Sun 8 Aug: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[DavidM]

33 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Haven hold off a second half fight back from Dewsbury to win 20-18

Joking aside I think you’ve done fantastically well this season 

[Eddie]

Anyone know what the London attendance was? 

[Bulls2487]

Toulouse looking good for promotion.

[Davo5]

44 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Joking aside I think you’ve done fantastically well this season 

Yeah was expecting a season long struggle to try & finish third bottom to be honest so sitting 7th is a welcome surprise.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, Bulls2487 said:

Toulouse looking good for promotion.

From the ground I would say 500ish. Noticeably busier than usual with some familiar faces.

Playing half a side of undersized academy players will get us nowhere though.

[Guest]

Whilst Toulouse were good, most tries were run in unopposed against kids. 

Hard to draw any SL conclusions based upon that.

For the sake of the international game, would prefer a few more French players too.

[The Blues Ox]

Fax game was a strange one, we dominated for 60 minutes but have no goal kicker otherwise the game would probably have been done and dusted but a few silly penalties gave Newcastle a sniff. We are struggling to score points at the moment but our defence has been pretty good all year. We are now down to 17 available players though but luckily with the Toulouse game next week been called off we will get a week off to possibly get a player or two back from injury or look to bring 1 or 2 in from elsewhere.

In the other results Oldham are going to be kicking themselves but Dewsbury are still under a bit of pressure and when they play each other in the last game it could be to stay in the division. Haven continued their good form and it would be amazing if they could sneak the last playoff spot from London. Other positions in the top 5 look pretty much as I would expect them to stay.

[Derwent]

15 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Yeah was expecting a season long struggle to try & finish third bottom to be honest so sitting 7th is a welcome surprise.

The way London are going you might get into the play offs yet.

[kiggy]

8 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Fax game was a strange one, we dominated for 60 minutes but have no goal kicker otherwise the game would probably have been done and dusted but a few silly penalties gave Newcastle a sniff. We are struggling to score points at the moment but our defence has been pretty good all year. We are now down to 17 available players though but luckily with the Toulouse game next week been called off we will get a week off to possibly get a player or two back from injury or look to bring 1 or 2 in from elsewhere.

In the other results Oldham are going to be kicking themselves but Dewsbury are still under a bit of pressure and when they play each other in the last game it could be to stay in the division. Haven continued their good form and it would be amazing if they could sneak the last playoff spot from London. Other positions in the top 5 look pretty much as I would expect them to stay.

Why has the game against TO been called off? There should be no travel restrictions now.

[The Blues Ox]

5 minutes ago, kiggy said:

Why has the game against TO been called off? There should be no travel restrictions now.

Non fully vaccinated still have to quarentine.

[LeeF]

26 minutes ago, Derwent said:

The way London are going you might get into the play offs yet.

Still got them to play at home. I think it’s next week

[kiggy]

22 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Non fully vaccinated still have to quarentine.

How convenient. 

The club should have made it a priority to vaccinate everyone. Those that don't want it are then letting the side down as the club would be fielding a depleted squad.

There should be no excuses now.

[The Blues Ox]

2 minutes ago, kiggy said:

How convenient. 

The club should have made it a priority to vaccinate everyone. Those that don't want it are then letting the side down as the club would be fielding a depleted squad.

There should be no excuses now.

The club had been told before the France announcement they would not be playing the game.

[kiggy]

2 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

The club had been told before the France announcement they would not be playing the game.

What is going to happen if Halifax have to play Toulouse in the play offs in Toulouse? Will TO get a 24-0 walkover if Halifax can't travel because of lack of vaccinated players?

[The Blues Ox]

1 minute ago, kiggy said:

What is going to happen if Halifax have to play Toulouse in the play offs in Toulouse? Will TO get a 24-0 walkover if Halifax can't travel because of lack of vaccinated players?

It will depend on the rules at that time. As it is Halifax are in no position to force players to get the vaccine. Unfortunatley Toulouse agreed to play in the competition this season fully aware of the rules that the RFL had set down. 

[Davo5]

7 minutes ago, kiggy said:

What is going to happen if Halifax have to play Toulouse in the play offs in Toulouse? Will TO get a 24-0 walkover if Halifax can't travel because of lack of vaccinated players?

With the restrictions easing in regards to France will there suddenly  be a vaccine shortage in Yorkshire

[AB Knight]

2 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

Any word on crowd figure at York today?

There is probably a reason for it but York no longer announce the crowd which is a shame. 
 

We therefore have AB Knight’s (unofficial) crowd figure which today was 1650.

[kiggy]

11 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

With the restrictions easing in regards to France will there suddenly  be a vaccine shortage in Yorkshire

Quite.

But as Blues Ox says, even if there is availability you won't be able to force people to have it. 

[kiggy]

18 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

It will depend on the rules at that time. As it is Halifax are in no position to force players to get the vaccine. Unfortunatley Toulouse agreed to play in the competition this season fully aware of the rules that the RFL had set down. 

Well, let's see if the same rules that were set out at the start of the season are still in place at the end

[The Blues Ox]

2 minutes ago, kiggy said:

Well, let's see if the same rules that were set out at the start of the season are still in place at the end

Its all we can do.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

40 minutes ago, kiggy said:

How convenient. 

The club should have made it a priority to vaccinate everyone. Those that don't want it are then letting the side down as the club would be fielding a depleted squad.

There should be no excuses now.

Since it's only 9 weeks since jabs were opened up to under 30s (which will capture most players) with an 8-12 week gap between doses + 2 weeks it's difficult to see how 'fax (or any other club for that matter) would have a fully vaxxed squad at this moment in time.

Unless you've got a time machine to loan them?

[kiggy]

27 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Since it's only 9 weeks since jabs were opened up to under 30s (which will capture most players) with an 8-12 week gap between doses + 2 weeks it's difficult to see how 'fax (or any other club for that matter) would have a fully vaxxed squad at this moment in time.

Unless you've got a time machine to loan them?

Yes, I realise now that the UK is significantly behind France with vaccinating the younger population and also having to prolong the gap between jabs.

Let's hope the teams get themselves sorted for the play offs, assuming that TO will be an opponent they need to visit. However, I'm pretty sure the rules will be amended to accommodate a TO home game in the UK if needs be.

[The Daddy]

Toulouse have already played a couple of home games at Swinton's home ground and I suspect they'll do the same for the play offs 

[JonM]

1 hour ago, AB Knight said:

There is probably a reason for it but York no longer announce the crowd which is a shame. 

We therefore have AB Knight’s (unofficial) crowd figure which today was 1650.

I would've guessed around 1600, not having been to the stadium before. Very nice facility. Having the away supporters scattered in twos and threes throughout the ground rather than all together in a group does diminish the atmosphere somewhat. A lot of the people sat around me seemed not to be particularly familiar with the players or the rules, so York must be doing a good job attracting new spectators.

[Stirlin]

5 hours ago, JonM said:

Wind was quite a big factor in the second half. Can't fault the Widnes performance, they played the full eighty, but they're just too small to match a team like York in the pack.

Lawton was wandering about looking lost at times , we pretty much wrapped him up when he did get the ball.