RBKnight

It's 3pm - £10.00 entry

Heworth promotion to the top table in the NCL Valkyrie through to Grand Final Knights into the playoffs

Astonishing run of form by York to end the regular season, but Fax fans will be fuming. Meanwhile, I'm struggling to think of a more calamitous Championship coaching decision in the last few years than Keighley's sacking of Rhys Lovegrove....

I watched the Saint-Leeds match in the pub over a buffering shared phone feed That 2nd half was a titanic struggle! Full credit to Leeds for pulling that one out of the bag. For those who are interested in these things (and understanding where are future stars are coming from) the Grand Final will feature two teenage half backs who learned their rugby at the Oulton Raidettes - Liv Gale for the Valkyrie and Caitlin Casey for the Rhinos. Top marks for Oulton

Valkyrie lead 14-6 at h/t. York not playing particularly well, but errors creeping into Wigan's game, after a long period stuck in their own half, beginning to tell.

A thread to discuss the Play-Off Semi's :- York Valkyrie v Wigan Warriors (KO 3.30pm) St Helens x Leeds Rhinos (KO 6pm)

Just out of the ground... great game, thought York just deserved it. Batley looked tired at various points of the game, but almost nicked it

And don't forget tomorrow's game York v Batley. A Bulldogs win leapfrogs them over Fax into the playoff places, whilst a York win puts them ahead of Batley into 7th, and just a point behind Fax !

York Knights' offering for Monday night's fixture against Batley :- York RLFC are delighted to announce that local band Skylights will perform at the LNER Community Stadium ahead of our clash against Batley Bulldogs on Monday 18th September (7.45pm). The York indie rock band will be playing a 30-minute set from 6.45pm in their first ever performance at the LNER Community Stadium, creating an electric atmosphere ahead of the Knights’ final Betfred Championship home match of the season. York RLFC are delighted to continue our association with Club supporters Skylights, whose single ‘Britannia’ has featured as our walk-out song throughout the 2023 campaign. York e delighted to continue our association with Club supporters Skylights, whose single ‘Britannia’ has featured as our walk-out song throughout the 2023 campaign.

I'm assuming that the ref might have thought there was head contact, from whatever position he was in at the time.

From what I could see, attendance was boosted by the U-19s friends and families, and a good presence of Heworth girls, but also by quite a few older male Knights fans (some sitting near me) who I don't think had seen the Valkyrie before, judging by comments I heard, but rather enjoyed the action. Amelia Brown actually received a Red Card for this tackle in the final play of the game to deny York a score, which IMO, looking again, was probably harsh

A crowd of over 1,200 watched York Valkyrie beat Huddersfield 60-4 at the LNER stadium on Sunday (York Knights were playing away at Bradford at the same time, making the attendance even more creditable). Almost the whole crowd stayed long after the final whistle to see the Valkyrie pick up the League Leader's Shield amidst jubilant celebrations. This was a double-header, with the Valkyrie U-19s making their LNER debut with a 22-20 win against a previously undefeated Wigan U-19s side in the earlier kick-off. All in all, a remarkable day for Women's Rugby League in York. All the focus is now on the play-off semi-final at home against Wigan on 23rd September, which will be shown live on Sky (as will the Saints-Leeds semi-final, later the same day) York not only retained the Shield with an unbeaten regular season record, but skipper Sinead Peach also got to take the Shield home with her.....

Will Baby Ogden be a forward or a back ?

Penalty try given for the tackle on Harrison that left him down between the posts (given after consultation with touch judge)

I said in my original post that I was not making special clams for Field and Edwards (Edwards suffered an ACL injury early this reason, hence his lack of appearances).My question for Leeds fans was how well they thought they were managing the cream of West Yorkshire talent that comes through the club. Leeds have just been tonked 50-0 at home. Your reaction seems to be "nothing to see here". Really ?

I only asked this question because we have two teenage ex-Leeds players with York Knights (Oli Field and Levi Edwards) who opted out of Leeds this season to go a Championship side, rather than just going out on loan. I'm not making any special claim on these two players, but they had obviously got the signal quite early that they were well down the pecking order amongst Leeds juniors. I would expect players rated higher than them to be very good prospects, and to be knocking on the door for 1st team appearances. How is this apparent embarrassment of riches manifesting itself in the Rhinos senior squad ?

And here, in a nutshell, is why Bradford (and some of their fans) are so unpopular with other Championship fans. It's the sheer sense of entitlement - like they are doing everybody a favour by being in the league. To be frank, it's been a fair few seasons since the Bulls brought a bumper away following to York (we get more from Fev now). Those of us who put our hands in our pockets when the original "save the Bulls" collections were going round - despite older heads advising that it wasn't worth it as it was a bottomless pit (they were right BTW!) - get heartily sick of the bile and surliness that Bradford fans like you like to dish out to fans of other clubs. It's almost like you don't actually like Rugby League.......

According to Clint, the initial fixture lists for this season had even more clashes, and they did the best they could to get dates/times amended. Don't think it will get any easier next year. Don't shoot me, but I'm staying local on Sunday - two points that eventually swayed me were (1) Odsal's not my favourite away ground to visit, and (2) I can think of lots of reasons I don't want to give money to the Bulls.....

Genuine question for the Leeds fans here - how good do you think the club has been in recent years when playing "stick or twist" with the hundreds of talented teenagers that have come through the academy ? Quite a lot seem to be retained on a professional contract whilst being nowhere near the 1st team - and it does appear there is a definite pecking order amongst the youngsters about who are the "anointed ones". No club will get it right all the time (especially with young middle forwards) - are Leeds fans happy with the development of their home-grown talent in recent years ?

Better team, but boy we made hard work of that.....

York beat Swinton 26-22, with result. In doubt until hooter went. Knights deserved the win, but continually gave away field position and points with errors every time they threatened to take control.

At least Bulls avoided a hammering...

Why as a York fan, I'm pleased with the little run the team has put together in the Championship (if you include the decent showing against Toulouse). We've been like Monty Python's Black Knight, with bits falling off weekly, so now there's lots of youngsters and players out of position every game. Again, scrappy but deserved win on a short turn around at Newcastle last night. Personally, I think Hendo as coach deserves a lot of credit for this.

Finished 30-40. Great away win, especially with losing Hingaro with an ankle injury in the 1st half.

York lead Widnes 40-20 away from home, scoring five 2nd half tries after trailing 20-12 at H/T......