thebrewxi

Yesterday I wandered down to watch the first home game of Worcester Jaguars v Somerset Vikings in the West of England league. Final Score Jags 28 - 52 Vikings. Bizarrely Worcester Jaguars play at Droitwich Rugby (Union) club WR9 7DU and not in Worcester, but that suits me just fine as I can walk there The Vikings looked a well organised side with some big units, some skillful (and rather cocky) backs (one clear uni union player shouting "kick to me, Worcester, kick to me" at restarts). The bench and coach looked very detailed and communicative with the team throughout - he even had a clipboard.! Jags looked a lot less so. There was some really commitment in the ruck, but they lost their shape out wide on lots of occasions. The real difference though was the play the ball. I couldn't see any huge difference up front. But the Vikings play the ball was so much faster, not sure if it was the ref not cracking down till well into the second half, that Somerset were clearly holding down for ages as a tactic, or Jags were being naive and werent. A few big individual efforts with a ball steal try from the right wing, and one of the forwards somehow wrestling himself over with three Vikings on the tackle, and some good kicking, kept the Jags in it at 22-24 down at half time. Sadly territory pressure told and led to some Viking walk ins in the first 20 mins of the second half. Once Jags started to throw it about and go for short kick offs some quick 1st tackle tries led to a bit of a blowout score. Still, even with some covid restrictions at the bar and the result, a great sat afternoon in the sun. I cant make the next home game, but will be there for Bath's visit in early July.

That wont happen though will it. I remember reading a much less ambitious plan in a few newspapers back in 1996 involving paris, Toulouse, Cardiff and Calder.

On the Facebook chat today Colin Kleyweg was suggesting Red Star and Partizan were on a par with the bottom end of League 1 and all of Elite 1. He did admit that over a full season they would fall off the pace as they are only used to 5 or 6 intense games a year (when they play each other). I dont buy this at all, but interesting discussion about what level the Serbian big two are currently playing at.

As I've asked this question lots over the last few months, and have finally found the answer, thought I'd update. The chap that owns red star was on a chat on facebook and he explained how the league structure works. Basically it's just the 6 clubs in the top division playing each other at the moment: red star, partizan, dorcol, nis, new Belgrade and Souths. Once they've played each other the bottom two teams effectively get relegated to division 2 for the second half of the season, and are joined by a stack of other teams currently only playing friendlies and in the serbian cup. The top 4 play each other again for the first division championship in the second half of the season too. I guess this means new belgrade, nis and souths will be fighting it out to stay in the top 4. I hope I got this down right. I'm not sure how the 2nd division highlights in one of the posts above works, I guess this is a cup (kupa) game - the red star guy specifically said it was just the 6 playing league. He also said red star were unlikely to take part in the Balkan cup this year - so another Balkan cup win for Partizan I guess.

Does anyone know when the Serbian season runs until? It is very difficult to find a fixtures list anywhere.

They're all overrated. None of them should make the england team for the world cup; particularly hodgson who at best is our third choice hooker.

I've tried to find this out multiple times, and asked repeatedly. I cant find a league table, or even know how many teams are in the top division.

I was desperately looking for the intentional grammatical slip in your post. I'm hoping there wasn't one there

Incorrect use of apostrophes is unpatriotic, comrade!

From their Facebook: "Author Red Star Belgrade Rugby League Club Some pretty questionable refereeing calls in the last 5 minutes, but also some poor defence from Red Star. Partizan 32-18"

And red star blaming the ref :-). I have nothing against red star, but I always want partizan to win whenever I watch, just because they are the underdog. So hoping that doesn't cloud my judgement, but whenever I've watched in the past its always seemed the dubious calls have most definitely gone red stars way.

£6.99 to watch. Is anyone actually going to pay that for a sub NCL standard game? I hope this brings some finance into the Serbian game, but I cant see how the pricing works.

But I think streamed behind a paywall this year which is a shame... for me that is, not serbian league.

I'm not so sure. Or in fact sure at all, how many teams are in the Serbian League (I'm certainly not 50% sure even). There's Red Kangaroos too (albeit they are a junior Red Start team I think) So, I'm still massively confused about about it and have been for a while TBH. I only thought there were 4 teams in the first division. I've just read on some Facebook post the owner of Red Start saying there are 8 teams. But I just can't find any detailed info. It's a shame as I've got quiet into it through lockdown. I guess if this is on a new, subscription, platform my following might wain (given the French Elite is free and I run out of time to watch games)

With the NRL season about to start, is there a full list anywhere of the brits in? I've kind of forgotten whose over there and where.