Sat 14th-Sun 15th Sept: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

Widnes lucky to be only twelve points down at Doncaster. Dons missed a couple of chances to make it 20 - 0 just before half time.

[Fevrover]

HT Fev 6 Eagles 12. Too much going down the middle with one man rugby.

[binosh]

The amount of money Wakefield must be spending they look very poor today against York even though they are 16-4 up 

[binosh]

Derrell Olpherts has got hands like cows T!ts.

[Harry Stottle]

11 minutes ago, binosh said:

The amount of money Wakefield must be spending they look very poor today against York even though they are 16-4 up 

Not the dominating team I expected to see, apart from McMeeken and Johnstone who else have they got coming in next term?

[Fevrover]

Fully deserved win by Eagles, took full advantage of a Rovers team not interested by looks of them,clueless.

[doc]

Widnes slowly stumbling out of the play offs?

Hopefully an upturn against Toulouse next Saturday! Ever the optimist.

[PREPOSTEROUS]

Pretty poor game management from Trinity today, looked like it was going to be easy then we switched completely off and never recovered.  York were intense with their defence and played well.  I can see why they won in Toulouse. They should make the playoffs on that form and look out any team come up  against them. 

Trinity,  bad day in the office, and I'll give York the credit for that. 

[dkw]

22 hours ago, RSN said:

It's absolutely embarrassing at a professional sport level. 

Reminds me of the days at amateur level when a team didn't want to travel because they had a weak team so said half the team had COVID. 

The players they are claiming to have picked the disease up haven't played in a long time and likely won't play all season. 

If we had a competent managing body they'd have said you're trying it on so no or done an independent test on the day of the game and see what the results were. No doubt they'd be negative and the RFL knows it.

 

Good win for barra, glad cheats didn't prosper.

[Harry Stottle]

One incident in this game I have waited till the end to comment on, it was the tackle on Thornely, now I am somewhat amiss at what a defender is supposed to do when the ball carrier lowers his body to around waist height no more that 1/2 second before the contact with the defender, the attacker is actually leading with his head and shoulders reducing the actual target a defender can effect a tackle the attacker is effectively putting his head into the contact area AND NOT the defender contacting his head per se, other than standing aside what action can a defender take.

I stand on the terraces and shake my head as this kind of thing is going in all the time from players of both teams and the crowd and player's are all falling for it, the Wakey players were all running in aghast at what their own player caused and the crowds are oohing and hyeing for a free kick.

I think that the rule should be changed so that any player who purposely stoops in the tackle as Thornley did should be penalised.

[Butch]

Great win for barrow. Haven fans very quiet at the end.  Karma for last year 

[Harry Stottle]

8 minutes ago, PREPOSTEROUS said:

Pretty poor game management from Trinity today, looked like it was going to be easy then we switched completely off and never recovered.  York were intense with their defence and played well.  I can see why they won in Toulouse. They should make the playoffs on that form and look out any team come up  against them. 

Trinity,  bad day in the office, and I'll give York the credit for that. 

Your last sentance is the best one and agreed with by Gale and Powell in that Trinity are not used to that intensity and that was the reason they were not their usual self, the poor game management was effected by the other team, not self developed.

[RSN]

4 minutes ago, Butch said:

Great win for barrow. Haven fans very quiet at the end.  Karma for last year 

They turned it into a scrap but Barrow dug in and won comfortably. 

If Haven get beat by Batley then they are down which I'll be surprised if they do. Can't claim 2 loan played due to COVID and had a man sent off for fighting. 

[PREPOSTEROUS]

2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Your last sentance is the best one and agreed with by Gale and Powell in that Trinity are not used to that intensity and that was the reason they were not their usual self, the poor game management was effected by the other team, not self developed.

Partially disagree, we had a good 10 minute spell keeping it simple and building pressure, then we started throwing it about a lost the ball in dangerous positions, so self inflicted. After that we barley had any ball for 60 minutes and that is where York put us off our game, but it was a good defensive test if nothing else. 

[Moonshine]

Big up for the new boys to the Championship. Been a mixed bag results wise and for a promoted side they have done well. Lets hope we can kick on next year and grab a play off spot.  Well done to all the players and the staff at Donny.

[wilsontown]

Points difference might be crucial for York so not getting annihilated helps. .

[Trojan Horse]

Sub par from Trinity today compared with recent games

A number of errors didn’t help but in reality despite being average we re never in danger against a playoff contender in the league. 
 

York played well but no real need for Trinity to do anything other than go through the motions. 

[Rene_Artois]

7 minutes ago, Moonshine said:

Big up for the new boys to the Championship. Been a mixed bag results wise and for a promoted side they have done well. Lets hope we can kick on next year and grab a play off spot.  Well done to all the players and the staff at Donny.

It's been a totally enjoyable season. Smiles all round today and we can just enjoy the next 2 games. Can't wait to do it again next year

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

I watched much, though not all (due to other calls on my time) of the Wakey game on The Sportsman.  I was impressed by the commentator (sorry, not sure who he was) and Paul Rowley's ability to be sparing in his comments, and hence well worth hearing when he did say something.  Lessons there for others?

[Agbrigg]

York looked by far the best team to have played at Belle Vue this season, credit for that. Wakefield were very flat I thought and Gale in particular was poor. Its a good job Max Jowett was playing because his bits of skill were very important in the bits of good attacking moves Wakey managed to put together. 

As an aside, the game is so different in the championship. Very few Head highs penalised by the ref, no players staying down while the VR looks for the slightest bit of foul play,very few pedantic calls. Game flows far better and although the standard may not be as good,I think it makes a better spectacle. 

 

 

[graveyard johnny]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

Not the dominating team I expected to see, apart from McMeeken and Johnstone who else have they got coming in next term?

luke gales wig is staying on as a conditioning coach  and fifita has just done at the all you can eat toby carvery and should be back in training 

[PREPOSTEROUS]

Only seen it live so may be wrong, but Jordan Thompson's use of the shoulder seems to be a massive difference between the two divisions. There seemed to be little wrapping of the arms in contact. Also late hits on the kicker/passer seemed to be ignored. 

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, wilsontown said:

Points difference might be crucial for York so not getting annihilated helps. .

Fev being  garbage helps as well ,nothing to fear in a fortnight. 

[Expatknight]

1 minute ago, Fevrover said:

Fev being  garbage helps as well ,nothing to fear in a fortnight. 

If York play like they have been doing and can tighten up a few things, like discipline, and sticking to the game plan we should be ok, but this season, as we have seen, anyone can beat anyone, with the exception of The Mighty Trin perhaps, it is still a three horse race between, York, Fev and Sheffield for the remaining play places, mathematically The Dons could sneak in but probably too big an ask, but they have done remarkably for their first season back in the Championship, all credit to them.
 

[Trojan Horse]

40 minutes ago, Agbrigg said:

York looked by far the best team to have played at Belle Vue this season, credit for that. Wakefield were very flat I thought and Gale in particular was poor. Its a good job Max Jowett was playing because his bits of skill were very important in the bits of good attacking moves Wakey managed to put together. 

As an aside, the game is so different in the championship. Very few Head highs penalised by the ref, no players staying down while the VR looks for the slightest bit of foul play,very few pedantic calls. Game flows far better and although the standard may not be as good,I think it makes a better spectacle. 

 

 

I think the fact that we have been playing Max at halfback for 6-8 games and Gales been injured and his first game back had a lot to do with the clunky attack today. 
 

I would look to switch Jowitt back to Scrum half with Gale partnering him and Walmsley at full back. 
 

The game is reffed differently for sure in the championship. Very few cards and that’s not a bad thing. 
 

York were pretty good today to be fair to them. I hope they get into the play offs. 

Edited September 15 by Trojan Horse