Northern Eel

It’s a turn-up for the books this after last week, but they are good value for the lead. We know how Australia will not lie down though and I’m calling next try wins.

I think kids have a lot of options these days as to what they might take up/get up to. There always seems to be a battle with other groups/sports/events to get ultimate buy-in. It is only possible through hard work and perseverance, especially for those clubs not reliant on their core membership being from local RU clubs. It is also quite difficult to engage schools. Even though we offer our clubs/festivals free of charge, some schools are really slack on getting involved. One of the things we want to do in the Midlands aligns in many ways to the IMG stuff. How can we improve the experience for our players in a way that puts rugby league first on their list of things they want to do? I think much of this comes through how well clubs show they are well set-up and how 'professionally' they operate.

We've got a platform in the Midlands to build upon, and we are slowly realising that we need each other to enable that to happen. It is very much volunteer driven, but there's some good folk involved.

As a club, we are running 6 junior teams, including our U13 girls, plus a X-League and Masters team. Only 5 years in, we are still growing, as you might imagine. The girls travelled over 800 miles this season to compete in Yorkshire and overall, we managed to fulfil over 100 fixtures as a club across all the age groups. We have some volunteers who run our school's programme, but in an area where participation in any sport (inc RU) is limited, it has been a really tough ask. That said, we continue to have ambition to grow further, and will not let barriers get in the way of achieving that. Thanks for asking, and for your interest.

That will be good if it transpires. Irrespective, I will be travelling up to Leeds twice this weekend and I simply cannot wait. That wheelchair game on Sunday has the hallmarks of a classic!

Terrific day for the Midlands Junior scene, with the introduction of a new awards programme. https://www.rugby-league.com/article/62293/inaugural-midlands-junior-rugby-league-awards-winners-revealed

So, I am thinking something along the lines of: North:3500 East: 3000 West: 1000 South: 7000 Total; 14.500 Should make for an excellent atmosphere.

At some things, this sport is incredible.

Apologies, I have just sent my last pennies to a Nigerian Prince who promised similar but sounded just that bit more genuine. He's going to get back to me next week to let me know how I will be favourably protected in the afterlife, along with the relevant certification from the deity. Best of luck however, but be careful, there's people out there who are not what they seem to be and will take advantage of you.

No Clausells for France is a big boost to England. That said, Alazard and Vargas are incredible players who will cause problems.

Isle of Axholme, whilst on the other side of the M18 from Doncaster, also have a strong relationship with the club.

I think it is a fantastic product and the atmosphere should be great. I would rank being at the World Cup Final last year as one of my most memorable and genuinely spine-tingling experiences in sport. There is a genuine rivalry between the two teams. The last time they played, the French lost their World Cup trophy, and cried loudly about the physicality of the game, the quality of refereeing (even though they had that clown touch judge and his ridiculous pantomime performance) and the damaging of the ethos of the game. They are massively up for revenge.

The problem with Welsby at centre is that it cuts out lots of the opportunities he creates in midfield as a full back or half back.

Other than an emotional tweet from Helen Skelton, who one way or another won't be presenting C4 RL coverage.

Doncaster certainly create a great offering for community clubs on matchdays. Bassetlaw Bulldogs have taken U7s, U9s, U11s, the Youth team and the U13s girls to participate on matchdays in pre-match festivals etc over the past 2 years.

I think it is going to be a good crowd, probably not too far off 3,000. The bottom blocks, which have been off sale for some time now, hold about 500 each and there have been about 6 blocks open, as far as I can recall. Then, recently, there are 4 blocks open in the second tier of seating, each of which seat about 200. Plenty of these look to have sold too. It is going to be another cracking atmosphere though. If it can get anywhere close to the WCF then it will be brilliant, as I was totally blown away when attending that one.

It very nearly came off! Would have brought the house down.

If England win this one, with so many missing, it will be a really positive outcome. It will be good to see some youngsters pull on the shirt, nonetheless. I gather it is Whitehead's last game in an England shirt?

Tough on Mikey Lewis IMO.

It will be another good day. Just like the previous two. I think England might just wobble, but I would love to see a 3-0 whitewash and a blow-away performance.

France to sneak it. 'They just wanted it that little bit more'. Another classic predicted.

England at a canter, possibly by 60.

Sometimes published capacities are notional, in that often, 10% of seats/spaces go unallocated to cater for duplications or other factors that arise on the day. Perhaps this explains the figures?

Your work is top drawer! A little more fishing around identifies the following: There are only single tickets left in the South Stand up to ticket 4672, so we can be pretty sure that nearly all of those have ben sold. 37 tickets takes the last ticket number available up to 4986. Looking at the other areas, I think it will total currently around 6k standing tickets sold and assuming seats are as good as sold out (7,800), then we are probably looking at about 13,500 currently, perhaps just pushing 14,000.

Yes, I agree entirely with that assessment. It's going to be another great weekend though.