Sat 17th-Sun 18th Jun: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[PECETTO]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Am there now, sans eagles bucket hat but the ginger hair should give it away

Sorry i have to stay whith the partners for the réception. I try to come later. 

[NERugbyDad]

Thunder finally win!

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Fev back on the horse today with an easy win against an injury-hit London team that didn't offer much. Difficult to learn much from this sort of game but Aekins went pretty well switched to the vacant half back position to replace the injured Ford and Kheirallah had a very satisfactory return from his long lay-off.

Feel for the Bradford and Fax fans neither of whom will be able to gain full satisfaction from trolling the other lot this evening.

Big win for Newcastle and Keighley's anxieties will be mounting.

[Fevrover]

On 16/06/2023 at 14:39, The Blues Ox said:

Its just because we have had it conditioned in to us that we usually win our cup finals. I see either a close Bradford win or a comfortable Fax win.

Wrong for a change- it was a close draw! 

[Phil]

14 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

 

Feel for the Bradford and Fax fans neither of whom will be able to gain full satisfaction from trolling the other lot this evening.

 

But we’ve got a decent ground 

just saying like

 

[tim2]

1 minute ago, Phil said:

But we’ve got a decent ground 

just saying like

 

Always worth playing Championship Top Trumps at this stage. They may play their "Super League Titles" card soon.

[Just Browny]

I went up to Odsal today, it was a very entertaining game with (I think) a fair outcome. The weather forecasters earned their corn with a fair downpour arriving exactly as predicted midway through the second half.

The Bulls completely dominated the first half and it was wild that Halifax went in ahead at the break. After that, Halifax really should have completed the win from 22-14 up but Bradford showed good resilience to get back in it. Nevertheless, very daft penalty to give away a minute from time to allow Patton to equalise.

I know I am not making a new observation, but Odsal really is a sad old place these days.

[TrueBull]

15 minutes ago, Phil said:

But we’ve got a decent ground 

just saying like

 

Did you see we put a pile of sand in the middle of our pitch just to make you feel at home?

[mickmike wilson]

Vital win for Barrow today

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

1 hour ago, mickmike wilson said:

Vital win for Barrow today

Would have been interesting if Gilmore had kicked the penalty at 18-20. Not that it mattered but the last Barrow try came off the back of an obvious knock on if you were in the right position to see it as the Barrow tackler scrambled for the ball on the floor. Oh, and I had a horrendous journey home in some appalling weather.

[Dave W]

22 minutes ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Would have been interesting if Gilmore had kicked the penalty at 18-20. Not that it mattered but the last Barrow try came off the back of an obvious knock on if you were in the right position to see it as the Barrow tackler scrambled for the ball on the floor. Oh, and I had a horrendous journey home in some appalling weather

Could have gone either way in the end. In fairness, that ref missed a lot of things today for both teams. 

[The Blues Ox]

Don't want to talk about the Fax game still sulking over the loss.  Story of our season, scored some nice tries but ultimatley its poor decisions and poor discipline that costs us the win. 

Fair play to Bradford though they stuck with us when they could easily have fallen apart and their celebrations at the end shows how important the games against us are to them.

[bigbaldnmad]

3 hours ago, Just Browny said:

I know I am not making a new observation, but Odsal really is a sad old place these days.

Dump was the word you were looking for...

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

42 minutes ago, Dave W said:

Could have gone either way in the end. In fairness, that ref missed a lot of things today for both teams. 

Agreed, turned into a nerve jangler in the end.

[morty]

11 minutes ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Agreed, turned into a nerve jangler in the end.

Think we just deserved it in the end tho ... Great game for the neutral

[Ragingbull]

Well what can i say about todays game.

Full back injured after 5 mins. 2 forwards injured that couldnt return to the field. 8 points behind with 9 mins to go,  yet the Blue Sox didnt have a killer instinct, dicipline or desire to finish us off.

We were there for the taking today. A real big chance for Fax to put them selves in to the mix for a top 4 spot but it looks like they will be scrapping with Widnes for that last play off position. 

Might seem as though we got away with one leveling the game in the last minute but we had 3 tries disallowed and the Blue Sox scored following a clear knock on that unfortunately Mr Grant and his touchies all missed. 

That being said we have now taken 3 points from the Sox. Given at the start of the year they were much fancied and we are continually bashed and still seen as a team of no hopers im more then happy with 3 points out of 4. 

5 unbeaten now and hoping to kick on with the second half of the season.  The battlenfor the top 4 with us Toulouse, Sheffield and Batley is going to go to the death and hard to call who will miss out on a home play off. Our final game away at Sheffield could decide it.

Tough trip to France next week. But win or lose im sure it will be  cracking trip. Im looking forward to a few 1664s  .

[David Shepherd]

5 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Don't want to talk about the Fax game still sulking over the loss.  Story of our season, scored some nice tries but ultimatley its poor decisions and poor discipline that costs us the win. 

Fair play to Bradford though they stuck with us when they could easily have fallen apart and their celebrations at the end shows how important the games against us are to them.

Wet track?

[David Shepherd]

4 hours ago, Ragingbull said:

a few 1664s

Try the Cherry Choufe. It’ll send you into another dimension 

[Fevrover]

11 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Don't want to talk about the Fax game still sulking over the loss.  Story of our season, scored some nice tries but ultimatley its poor decisions and poor discipline that costs us the win. 

Fair play to Bradford though they stuck with us when they could easily have fallen apart and their celebrations at the end shows how important the games against us are to them.

Still better then the stupid Golden point in SL, a point each is fair.

[OdsalBull]

On 16/06/2023 at 13:39, The Blues Ox said:

Its just because we have had it conditioned in to us that we usually win our cup finals. I see either a close Bradford win or a comfortable Fax win.

Not this league season unfortunately  Fair result in the end I would say. Bulls dominated position and possession for large parts but Fax possibly more clinical

[The Blues Ox]

7 hours ago, David Shepherd said:

Wet track?

Yeah totally peed it down in the 2nd half. 

[The Blues Ox]

20 minutes ago, OdsalBull said:

Not this league season unfortunately  Fair result in the end I would say. Bulls dominated position and possession for large parts but Fax possibly more clinical

Yeah not sure how we went in at half time in front given 1 set in the Bradford half in the first 30 minutes. I thought Bradford were outstanding for the first 20 minutes, must have completed at 100% and each set finished in our bottom right hand corner while Fax gave a few penalties and a few silly handling errors which is the norm for us. From that point I thought we were the better team though and I have no idea how we managed to throw the game away in the last few minutes. 

I was only half joking regards the celebrations at the end but I think the reactions of the players shows where each team is at this stage. Bradford probably exceeding expectations and Fax well below the targets they set at the start of the season. Personally I feel like we need a change in coaching personel at this point to try and rescue the season because we looked to have gone distinctly backwards after last season barring 2 maybe 3 performances.

[Griff]

13 hours ago, Ragingbull said:

Well what can i say about todays game.

Full back injured after 5 mins. 2 forwards injured that couldnt return to the field. 8 points behind with 9 mins to go,  yet the Blue Sox didnt have a killer instinct, dicipline or desire to finish us off.

I've been thinking about this - if you've got three players who can no longer take part in the game, you ought to be able to use your 18th man. I don't see why it has to be head injuries.

[Barley Mow]

39 minutes ago, Griff said:

I've been thinking about this - if you've got three players who can no longer take part in the game, you ought to be able to use your 18th man. I don't see why it has to be head injuries.

I think it's because a head injury is assessed via an HIA. The 18th man is only used if HIA's are failed - there is effectively a form of confirmation that the injury is real.

With other injuries, teams could 'fake' it if they want their 18th man on for tactical reasons.

Failing an HIA means players aren't available for the next match, whereas with other injuries, you could see a load of miraculous recoveries taking place so the 'injured' players are back the following week.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Barley Mow

[Griff]

1 hour ago, Barley Mow said:

I think it's because a head injury is assessed via an HIA. The 18th man is only used if HIA's are failed - there is effectively a form of confirmation that the injury is real.

With other injuries, teams could 'fake' it if they want their 18th man on for tactical reasons.

Failing an HIA means players aren't available for the next match, whereas with other injuries, you could see a load of miraculous recoveries taking place so the 'injured' players are back the following week.

None of that is insurmountable.  Not least, I think you're underestimating the integrity of the doctors.