Pre Season Friendly Thread

[phiggins]

On 27/12/2023 at 21:37, Odsal Outlaw said:

I went to Dewsbury v Batley, 12-12 in the end but what a dire game. The first half was amongst the worst halves of rugby league I’ve seen. Clearly the referee had been instructed to clamp down on incorrect play the balls, and he did. Must have been 10+ penalties in the first half alone. Now I don’t object to a focus on rules and he was clearly reffing to orders but it did really ruin the game. Second half was better and more entertaining but overall not the best festive entertainment ever.

Also for around ten minutes I consciously watched every tackle thinking of the new tackle laws. I’d say 80%+ would have been penalised in 2025, so the game will feel totally different.

Reffing to orders, as in enforce the rules of the game? Maybe players could just play the ball correctly?

[Bring back GB]

2 hours ago, JonM said:

That's a good crowd for a friendly. Was that Brad Walker's first game for his home town?

Yes it was. He was excellent and got man of match

[meast]

2 hours ago, phiggins said:

Reffing to orders, as in enforce the rules of the game? Maybe players could just play the ball correctly?

My thoughts exactly.

How is the ref spoiling the game?

Surely it's the players spoiling the game by not playing the ball correctly?

[dkw]

29 minutes ago, meast said:

My thoughts exactly.

How is the ref spoiling the game?

Surely it's the players spoiling the game by not playing the ball correctly?

Maybe the players could have trued doing something different, like say playing the ball correctly. I know, it's a crazy, wacky some would say insane idea, but was maybe worth a try.

[Odsal Outlaw]

Some amazing responses I wasn’t saying the ref was bad, I was just saying the clamp down spoilt what should have been a good festive friendly. I even said I don’t object to the clamp down. Interestingly Batley did seem to understand the clamp down, Dewsbury did not cotton on so quick.

[JonM]

Widnes 22 Whitehaven 22 for Jack Owens Testimonial. 12 points in the last couple of minutes for Widnes to make it a draw. Haven looked significantly sharper and faster and really ought to have held on for the win.

 

[MZH]

Bradford 34 v 32 Hull, it was 28-6 at HT

I wasn't there but on paper that's a real good effort from Hull. The oldest player in the team was 22 and only about half a dozen of them have played any first team rugby at all. Bradford had a youngish team too but there were a good few names I recognised on the team sheet.

[JonM]

St. Helens 18 Swinton 28 this afternoon, quite a young Saints team.

[Rene_Artois]

On 14/01/2024 at 18:36, MZH said:

Bradford 34 v 32 Hull, it was 28-6 at HT

I wasn't there but on paper that's a real good effort from Hull. The oldest player in the team was 22 and only about half a dozen of them have played any first team rugby at all. Bradford had a youngish team too but there were a good few names I recognised on the team sheet.

Hull haved named a virtual full strength side against us tomorrow. It's certainly not going to be about the result. I just wonder how much we can learn from standing under the posts waiting for another conversion!

[Sports Prophet]

Gotta wait until February 17 for Sharks v Knights. I am bloody itching for the footy to get started again though.

[MZH]

18 hours ago, Rene_Artois said:

Hull haved named a virtual full strength side against us tomorrow. It's certainly not going to be about the result. I just wonder how much we can learn from standing under the posts waiting for another conversion!

24-6 with about 5 minutes to go until half time. Sounds like your boys are giving a decent account of themselves. Hull have just had an 8 point try and Donny have one in the bin.

[GeordieSaint]

Cas 14 - 14 London FT. I think. 

 

Edited January 21 by GeordieSaint

[Rene_Artois]

1 hour ago, MZH said:

24-6 with about 5 minutes to go until half time. Sounds like your boys are giving a decent account of themselves. Hull have just had an 8 point try and Donny have one in the bin.

42-24 finish. Very happy with that. Some very encouraging performances. All the new lads showed what they can do but to be fair the old ones didn't look out of place. Match finished a couple of minutes early with an injury to Jordan Lane. Hope he's alright and good wishes to the FC fans.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

 

 

What's with the kit?

[Damien]

45 minutes ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

 

 

What's with the kit?

Everything about London just comes across as so amateur. I naturally lean towards a London team in SL as being good for the game but Jesus it need to do at least the basics of acting like one. This incarnation is so far off its not funny.

[Rene_Artois]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Everything about London just comes across as so amateur. I naturally lean towards a London team in SL as being good for the game but Jesus it need to do at least the basics of acting like one. This incarnation is so far off its not funny.

It's pretty embarrassing how unprofessional they are. Most of the clubs in the championship are better run in terms of sponsorship, social media and community engagement.

[Rene_Artois]

Few more like this from Briscoe hopefully 

[Archie Gordon]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Everything about London just comes across as so amateur. I naturally lean towards a London team in SL as being good for the game but Jesus it need to do at least the basics of acting like one. This incarnation is so far off its not funny.

Not many clubs bring the owner on for 5 minutes at the end.

[daz39]

https://www.giantsrl.com/article/8698/match-report-|-dewsbury-rams-(pre-season)

 

Giants beat Dewsbury 36-0 in their 1st warm up game.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

This is the 25-man French Elite 1 selection squad that Maxime Greseque has named to take on Les Dracs on 3rd February.  I have copied it from Les Dracs' website, hence the bold print for St-Esteve XIII Catalan players):

AISPURO-BICHET Guillermo (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
ALBERT Lucas (Carcassonne XIII)
ALBERT Vincent (Carcassonne XIII)
BABY Alan (Pia XIII)
BOYER Clément (Carcassonne XIII)
BOUSCAYROL Justin (XIII Limouxin)
BROCAS Luc (F.C. Lézignan XIII)
BUDDEN Hnaloan (R.C. Saint-Gaudens XIII)
GROSSON Maxime (S.O. Avignon XIII)
HERRERO Clément (Carcassonne XIII)
JULLIEN Benjamin (Pia XIII)
KOUASSI Sacha (Villeneuve XIII RL)
KHEDIMI Mathieu (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
LAPORTE Julien (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
LE CAM Corentin (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
LEVEILLE Mathias (Albi XIII RL)
LLONG Léo (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
MARIA Franck (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
PEDRERO Nittim (Albi XIII RL)
PONS Mathieu (R.C. Saint-Gaudens XIII)
REY Corentin (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
SALIES Adrien (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
SCIMONE Bastien (Saint-Estève XIII Catalan)
VERGNIOL Lucas (XIII Limouxin)
WALL Brad (Albi XIII RL)

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

Matty Ashurst Testimonial game.

Wakefield Trinity v our Dual Reg partners Wigan, tomorrow at Belle Vue 8pm kick off.

Strong squads from both teams and Chris Kendal in charge.  

Being shown on Wigan TV too. 

Pre-Season live on Wigan TV - Wigan Warriors

Edited January 25 by Wollo Wollo Wayoo

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

Going against my usual strategy of giving friendlies a wide berth and heading over to the Halliwell Jones in a few minutes.

[Mumby Magic]

We're going with a fill strength 22 on Sunday. Seems strange that I font even know what a strong Leeds starting line up will look like/consist of.

[JonM]

Warrington v Widnes is live on YouTube. Widnes 10-0 up after 7 minutes

 

Edited January 26 by JonM

[JonM]

Warrington 34-16 up at half-time for Sam Burgess's first game as a coach.. Widnes tries off some soft errors at the start of the game, but Warrington dominant since then. They look very slick with the ball, which considering that there's probably only one first choice player, so presumably some untried combinations, is pretty impressive.

Edited January 26 by JonM