Friendlies

[Old Frightful]

2 hours ago, tim2 said:

Sheffield 20 Hull FC 22

Good run out, with the artificial surface meaning no ice issues.

The best part of the day was that it was a triple header, with the wheelchair sides meeting earlier in a 26-26 draw, Hull women beating Sheffield Women by 2 points and a close run thing in the men's friendly. This has to be the way forward. 

Old Trafford here we come...

[graveyard johnny]

2 hours ago, EagleEyePie said:

Logan Astley was number 7. A real classy player and definitely one to watch.

just signed a new deal-Wigan are never gonna give him up 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Old Frightful said:

Old Trafford here we come...

Have to say it was difficult to tell if Sheffield just played really well or if Hull were pretty poor. Dwyer made a difference at dummy half and one of your halves looked exciting, but rusty would sum that up really.

[Old Frightful]

9 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

just signed a new deal-Wigan are never gonna give him up 

Boo!

[muckymunksy]

On 21/01/2023 at 18:32, Snowys Backside said:

Leigh 14. Leeds 12. Att just under 3k. 
 

A few cobwebs dusted off. 

Long season ahead for the Rhinos. 

[WN83]

18 hours ago, Churchill Drivers said:

The Wigan No7 was Logan Astley - I was also impressed with him and spoke with some Wigan supporters about him.  They said he had played a couple of first team games and was 19 (I believe).

Much improved showing from him in comparison to his couple of superleague appearances last year. He was far more composed, kicked well, backed any half break up and managed a couple of fantastic pick ups from those kicks through in the second half. We'll probably shift Field in to the halves should Cust or Smith go down but Astley gave me far more confidence that he is an option in there and I expect he'll see more games this season. As for the others, I thought Harvie Hill and Zak Eckersley looked ready for first team appearances as well. They both look like they could develop in to terrific players in time. 

[mozzauk]

16 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Have to say it was difficult to tell if Sheffield just played really well or if Hull were pretty poor. Dwyer made a difference at dummy half and one of your halves looked exciting, but rusty would sum that up really.

 

I was expecting more of Hull, I know both teams are green and first outing for a lot of players on both sides, but think Hull where bland and not very exciting... 

The Eagles team, played out of their skin at times, and showed what we can look forward to in 2023

The only reason they won by 2 points is from silly mistakes by the Eagles...  

 

Roll on Donny next week. 

[Chrispmartha]

5 hours ago, muckymunksy said:

Long season ahead for the Rhinos. 

I agree, making the GF will make the season long for them

 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, mozzauk said:

 

I was expecting more of Hull, I know both teams are green and first outing for a lot of players on both sides, but think Hull where bland and not very exciting... 

The Eagles team, played out of their skin at times, and showed what we can look forward to in 2023

The only reason they won by 2 points is from silly mistakes by the Eagles...  

 

Roll on Donny next week. 

Yeah particularly the second try. Sheffield will be very happy with that, a settled first full season at "home" will be massive I think. And there's still plenty of players to come into the team that will face Donny.

Hull didn't inspire huge amounts of confidence in me though that was a lot of rustiness and perhaps a bit of taking Sheffield for granted. 

It was good to see the OLP so busy!

[GUBRATS]

3 minutes ago, mozzauk said:

 

I was expecting more of Hull, I know both teams are green and first outing for a lot of players on both sides, but think Hull where bland and not very exciting... 

The Eagles team, played out of their skin at times, and showed what we can look forward to in 2023

The only reason they won by 2 points is from silly mistakes by the Eagles...  

 

Roll on Donny next week. 

How did Jack Hansen go ?

[Barley Mow]

Leigh v Leeds full match replay:

 

[muckymunksy]

23 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

I agree, making the GF will make the season long for them

 

Wont even make the top 6 

[Madrileño]

Watching some footage of the Leopards v Rhinos game, and I noticed Leigh were throwing one or two extra attackers into the contact situation a couple of times, to support the ball carrier and drive him forward.

Is this being tolerated by referees now? I know it is illegal under the letter of the law, but particularly close to the tryline, I noticed a couple of extra leapord-print tops piling in. I am aware that League wants to stay away from union-style mauls, but this is a tactic I personally would allow within a few metres of the line. I was just really surprised to see it happening- any idea if refs are being slightly more lenient?

[Madrileño]

Also, further to my post above there were times when Rhinos had 3 supporting players in helping the ball carrier when he was in danger of being driven back over his own line. 

As I say, personally I would allow it (within say 5m of the line) but AFAIK it is illegal and the vast majority of fans don't want it. 

[Stirlin]

On 22/01/2023 at 17:29, The Phantom Horseman said:

Perhaps the most interesting update of the afternoon...

York RLFC Knights @YorkRLFC

After the cancellation of their friendly, the Knights and the Bulldogs played in a behind closed doors game at York St John’s Sports Park this afternoon. 𝙁𝙐𝙇𝙇-𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀:York Knights 48-12 @BatleyRLFC

Usual pre-season caveats apply but I'd like to know a bit more about teams etc for this one.

.

Highlights now posted

 

[Chrispmartha]

2 hours ago, muckymunksy said:

Wont even make the top 6 

So we’ll have a short season then.

What are you basing this prediction on?

[The Blues Ox]

On 24/01/2023 at 15:22, Madrileño said:

Also, further to my post above there were times when Rhinos had 3 supporting players in helping the ball carrier when he was in danger of being driven back over his own line. 

As I say, personally I would allow it (within say 5m of the line) but AFAIK it is illegal and the vast majority of fans don't want it. 

In the first instance (attacker getting pushed behind their own line) I believe the ref should call held when more of his team mates add weight to the tackle but not sure how it works the other way around and to be fair the first one is most ignored anyway.

Edited January 25, 2023 by The Blues Ox

[Madrileño]

5 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

In the first instance I believe the ref should call held when more defenders add weight to the tackle but not sure how it works the other way around and to be fair the first one is most ignored anyway.

When more attackers add weight I believe... no? 

[The Blues Ox]

19 minutes ago, Madrileño said:

When more attackers add weight I believe... no? 

Haha yeah I got that a bit back to front. Will edit it now thanks.

[JonM]

Saints 16 Widnes 12. Not as close as it sounds, with the Widnes points all coming in the final 20 minutes. Quite a strong Saints starting 13 but with a lot of young lads among the 8 interchanges.

[SalfordSlim]

Salford 26-22 Swinetown

Salford 26-0 up at HT. Strong line-up with maybe only 3 or 4 of our first 17 missing. Some decent rugby on show. Longstaff scored a well taken try and looks like he could be a good signing.

2nd half played the academy team. Big step up for a lot of them and struggled to complete a set as way too many handling errors.

Next week it's off to the Piedome for Sam Powell's testimonial. Hopefully no injuries and then bring on the Lopards of Leigh on the 17th.

[Saint Toppy]

On 27/01/2023 at 22:33, JonM said:

Saints 16 Widnes 12. Not as close as it sounds, with the Widnes points all coming in the final 20 minutes. Quite a strong Saints starting 13 but with a lot of young lads among the 8 interchanges.

Yeah, Saints didn't play any of their England WC International players or Roby, Walmsley & Percival, so ultimately had 9 first choice players out, but still fielded a fairly strong starting 13. They were 16-0 up but for the last 20mins had a team consisting of mostly kids out there which is when Widnes ran in all their points. 

Great to see Dodd make his comeback from a long injury lay-off, though pick of the players was Jumah Sambou on the wing who himself was making a comeback from serious injury that cut short his 2022 season.

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

Wakefield 24- 12 Featherstone.

The proverbial game of two halves.  0-12 HT

[Fevrover]

14 minutes ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

Wakefield 24- 12 Featherstone.

The proverbial game of two halves.  0-12 HT

And changing of players, good work out for both teams.

[EagleEyePie]

Barrow 26 Wigan 14

A good competitive game overall. The first half was a bit of a slog in very windy conditions. Barrow pulled ahead in the second half by shifting the ball a bit more and getting the ball to their edges where Wigan struggled to deal with them. There was a small hint that Wigan might be able to pull it back but we weren't clinical enough in the second half. I also thought Barrow dealt very well with having the wind against them in the first half and made better use of the wind advantage in the second. The difference in experience probably told in that regard. Their outside backs were also much stronger going into contact where Wigan's backs really struggled to make ground out of our own 20.

Tom Forber at hooker was Wigan's stand out, but Zach Eckersley was also good at left centre (I can see why the club weren't too upset with letting Sam Halsall go) and Harvie Hill had another strong game down the middle.

The fringe first teamers got a game - Miski, Mago, Ellis, Shorrocks and O'Neill. Miski scored twice but didn't really excel. He puts plenty of effort with his carries but he wasn't really a threat. Mago had a poor first stint but was much more threatening when he returned and caused problems with his offloads. Ellis didn't do much in his one 25-30 minute spell. Shorrocks was busy as usual and heavily involved but conceded too many penalties. O'Neill was solid but we were much better with Forber on the field.