Barley Mow

Limoux v Catalans (YouTube link above) is a closer one so far 10-18 at half-time. I'm switching between the two matches.

It still says u19 (which was on before it), but it is just starting now.

Limoux are livestreaming their U19s game against St Esteve/Catalan now on youtube too. I assume it will be followed by the seniors match.

I notice that on facebook someone asked if the match will be steamed live and Avignon responded saying no.

I find it interesting that Eastern Suburbs renamed themselves Sydney and within 5 years the other central Sydney clubs (North Sydney, South Sydney & Western Suburbs) had all either been removed from the NRL or merged. So for a short time at least they were the only NRL team representing central Sydney (rather than the wider metropolitan area). Perhaps becoming 'Sydney' gave them an advantage over those other clubs when mergers/expulsions were under consideration.

Glad to see there is a break for an internationals week mid-season built into that. You'd have thought the national teams will want some preparation beyond the three weeks between the Grand Final and start of the world cup.

All of them are with Super League clubs, but some have been out on loan during this season with Championship (& possibly League 1) clubs.

Interesting that it says the request was from the French federation as well as the RFL, especially as French domestic RL are playing with scrums and (I think) have done throughout covid restrictions.

I wasn't trying to claim that all or even many sports have P&R, just that there are others which do and that those others just get on with it and promote the teams that (according to their rules and procedures) have earnt it on the field. Our RL system has P&R - consequently we should just get on with applying the rules as set out and promote the Championship GF winners without whining. Some SL chairmen/executives (and fans) obviously consider Toulouse's promotion to be to their disadvantage. Likewise other clubs/fans would have considered Featherstone's promotion to be a negative. Both groups knew the rules before the season started and had the chance to plan accordingly - I simply cringe at anyone in a leadership position making a statement to the press like the one quoted. Admittedly I don't follow Scottish football closely, but couldn't imagine the owners of, say, Motherwell FC making such comments about Queen of the South (or whoever) being promoted if it didn't accord with his business model for the coming season.

Is Moretan Bay stadium a different place to Moreton Daily stadium (which I thought is the sponsored name of Dolphin stadium)?

What is wrong with some people! Between this, and people suggesting Featherstone shouldn't have gone up if they won because they would "add nothing to Super League", it makes me almost lose hope. If a team wins the Championship grand final, promote them. It's what other sports do without question and it's not complicated!

From memory, if a team (it only really applied to Toulouse) didn't make the 70% as a result of cancellations due to quarantine requirements (rather than any other covid restriction), then there was an exemption.

2019 Challenge Cup match against Leeds I'd guess

Really awful. As David says, thoughts with his family.

Ideally this would be a solution (possibly alongside SL being run with the same level of control/input from the French federation as the RFL, plus the governing body of any other team in the competition at any future time). However I think I recall a post on another thread within the last week or so that said that there are only 19 qualified referees in the whole of French RL. Taking one or more of them for SL matches during the cross over between the two seasons would leave French RL in an even worse position - That's before we even consider how many current French refs might meet the standards set for SL (note that Guasch suggested an Australian rather than French ref).