23-24 Mar: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[Sparse Attendance]

I think Barrow should be hoping to beat the likes of Swinton at home. A fantastic result for the lions, but Barrow are in a battle to avoid the drop. 

[Bearman]

49 minutes ago, Sparse Attendance said:

I think Barrow should be hoping to beat the likes of Swinton at home. A fantastic result for the lions, but Barrow are in a battle to avoid the drop. 

I think the Barrow fans would think that same. But, neither have the God right to win .

Hard work is needed. As a Barrow Raider fan I think the club is on the right track 

[Lounge Room Lizard]

Glad both Swinton and Dewsbury won. Both have lost close games recently. Its just reward for all involved and shows both clubs cant be taken lightly. Batley have slipped down below both now with Rochdale and Widnes having games in hand. 

[Hopping Mad]

2 hours ago, Sparse Attendance said:

I think Barrow should be hoping to beat the likes of Swinton at home. A fantastic result for the lions, but Barrow are in a battle to avoid the drop. 

As a neutral, I was at Craven Park this afternoon. Very enjoyable game, despite a bitterly cold gale blowing in off the Irish Sea. The match was as tight as I expected but the better side won. Swinton (Swigan?) seemed to want it more, and looked sharper with ball in hand. The wind, blowing straight down the pitch, appeared to drop a little in the second half, when it was in Barrow's favour. First time I've been in the Willie Horne Stand. Probably worth the £2 transfer (on top of £17 admission) for the excellent view it provides. A 'proper' 44-page programme sold for £2.50. Official attendance was 1,357.

Worth adding kick-off was preceded by a minute's silence (not mindless applause, thank goodness) in memory of former prop Mick Murphy, who played for Barrow between 1968 and 1972, and died at his Huddersfield home recently. He was 77. Murphy, a Waterloo RU product, also played for Blackpool, Bradford, Dewsbury, Leigh and St Helens, and won caps for Wales and Lancashire. According to this afternoon's Barrow programme, Murphy chaired Huddersfield's rugby league and rugby union clubs, and had spells playing in Australia and France. Some nice tributes to him in the programme.

[Steve Fox]

2 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Great win for Dewsbury after losing leads in the last few minutes to York, Sheffield and Toronto. Few other interesting results, much more competitive league this season.

Competitive and well supported. I suspect the average gates will be well up on last season if things carry on as they are.

4,300 at Bradford today, 1,700 at Rochdale.

Any others? I’m guessing a decent gate at York.

[Hopping Mad]

1 hour ago, Steve Fox said:

Competitive and well supported. I suspect the average gates will be well up on last season if things carry on as they are.

4,300 at Bradford today, 1,700 at Rochdale.

Any others? I’m guessing a decent gate at York.

1,822 at York. 1,357 at Barrow.

[Niels]

6 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Congratulations to John Drake, fevtom and oiseau for getting particularly close to the actual Batley -v- Toulouse score.

This is the second time in recent weeks that Olympique have 'nilled' their opponents in the second half, in the process coming from behind at the break to win comfortably.  Is this coincidence, or is their an explanation?

Could it be that the TO coach is particularly good at giving a half-time talk that is both (a) inspirational and (b) tactically sensitive and astute, and that, if needs be, includes a change of tactics for the second half?  Does it tell us more about their opponents than TO themselves?  I can, for instance, imagine that the Wolfpack's skipper, McCrone's constant whinging to the ref (about the only thing he seemed to do with enthusiasm and skill in the second half in Toulouse!) could actually have had a detrimental effect on his team-mates.

Any thoughts from seasoned TO-watchers?

 

 

It's an interesting point that. 

I don't feel so bad now as Batley were playing uphill second half so it was always going to be difficult. 

12-10 Is not really enough of a lead at half time downhill. However against a strong team like Toulouse it was a great effort. 

Toulouse downhill were very prolific.

[Lowdesert]

8 minutes ago, Niels said:

It's an interesting point that. 

I don't feel so bad now as Batley were playing uphill second half so it was always going to be difficult. 

12-10 Is not really enough of a lead at half time downhill. However against a strong team like Toulouse it was a great effort. 

Toulouse downhill were very prolific.

What I saw, Batley would have done better, 1st half, if they had been patient.  They had no problem getting through Toulouse to within the 20.  2nd half TO showed what they can do if the hit the front.

Great division for neutral interest.  Lots of twists and turn to come yet, especially if Widnes scramble back into the mix late season.

[DoubleD]

What’s the structure being built in the corner of the Shay?

[GUBRATS]

24 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

What’s the structure being built in the corner of the Shay?

It isn't ' being built ' , it's been like that for over a decade , it was originally going to be corporate facilities , but when the main stand was finished they put them there instead 

[Cameron Highlander]

4 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

1,822 at York. 1,357 at Barrow.

And 2090 at Halifax.

[The Blues Ox]

From a Fax point of view and obviously having to be positive, we did do well for about 15 minutes which nearly takes us to the 80 minutes of good rugby played so far this season. Obviously a game we were never going to win and also unlikely to compete in given performances so far this season and pretty much summed our season up in the move that saw Toronto have a try ruled out for offside on an advantage play(not quite sure what advantage Toronto got out of that) slow pass from the tap, slow looping pass from Murrell and Fleming smashed and dropping the ball on the 1st tackle. 

[Bulliac]

16 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

A closer game at Odsal than the score suggests. The Bulls got two 80m breakaway  tries from players who you wouldn't think had the pace to  outsprint the defence ... Matty Wildie and Rhys Evans.

The Bulls wobbled a few times in defence and their handling movements weren't as slick as Leigh's'. However, they didn't drop as much ball as their opponents and they muscled up in the secondhalf . At the end of the game, the Leigh team's indiscipline had cost them dearly.

A good advert for Championship rugby and I think that a few feuds will be reactivated in the return fixture

Fair comment.

I thought our defence won the game, or at least, gave the slightly inflated look to the scoreline. It was good to have a genuine half in the side again - even thought it was a lad who still qualifies for the academy, Rohan Milnes certainly added a bit of sparkle to the attack and gave us a solid kicking game too. I always felt it would be tight in a game between two decent sides and so it turned out and apart from a couple of 'soft' early errors the Bulls' defence was the deciding factor for me, forcing errors from Leigh as they tried to make up the few points they were down and allowed Wildie and Evans to run in from distance. I probably expected Evans to go in when he was clear but I certainly didn't know Wildie had such pace.

All in all a brilliant advert for the Championship.

[audois]

17 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Worth adding kick-off was preceded by a minute's silence (not mindless applause, thank goodness) in memory of former prop Mick Murphy, who played for Barrow between 1968 and 1972, and died at his Huddersfield home recently. He was 77. Murphy, a Waterloo RU product, also played for Blackpool, Bradford, Dewsbury, Leigh and St Helens, and won caps for Wales and Lancashire. According to this afternoon's Barrow programme, Murphy chaired Huddersfield's rugby league and rugby union clubs, and had spells playing in Australia and France. Some nice tributes to him in the programme.

Sad to hear. He played for the now defunct St Jacques club in Carcassonne playing out of Stade Mazet where the local soccer club play these days. Was Liverpool born? If I'm not mistaken appeared on 'This Is Your Life' programme on ITV. I think he was from a big family - one of a dozen children.

[Hopping Mad]

1 hour ago, audois said:

Sad to hear. He played for the now defunct St Jacques club in Carcassonne playing out of Stade Mazet where the local soccer club play these days. Was Liverpool born? If I'm not mistaken appeared on 'This Is Your Life' programme on ITV. I think he was from a big family - one of a dozen children.

According to the Barrow programme article, Murphy played for Tonneins, as well as St Jacques. If Murphy started out at Waterloo RU, chances are he was from Liverpool. Wiki says that's where he was born.

[Bleep1673]

Stat Attack after round 8:

379 tries in 53 Games = 7.15 Tries / Game

Highest Try scoring team: Toulouse with 46

Lowest: Rochdale (I know they have played 2 games less) 10

Highest pts diff for: Toulouse +132

Lowest: Bradford +1

Most Home Wins: Halifax 4

Most Away Wins: Toronto 5

Least Home Wins: Barrow & Swinton 0

Least Away Wins: Batley, Halifax & Rochdale 0

28 Home Wins

23 Away Wins

 

[GUBRATS]

6 hours ago, Bulliac said:

Fair comment.

I thought our defence won the game, or at least, gave the slightly inflated look to the scoreline. It was good to have a genuine half in the side again - even thought it was a lad who still qualifies for the academy, Rohan Milnes certainly added a bit of sparkle to the attack and gave us a solid kicking game too. I always felt it would be tight in a game between two decent sides and so it turned out and apart from a couple of 'soft' early errors the Bulls' defence was the deciding factor for me, forcing errors from Leigh as they tried to make up the few points they were down and allowed Wildie and Evans to run in from distance. I probably expected Evans to go in when he was clear but I certainly didn't know Wildie had such pace.

All in all a brilliant advert for the Championship.

When the 2nd floating cut out last was thrown I was shouting " noooooo " , absolute the wrong tactic with the swirling winds round Odsal  yesterday , although it was funny as it was my daughter's 1 at visit , and when I pointed out the floodlights as we drove past the ' top ' turnstiles it was " what the **** " 

Bottom line is best team on the day won 

[Bulliac]

9 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

When the 2nd floating cut out last was thrown I was shouting " noooooo " , absolute the wrong tactic with the swirling winds round Odsal  yesterday , although it was funny as it was my daughter's 1 at visit , and when I pointed out the floodlights as we drove past the ' top ' turnstiles it was " what the **** " 

Bottom line is best team on the day won 

I do remember, many years ago, a guy from Wigan, obviously on his first visit, came through the turnstiles at the top of the hill, near the old dressing rooms (currently shop and ticket office), and he looked around and said "where's the flippin ground". Or something a bit like that....

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

21 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

What I saw, Batley would have done better, 1st half, if they had been patient.  They had no problem getting through Toulouse to within the 20.  2nd half TO showed what they can do if the hit the front.

Great division for neutral interest.  Lots of twists and turn to come yet, especially if Widnes scramble back into the mix late season.

Thanks to all who have replied to my Toulouse query.  I confess I forgot about the likely Batley slope factor.

A simple arithmetic projection of performance over the first seven or eight matches would indeed have Widnes finishing fifth, as you speculate, Lowdesert.  They would have 34 points (ie 46 less 12), putting them behind York on 39.  Behind Widnes would be Leigh, Bradford, Fev and Halifax all on 27.  But it is no more than an arithmetic projection; there's a lot of season left!

[DEANO]

Can’t see york getting 39 points

[Harry Stottle]

6 hours ago, audois said:

Sad to hear. He played for the now defunct St Jacques club in Carcassonne playing out of Stade Mazet where the local soccer club play these days. Was Liverpool born? If I'm not mistaken appeared on 'This Is Your Life' programme on ITV. I think he was from a big family - one of a dozen children.

It may of interest to you audious

https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/blog/2019/03/19/in-memory-of-mick-murphy-1941-2019/

[Lowdesert]

3 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Thanks to all who have replied to my Toulouse query.  I confess I forgot about the likely Batley slope factor.

A simple arithmetic projection of performance over the first seven or eight matches would indeed have Widnes finishing fifth, as you speculate, Lowdesert.  They would have 34 points (ie 46 less 12), putting them behind York on 39.  Behind Widnes would be Leigh, Bradford, Fev and Halifax all on 27.  But it is no more than an arithmetic projection; there's a lot of season left!

If this League goes like last season it can only be good.  I would never have thought Sheffield would be up there and wouldn’t have thought Fax Wouk didn’t be struggling.  As you say WW, plenty to go at yet!

PS: might be even more competitive next year with Leeds in the mix

[Bulliac]

I think this league is more competitive than it was the last time we were in it two years ago. Toulouse and Toronto do distort things a bit though as both are effectively SL clubs in the making and clearly much better funded than any other (except maybe Leigh with Beaumont back?).

Thing is though, if either get promoted it only means another SL club coming down so, assuming they don't do what we did (go belly up..), then it all stays pretty much the same. The championship is a good strong league, it is a title well worth winning on its own merit, and not just as a gateway to SL. My only real caveat is that all the other clubs, other than the three mentioned, and including us, don't have the money to enter, and have a chance of staying in, SL. which suggests we may be back to the old yo-yoing from the old days.

[Lowdesert]

18 minutes ago, Bulliac said:

I think this league is more competitive than it was the last time we were in it two years ago. Toulouse and Toronto do distort things a bit though as both are effectively SL clubs in the making and clearly much better funded than any other (except maybe Leigh with Beaumont back?).

Thing is though, if either get promoted it only means another SL club coming down so, assuming they don't do what we did (go belly up..), then it all stays pretty much the same. The championship is a good strong league, it is a title well worth winning on its own merit, and not just as a gateway to SL. My only real caveat is that all the other clubs, other than the three mentioned, and including us, don't have the money to enter, and have a chance of staying in, SL. which suggests we may be back to the old yo-yoing from the old days.

If a club wins promotion, can they decide whether they want to go up or not?  

[audois]

17 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

It may of interest to you audious

https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/blog/2019/03/19/in-memory-of-mick-murphy-1941-2019/

Thanks very much for that. Great read