdale, Swinton, Whitehaven, Widnes, Workington. (8 teams) West Yorkshire: Batley, Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Hunslet, Keighley, Wakefield. (7) York, South Yorkshire and other areas: Cornwall, Doncaster, London, Midland H, Newcastle, Sheffield, Toulouse, York. (8) Each team plays those in its division twice (once each H & A) and those in each of the other divisions once. So sides in the two eight-team divisions get 29 games each and the other division's teams 28. Play-offs could be reached by not being in the bottom five in your division; in other words, the NW and YSYOA top three and the WY top two. Then straight knock out games to decide the champions, possibly with this format in the first round (aka the quarter finals): NW1 v YSYOA3; YSYOA1 v NW3; WY1 v NW2; and YSYOA2 v WY2, possibly with a toss of the coin to decide home advantage for that last tie, given it would be between two divisional runners-up. Then semi-finals and a final. So each game means elimination for the loser. Like all suggestions, not ideal, I know. However, it does maximise local derbies; even the somewhat catch-all third division has a geogrphically quite tight group (Doncaster, York and Sheffield) within it, with two more teams a drive up or down the A1 !

Rob Burrow is 41 today. Happy birthday to the big, little man! (Gets mentioned in the notable birthdays column of The Times today)