Fri 22nd Mar-Sun 24th Mar: The Betfred Challenge Cup Sixth Round Match Thread

[lacuna1]

2 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

The weekly excuses from Smith are starting to wear a bit thin. Saints won last night without having to get out of first gear. 

 

Just as well because Saints don't have a second gear. Just one big Massey-Ferguson gear that trundles up the middle.

[Chrispmartha]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

I always think blaming the ref in a game you've lost by more than 2 tries is woeful.

He didn’t blame the ref, he was answering an obvious fishing question from. Journalist- he should however not rise to it

[Chrispmartha]

1 hour ago, Hopie said:

If you google Batley Bulldogs the 2nd result is their facebook page and the third result is their twitter/x page, both of these have details on how to buy a ticket today on the gate.

Earlier in the week were posts detailing how to buy tickets online via their website.

If people want this information it is easy to find. Some unfair criticism in this thread.

You think criticism for not having any mention of it in their website is unfair?

[Harry Stottle]

13 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

Exactly, but at least they are the IMG champions!

Will they get a cup for that?

And if so suggestions welcome as to who will present it.

[Gooleboy]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

Will they get a cup for that?

And if so suggestions welcome as to who will present it.

Why not? One that lights up presented by Elon Musk if he's available!

[Harry Stottle]

12 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I'm glad I was working and missed that one... 

What kind of job would a Historical Academic have that he would be working these strange hours?

[Gooleboy]

19 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

He didn’t blame the ref, he was answering an obvious fishing question from. Journalist- he should however not rise to it

Especially with the schooling he must have received from dad and uncle.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

That's the thing that gives me some hope, to have a VR you need more cameras really so hopefully the minimum is what we are currently getting at the likes of Catalans games, which is noticeably lesser coverage, but good enough to look professional. 

I've enjoyed sky's coverage so far. 

You are very correct with the number of cameras made available for the VR's to make a judgement, as an example two very contrasting decisions were made in the last two weeks, in the Sky game at Leigh v Leeds a Tom Amone try adjudged as a double movement was very insufficiently viewed from just two angles both blindsided as to whether his arm/ball actually touched the floor, across the planet in the Storm v Warriors game an adjudication was required to see in the ball actually touched the try line, there was 6 camera angles available to the bunker and utilised to make the judgement, in both cases the ref sent up his judgement as no-try, guess which try got awarded?

On these pages it was lauded as a great move to have VR's at every game, but what they failed to say was cameras won't be of sufficient numbers as to make as good an assessment as it is in the NRL, either do it properly or don't do it at all.

 

[Angelic Upstart]

2 hours ago, LeytherRob said:

Any highlights of the KR/Salford or Wigan/Sheffield matches?

Rovers v Salford

 

[ATLANTISMAN]

2 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Disagree 

It was poorly attended last night due to the exact same teams playing the same fixture the week before....and the fact CC fixtures are not released long in advance 

Wembley has not had two big British teams in the final for a while 

A cynic might suggest Catalan being in the final in 2018 was a catalyst for lowering the bar for crowd number and atmosphere ...it was dismal though I enjoyed the result (I was there as a neutral and wouldn't go again if it ends up being like that so plenty of other casuals may have been put off recent years) 

It's recovering now ...I was there last year for the nearly 60,000 crowd and it was fantastic (that would be two thirds full not half) 

I'd confidently predict if the final this year involves two from Saints, Wigan, Wire, FC( ha ha obvs but you never know), KR....then it will be mid 60s plus 

We have a core base of around 200000 fans max and we are asking them to attend

* Home matches 

* Away matches

* Dragons/Toulouse

* Magic

* CC Final Wembley

* SLGF/Manchester United

* Internationals 

 

Thats a fair old whack of money for many with lower incomes the game desperately needs to expand its fan base and the only way to do that is with Internationals.

 

P

[Dave T]

12 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

You are very correct with the number of cameras made available for the VR's to make a judgement, as an example two very contrasting decisions were made in the last two weeks, in the Sky game at Leigh v Leeds a Tom Amone try adjudged as a double movement was very insufficiently viewed from just two angles both blindsided as to whether his arm/ball actually touched the floor, across the planet in the Storm v Warriors game an adjudication was required to see in the ball actually touched the try line, there was 6 camera angles available to the bunker and utilised to make the judgement, in both cases the ref sent up his judgement as no-try, guess which try got awarded?

On these pages it was lauded as a great move to have VR's at every game, but what they failed to say was cameras won't be of sufficient numbers as to make as good an assessment as it is in the NRL, either do it properly or don't do it at all.

 

I'm OK with not having the maximum amount of cameras. There has to be an element of pragmatism here and as long as we can cover the main issues like offsides, grounding etc then that is worthwhile even if it isn't perfect. 

We can't always have perfection, but we can have a system that's good enough. I think we are broadly there with Sky, but we should always be looking to improve where possible. 

[Harry Stottle]

4 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Thats a fair old whack of money for many with lower incomes the game desperately needs to expand its fan base and the only way to do that is with meaningful Internationals

I have included another another word in your post if you don't mind Paul, the one in bold.

[Dave T]

4 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

We have a core base of around 200000 fans max and we are asking them to attend

* Home matches 

* Away matches

* Dragons/Toulouse

* Magic

* CC Final Wembley

* SLGF/Manchester United

* Internationals 

 

Thats a fair old whack of money for many with lower incomes the game desperately needs to expand its fan base and the only way to do that is with Internationals.

 

P

The above is true, but the answer to it isn't necessarily to just cull it. 

I also don't think the answer is what we currently do either, which is stage half-assed events at £20 a head that are no better than pre-season friendlies off the field. 

[Harry Stottle]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I'm OK with not having the maximum amount of cameras. There has to be an element of pragmatism here and as long as we can cover the main issues like offsides, grounding etc then that is worthwhile even if it isn't perfect. 

We can't always have perfection, but we can have a system that's good enough. I think we are broadly there with Sky, but we should always be looking to improve where possible. 

I think each of our perceptions of "a system that is good enough" varies widely.

As me old mum used to say, "a job is worth doing properly or not at all"

[Dave T]

2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I think each of our perceptions of "a system that is good enough" varies widely.

As me old mum used to say, "a job is worth doing properly or not at all"

In reality the vast majority of VR decisions can be made without issue. Neither of us have stats, but I'd expect it to be way over 90% that the VR has more than enough to make a decision (most are simple grounding checks for example). 

I haven't seen too much that has prevented the VR being able to do their job tbh. 

[redjonn]

3 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I always think blaming the ref in a game you've lost by more than 2 tries is woeful.

he didn't though.... he was asked a pointed question about the PTB area and he talked about the change of approach talked about and how it has regressed back to previous seasons ignoring of it plus the flopping on tackling, six again and off side not applied... he did say not just our game but looking across all the games last week.... He was spot on with those comments.

On the actual game he was critical of their performance,  not enough intent, performance not were it needed to be, disappointed in not stopping the try just before half time, Saints were the much better team, only a short period of 15-20 mins after halftime were they had more intent, etc.

Only until asked pointedly by journalist about the poor PTB in the game did he move on to a more general comment on the approach agreed before season started had regressed back to the poor interpretations of the rule again.

So to me he was clear they were not good enough on the day and the opposition were the much better team, etc

So I would disagree with your comment.

Edited March 23 by redjonn

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Chrispmartha said:

He didn’t blame the ref, he was answering an obvious fishing question from. Journalist- he should however not rise to it

I was more thinking the barge comment than that.

I agree that he was baited into it, but he shouldn’t have gone on again.

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

What kind of job would a Historical Academic have that he would be working these strange hours?

If I told you I'd have to kill you Harry!

[Tommygilf]

3 minutes ago, redjonn said:

he didn't though.... he was asked a pointed question about the PTB area and he talked about the change of approach talked about and how it has regressed back to previous seasons ignoring of it plus the flopping on tackling, six again and off side not applied... he did say not just our game but looking across all the games last week.... He was spot on with those comments.

On the actual game he was critical of their performance,  not enough intent, performance not were it needed to be, disappointed in not stopping the try just before half time, Saints were the much better team, only a short period of 15-20 mins after halftime were they had more intent, etc.

Only until asked pointedly by journalist about the poor PTB in the game did he move on to a more general comment on the approach agreed before season started had regressed back to the poor interpretations of the rule again.

So to me he was clear they were not good enough on the day and the opposition were the much better team, etc

So I would disagree with your comment.

He said that 2 deflections and a missed barge, which was more what I was personally getting at.

As much as it was a specific bait question, he did bite. I always think as well that whilst Smith makes a lot of (sometimes good) points about the refereeing, he seems to never say "it was the same for both sides". 

Its worrying how poor the attack was. "Actually our defence of our tryline was good" (paraphrasing) was a silly comment to make after that result. Equally, in a Competition where just 3 wins gets you to the final, for Leeds to be out in our first game for is it the 4th time in a row (certainly the 2nd time with Smith as head coach), is poor. This is "his team" now, there can't be any excuses.

[Griff]

12 hours ago, Griff said:

Yes. Q is pronounced ng in Fijian.

Dunno what you're laughing at, Harry.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Fijian/Alphabet_and_pronunciation#:~:text=Occasionally%2C the official Fijian alphabet,the English speakers to learn.

Where's the head-shaking emoji when you need it?

[graveyard johnny]

cant see the leigh v fev match on the sportsman youtube channel coming up anywhere?

[binosh]

 

[Harry Stottle]

9 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

cant see the leigh v fev match on the sportsman youtube channel coming up anywhere?

Write Sportsman Rugby League in the YouTube search - magnifying glass - then hit subscribe, that will give you notifications whenever and RL content is on, hope this helps.

[Harry Stottle]

28 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

If I told you I'd have to kill you Harry!

Aw, that's not playing fair!

[Harry Stottle]

24 minutes ago, Griff said:

Dunno what you're laughing at, Harry.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Fijian/Alphabet_and_pronunciation#:~:text=Occasionally%2C the official Fijian alphabet,the English speakers to learn.

Where's the head-shaking emoji when you need it?

I misread it, left the 'n' in place so it became Wanqa Blake!