Man of Kent

In the spirit of 1895, I agree. ###### 'em.

In England?

Yeah, we know this mate. It's blatant ARLC/NRL self-interest.

“I have been in regular communication with the RLPA and a number of international players and coaches who have been satisfied with the world cup’s biosecurity arrangements and expressed a clear determination to travel to England and proudly represent their nations. "They have expressed to me that they feel their own personal choice to participate or not in the world cup has been taken from them. The RLPA have again committed to continue to work with IRL and the Local Organising Committee towards a 2021 tournament including Australian and New Zealand players who have dual eligibility and who are now keen to play for other nations."

Precisely.

Funnily enough, that's Gus Gould's answer. He thinks we should have our own comp this winter and Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga have one Down Under. I would welcome a European Championship for European-based players if the RLWC is postponed.

Not playing it all...

He's right. Postponing is the lesser of two evils...

Ours has too. Who's the breakaway dude?

England Touch still wants to straddle both horses it seems. Good. “Touch is perhaps the most accessible format within the wider rugby family and we are keen to continue to explore ways of working with both the Rugby Football League and RFU. In the meantime, we’ll continue to work with and affiliate more O2 Touch Clubs as players, officials and coaches seek to develop and grow their involvement in the sport of Touch.”

The Faders blow it again. Must be some sort of record.

There’s talk of Farnworth being the Broncos full back in the longer term. With Adam Reynolds at halfback, this time next year young Herbie could be a superstar, as they like to say Down Under.

To be fair, missed tackles is not an indication of a player’s ability to read the game.

Traitor!

I wonder if Wane has already picked his side and was looking for an excuse.

Farnworth dropped from the England squad! Bit harsh!! https://www.rugby-league.com/england/article/57984/herbie-farnworth-stood-down-from-england-squad

I don't think it matters that other halves are playing better than Williams but it does matter that Canberra are losing games from winning positions. Game management etc.

Thompson was brilliant yesterday. Great yardage and at times won the ruck with ease to allow for quick PTBs. He seemed to set the tone for Canterbury’s win through sheer effort. I can see him playing at loose forward for England but I like the idea of him as first interchange against tiring defences.

Williams seems to have gone backwards since he went missing in the Faders’ lucky win against Cronulla. This has always been the worry about him, that he’s not a great organising half.

You don't want to ram it down people's throats, I get that, and there's inherently some element of promotion merely by playing it. Just interested in how/if the RFL and TTR work together to encourage those thousands of tag players in non-heartland areas to watch RL.

My question would be how much promotion of RL is there by TTR in non-heartland areas, particularly with the World Cup coming up with games in Coventry and London?

800 teams. That’s great.

I'm not sure how it all works really. Our sessions are run by England Touch guys, and we're entering an England Touch-run South East Regional Touch tournament, but the players are mostly union types (grammar school boys and South Africans!). In the end, I'm not sure it really matters all that much which organisation is organising what. Just playing it is what's important. Seems to me the way forward is existing RL clubs - pro and amateur - to run touch sessions, ideally for all ages. Community, participation etc. I think some already do this. Hear what you say that 'touch is a Union thing for union players and League for league players' but I do feel touch could be used as a way to get the union community to open their eyes to league a little bit. It's so much more like league than union. Six tackles, quick 'rucks', similar D etc.

I just think they want to grow Touch. You can understand why they’d want to tap into the union player/fan base to drive up their participation/funding level etc. Cool that you reffed at the Euros. I’m playing in a regional tournament next month. Looking forward to it.

There’s competitive tournaments, it’s great for fitness (my goodness, it’s aerobic!) and the mix of ages & sexes is commendable but, yeah, it’s no substitute for RL. It’s not really a passing game. More like a running game with a ball in your hand occasionally. I enjoy it, though