Hiatus

I'm a tad bored of posting so often at the minute as I never have the time to do much else. I'm thinking about what I can do in the future to liven it up a bit and get more page views. I don't get enough page views to continue putting as much work into my blog as I have been doing. Sorry if you're a faithful reader! Enjoy your rugby league... 

Round 15 Preview – Monday 30th May 2011

Wigan Warriors v Hull KR;

Venue: DW Stadium, Wigan

KO: 18:30pm

Referee: P Bentham (VR- B Thaler)

Sky Sports 1

Teams;

Wigan (17 from): S. Tomkins, Goulding, Carmont, Richards, Deacon, Leuluai, McIlorum, Coley, J. Tomkins, O'Loughlin, Prescott, Lima, Hoffman, Finch, Mossop, Farrell, Tuson, Charnley, Hughes

Hull KR (17 from): Briscoe, Cook, Cockayne, Clinton, Dobson, Fox, Fisher, Galea, Green, Hodgson, Lovegrove, Latus, Murrell, Netherton, Vella, Wheeldon, Webster, Welham, Watts.

Wigan have beaten Hull KR in the past six Super League matches between the two sides and they’ll be hoping to keep that winning run going on Monday night.

Sam Tomkins, who was infamously knocked out in the Challenge Cup match versus Bradford last weekend, should be passed fit to play. Also, George Carmont should have shaken off the knock that kept him out of last weekend’s match. I’m lost for any important Hull KR team news, sorry.

I like these Bank Holiday Monday sky games, lets hope it’s a good game. Good luck and enjoy.

Round 15 - Sunday 29th May 2011

Hull FC v Huddersfield Giants;

Venue: KC Stadium, Hull

KO: 12:30pm

Referee: T Alibert

Sky Sports 1

Teams;

Hull FC (17 from): Briscoe, Dowes, Fitzgibbon, Gleeson, Horne, Houghton, Lauaki, Manu, Moa, Obst, O'Meley, Phelps, Radford, Sharp, Tickle, Turner, Westerman, Whiting, Yeaman

Huddersfield (17 from): Grix, Lawrence, Cudjoe, Gilmour, Hodgson, Brown, Brough, Crabtree, Robinson, Griffin, Fa'alogo, Faiumu, Lunt, Mason, Raleigh, Kirmond, Patrick, Horne, McGillvary

High flying Huddersfield travel to the east riding of Yorkshire on Sunday to play the in form Hull FC.

Richard Agar has made two changes for the match bringing Sam Obst and Craig Fitzgibbon back into the squad after they sat out last weekend’s Challenge Cup win over Widnes.

David Fa’alogo is back for the Giants! (Woo, I never thought I’d see the day!) Hopefully he will stay fit for the rest of the season; he’s too good a player to be sat on the sidelines. Andy Raleigh is also back in the squad, he likes to make an impression when played, he really wants a certain position in the first team. Luke O’Donnell and Joe Wardle are both still out with their hamstring injuries.

Huddersfield to win, hopefully! Sure to be a good match.

Castleford Tigers v Harlequins RL;

Venue: PROBIZ Coliseum, Castleford (The Jungle)

KO: 15:30

Referee: R Hicks

Teams;

Castleford (17 from): Arundel, Chase, Clark, Dixon, Emmitt, Ferres, Fozzard, Hudson, Isa, Jones, Massey, Mathers, Milner, Orr, Owen, Snitch, Thompson, Walker, Widders

Harlequins (17 from): Ambler, Bailey, Bolger, Burnett, Calderwood, Clubb, Mitchell, Ellis, Gale, Pryce, Koupartisas, Krasniqi, Melling, O'Callaghan, Randall, Riley, Temata, Ward, Wilkes

I hope Castleford never need a one pointer to win a match ever again, that goes for Wakefield too after last week’s fiasco! Castleford are now 6^th in the league despite being table toppers earlier on in the season, they seemed to hit a bit of a lull in Super League form over Easter. They haven’t won a Super League match since April 10^th.

Harlequins themselves have also topped the Engage Super League table this season, but their decline happened much sooner and they now lie in 11^th place. The last time the two sides met Harlequins came back to draw with Castleford 26 all.

Jonathan Walker and Stuart Jones are set to return for Castleford in this match. The former has been out with a knee injury since February.

Chris Riley will make his debut for Harlequins after signing, on loan, from Warrington earlier this week. Karl Pryce and Lee Mitchell are also set to return after being cup tied last weekend. They will be without Luke Dorn and David Howell, however, as they were both injured in last weekend’s game.

Castleford are clearly wanting a big crowd for this match as they have introduced a buy one get one free offer.  (Sorry, but by the time this is published that offer will have ended!) I’ve got to go for the Castleford win.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats v Catalan Dragons;

Venue: The Hearwell Stadium, Wakefield (I have no idea what it’s called these days)

KO: 15:30pm

Referee: T Roby

Teams:

Wakefield (17 from): Blaymire, Murphy, Korkidas, King, Henderson, Morrison, Lee, P. Johnson, Dean, Morton, Mariano, Howarth, Veivers, Davey, Higgins, Wildie, G. Johnson, Amor, McCarthy

Catalan (17 from): Greenshields, Blanch, Sa, Bosc, Dureau, Ferriol, Henderson, Raguin, Mounis, Baile, Millard, Vaccari, Simon, Martins, Fakir, Paea, Baitieri, Pelissier, Pala.

Wakefield’s new owners are certainly flashing the cash! I have seen their little advertisement on ITV1 twice already this afternoon. It is highly amusing and I hope it isn’t just Yorkshire that gets it, otherwise everyone else is missing out on the fun!

John Kear has named Chris Dean, Matt Blaymire, Liam Higgins and Tyrone McCarthy in his squad for this match. The latter two were cup tied so missed last weekend’s challenge cup loss to Castleford. Their new signing Jarrod Hickey will not play as he only landed in the UK on Thursday afternoon; Julien Rinaldi won’t play either due to a shoulder injury.

Catalans are without six players through injury. They are Remi Casty, Ben Farrar, Steve Menzies, Vincent Duport, Cyrille Gossard and newest addition to their list, Cyril Stacul. Clint Greenshields is set to return for the French outfit.

Bradford Bulls v Salford City Reds;

Venue: Grattan Stadium, Bradford (Odsal)

KO: 15:00pm

Referee: R Silverwood

Teams;

Bradford (17 from): Ah Van, Briggs, Burgess, Crookes, Diskin, Elima, Hargreaves, Herbert, Jeffries, Kopczak, Langley, L'Estrange, Lynch, Olbison, Platt, Royston, Sibbit, Sykes, Whitehead

Salford (17 from): Patten, Broughton, Nero, Jewitt, Clay, Ratchford, Holdsworth, Cashmere, Henry, Boyle, Neal, L. Adamson, Anderson, Smith, Sneyd, Gleeson, Sidlow, Paleaaesina, Wild

Both sides got knocked out of the Challenge Cup last weekend after their defeats to Wigan and Hull KR respectively.

Bradford put in a much improved display last weekend after some horrendous performances over the past few weeks. They only lost by four points, to a Wigan team who had numerical advantage for the majority of the game.

The home side will be without Gareth Raynor who was sent off last weekend for a reckless tackle on Wigan’s Sam Tomkins. Paul Sykes and Marc Herbert are both set to return after recovering from their hamstring injuries.

Mark Henry returns for Salford. They’re hoping that they can do the double over Bradford after humiliating them the last time they met in April. They won that match 56-16.

Bradford seem to be back with it at the moment and they’ll have a lot of confidence, despite losing, last weekend. I’ll go with them for the win. 

Round 15 – Friday 27th May 2011.

St Helens v Crusaders RL;

Venue: Stobart Stadium Halton (Widnes)

KO: 20:00

Referee: B Thaler

Teams:

St Helens (17 from): Wellens, Gardner, Shenton, Soliola, Meli, Eastmond, Perry, Roby, Graham, Wilkin, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Ashurst, Dixon, Lomax, Magennis, Foster, Gaskell, Makinson, Hale

Crusaders RL (17 from): Schifcofske, Mellars, Reardon, Witt, Sammut, O'Hara, Withers, Bryant, Cahill, Chan, Winternstein, James, Flower, Hanbury, Kear, White, Moore, Lupton, Tansey

Five first teamers are set to return to Saints’ side for this match. Presumably we can stop complaining about the injuries now seeing as their injury list isn’t that bad anymore? Ah, no, I thought not. I’ll refrain from the Scouse jokes. Those five players are Kyle Eastmond, Josh Perry, Andrew Dixon, Jonny Lomax and Lee Gaskell.

Crusaders didn’t play last weekend as they were knocked out of the Challenge Cup in the 4^th round. You can take that as a positive or a negative. Positive being; they could rest up and have a break after 15 matches or the negative loss of momentum, maybe it would be better playing every week? I’d say it was a positive, let’s face it; Crusaders don’t really have much form to lose (or build on!) anyway. They will be without Gareth Thomas for the next couple of weeks as he has a neck injury but Lincoln Withers and Jason Chan should return.

St Helens’ thrashed Featherstone 70-0 last weekend so they didn’t really have a “game” so to speak, although I am told that Fev held their own for sometime in the first half.  I expect St Helens to win.

Leeds Rhinos v Warrington Wolves;

Venue: Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds

KO: 20:00

Referee: J Child (VR- R Silverwood)

Sky Sports 2

Teams;

Leeds (17 from): Webb, Smith, Delaney, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Lauitiiti, Bailey, Kirke, Hauraki, Pitts, McShane, Hardaker

Warrington (17 from): Atkins, Blythe, Bridge, Briers, Carvell, Clarke, Cooper, Grix, Higham, Hodgson, King, J. Monaghan, M. Monaghan, Morley, Myler, Solomona, Westwood, Williams, Wood

Well, what a match we have in prospect! I hope it lives up to all of our expectations. 

Warrington are on fire at the moment, scoring 50+ points is simply the norm for them, especially in recent weeks. I’d hate to burst Warrington’s bubble, and no disrespect to the teams they have beaten, but they haven’t really played any amazing teams over the past few weeks have they? (This isn’t a dig by the way, many of you will know that I have a soft spot for Wire) I doubt tomorrow’s game is going to be a walkover for either side.

There’s been some big positives injury wise for both sides this week. Brett Hodgson and Richie Myler are set to return for Warrington in this match. Hodgson got injured two weeks ago with a back spasm and missed last week’s Challenge Cup game as a precaution, whereas Myler has been out since Good Friday with a fractured cheek bone. However, Gareth O’Brien, who has played in Myler’s absence, was injured against Swinton last week and is thought to be out for the rest of the season.

Leeds should welcome back Brent Webb and Danny McGuire for this match. Both of whom were injured in the Challenge Cup 4^th round match against Crusaders three weeks ago.

I’m going to go for Leeds in this match. Simply because they have good form at the minute, obviously Warrington have too, but closer matches often help how you play as a team. It’s going to be a brilliant game and I simply cannot wait!

Mid Week Round Up; Wednesday 25th May 2011.

So, this is my first mid week round up of #rugbyleague on the blog. I love writing and seeing as I have some (if only a little) time off over the next few weeks I thought it would be a good time to start it. I’m going to do a run down over the top stories in rugby league. The majority will be from Super League but I'll try and add some other stuff too! 

We had the Challenge Cup 5^th Round this weekend and as I didn’t get the chance to do a review here are the Challenge Cup quarter final matches.

Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - BBC 4:30pm 230711

Castleford Tigers v Huddersfield Giants

Hull FC v Leeds Rhinos - BBC 3:30pm 240711

St Helens v Hull KR

They’re to be played the weekend of the 23^rd and 24^th July. 

I have finally seen the infamous Sam Tomkins - Gareth Raynor incident . I am 99.9% sure that he was unconscious, his eyes were so scary. In my opinion, all those comments that were made saying things along the lines of “he had it coming”, “he deserved it”, etc were out of order. I know some of the comments were made spur of the moment and on retrospect a lot of them realised and apologised. No matter how much you dislike someone you shouldn’t wish harm on them! Gareth Raynor was given a two match ban.

Talking of Sam Tomkins, him along with his fellow Wigan teammates have been banned from their new favourite past time, planking. Although they weren’t really doing anything dangerous it is a risk to them, and anyone doing it as there has been at least one publicised death from it. 

It was announced yesterday that Keith Senior will miss the rest of the season through a serious knee injury. He has played in every Super League season and still plays as though he is in his teens! I wish him best of luck with his operation and I hope he’s playing Super League next season! Get him re-signed Leeds, even if it’s only for one year!

Willie Mason has gone to Rugby Union after being released by Hull KR last week. What a joke that was. He was named in the Barbarians team yesterday and also signed for Toulon, the team he was linked with during his short stay in East Hull. Good luck to him.

Warrington’s Chris Riley, who has seemingly lost his place in the first team this season, has gone to Harlequins on loan. It’s for a month and he should add some pace to their wing, as well as being able to play first team rugby. Fellow Warrington player Lee Mitchell's contract has been extended for a month. 

Crusaders’ half back Rhys Hanbury has signed a 3 year deal which will keep him in Wales until 2014.

Catalans have a new player to add to their injury list; that being Cyril Stacul who broke his ankle during their loss to Huddersfield on Sunday. He went down unchallenged after collecting a kick. 

Match official appointments for the weekend were released like usual yesterday, if you are interested in referees, touch judges, etc for non Super League matches, visit the RFL website  where they are all listed in full.

Friday 27^th May;

Leeds v Warrington – J Child  (VR- R Silverwood)

St Helens v Crusaders – B Thaler

Sunday 29^th May;

Castleford v Harlequins – R Hicks

Hull FC v Huddersfield – T Alibert (VR- P Bentham)

Wakefield v Catalans – T Roby

Bradford v Salford – R Silverwood

Monday 30^th May;

Wigan v Hull KR – P Bentham (VR- B Thaler)


Queensland have just beaten their rivals New South Wales in the first State of Origin match of the series. The final score was 16-12, Billy Slater scoring the match winning try! 


Huddersfield Giants have just announced that Nathan Brown will be their coach for at least another year as he has signed a one year contract extension. 

Thank you for reading the new feature, I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Friday’s match previews will be up tomorrow, probably in the morning as I have an exam tomorrow afternoon!

Hannah x 

State of Origin 1

State of Origin I

As I let you guys down this week with no 5^th Round Challenge Cup review I decided, as Wednesday is my only day off, to do a State of Origin match preview for you all. I love Origin; I’m a Maroon!

Queensland v New South Wales;

Venue; Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

KO; 11:10am (BST) or 20:10pm (DST)

Referees; Tony Archer (complete wally) & Jared Maxwell

Teams;

Maroons;

Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Dane Nielson, Willie Tonga, Jharal Yow Yeh, Darren Lockyer, Jonathan Thurston, Matthew Scott, Cameron Smith, Petero Civoniceva, Nate Myles, Sam Thaiday, Ashley Harrison, Cooper Cronk, Corey Parker, Jacob Lillyman and Ben Hannant.

Blues;

Josh Dugan, Brett Morris, Michael Jennings, Mark Gasnier, Akuila Uate, Jamie Soward, Mitchell Pearce, Jason King, Michael Ennis, Kade Snowdon, Beau Scott, Greg Bird, Paul Gallen, Ben Creagh, Trent Merrin, Tim Mannah and Dean Young.

If you’re not a big NRL lover you probably won’t know the players too well, their form and stats anyway. If you are an NRL lover then I apologise if I make any mistakes; as much as I love the NRL I usually spend most of my time watching Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk.

It’s pretty obvious why Queensland have won the past five series; in the last international match 10 out of 13 Australian players were Queensland players too, but more importantly, they covered the most influential and important positions on the pitch. At full back was Billy Slater, stand off or five eighth Darren Lockyer, scrum half Jonathan Thurston and at hooker was Cameron Smith. Those positions are what Mal Meninga, Queensland coach, refers to as the back bone of his team.  They are quite simply the best in the world, well in my opinion they are and any team with them four playing in, when they’re all fully fit, should and will (usually!) win. New South Wales just aren’t a patch on them anymore and have now received the title of the “underdogs”. 

The Blues definitely have the younger, less experienced of the two sides. You can take that anyway you want to; personally I don’t think that’s a good thing. When you have two full backs on the park, one being Billy Slater for Queensland and the other being Josh Dugan for New South Wales I think I know which one you’d rather have on your side. It’ll be difficult tomorrow (Wednesday) for Dugan, the occasion might get to him seeing as he hasn’t played in any “big” matches previously. Whereas Slater plays in internationals regularly and has 14 origin appearances under his belt. I doubt Dugan would be anyone’s side over Slater.

If Queensland needed any other incentives to beat their New South Wales counterparts a great one would be that this is their captain, and international captain too, Darren Lockyer’s final origin series. The word ‘legend’ is used very freely these days but that man certainly is!

I am honestly far too excited for origin to begin. There’s not much love on twitter for my maroons, everyone seems to be big blues fans! Well, I suppose someone’s got to support them! See you on Twitter in the morning for #stateoforigin. Have a lovely evening! 

Sorry!

I have literally only got time to write this message on here! I am so sorry but the 5th Round Review isn't going to be released, or written, because I am really busy this week with revision and exams. I promise you that the new feature, the mid week round up, will begin on Wednesday and the match previews for round 15 (can you believe we've got there already?!) will be up in time for the weekend's matches! Friday's match reports will be up on Friday morning after my Chemistry exam. Enjoy your week. 

Apologies, Hannah x

Challenge Cup 5th Round Preview

Sunday 22^nd May 2011       

Huddersfield Giants v Catalan Dragons;

Venue: Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield

KO: 15:00

Referee: P Bentham

Teams;

Huddersfield (17 from): Grix, Lawrence, Cudjoe, Gilmour, Hodgson, Brown, Brough, Crabtree, Robinson, Griffin, Faiumu, Lunt, Mason, Kirmond, Patrick, Horne, McGillvary, Cording, Ferguson.

Catalan Dragons (17 from): Blanch, Sa, Stacul, Bosc, Dureau, Ferriol, Henderson, Raguin, Mounis, Gigot, Baile, Millard, Vaccari, Simon, Martins, Fakir, Paea, Baitieri, Touxagas.

First and foremost the apparent presence of Mickey Rourke at the match and quite possibly David Haye as well is amazing! I hope they’re there and in the bar! I’m sure security will be quite high ;) Get down to the Galpharm for your chance to see MICKEY ROURKE!

Both sides pushed their luck to get through to this round of the Challenge Cup after beating Batley Bulldogs and Leigh Centurions, respectively. Huddersfield currently lie 2^nd in the Super League table (well joint 1^st ;)) after beating fellow title contenders St Helens last Saturday; Catalan were unlucky to lose against Leeds last weekend, despite the scoreline, they’re 7^th. It is Catalans, however, who you could say have the upper hand over their opponents as they beat them by a singular point in France just a few weeks ago. Regular readers or my Twitter followers will remember the horrendous couple of hours I had listening to French radio!

Huddersfield are without Luke O’Donnell, who got injured in the warm up before the Saints match last weekend and Joe Wardle who was injured during last weekend’s match. It is thought that O’Donnell’s hamstring injury is the worse of the two and he is set to be out for 6 weeks. Huddersfield will also be out Keal Carlile; although I doubt he’d play in this game anyway I’d just like to pass on mine and the rest of the Rugby League community’s best wishes for his heart operation. May he make a full recovery and return to the Huddersfield team in the future. Good Luck, Keal.

Catalans have three players back from injury: Scott Dureau, Lopini Paea and Daryl Millard. However, they’re still without Remi Casty, Ben Farrar, Steve Menzies, Clint Greenshields, Vincent Duport and Cyrille Gossard.

I hope that my boys play much better than they did against Batley! Of course I want my boys to win. Good luck to both sides.

Bradford Bulls v Wigan Warriors;

Venue: Grattan Stadium, Odsal (Bradford)

KO: 15:30

Referee: S Ganson

Teams;

Bradford (17 from): Ah Van, Briggs, Burgess, Crookes, Diskin, Donaldson, Elima, Hargreaves, Jeffries, Kopczak, Langley, L'Estrange, Lynch, Olbison, Platt, Raynor, Royston, Sibbit, Whitehead.

Wigan (17 from): Tomkins, Goulding, Carmont, Richards, Deacon, Leuluai, McIlorum, Coley, Tomkins, O'Loughlin, Prescott, Lima, Hoffman, Finch, Mossop, Farrell, Tuson, Charnley, Hughes.

I’ll admit that I do love both of these sides. One of the first rugby matches I ever went to was Bradford v Leeds at Odsal and for some reason I have always loved Wigan.

The reigning Super League champions are currently third in the league but have a game in hand (against Castleford to be played in July) whereas Bradford aren’t doing too well and lie in 12^th place and are without a win in 6 super league games. Their fourth round match against Halifax, was pretty atrocious, both defensively and offensively. They were lucky that Halifax’s defence was just as bad if not worse, which meant it was them who progressed to the fifth round. Wigan had a somewhat easier tie than Bradford, they played Barrow and thrashed them 52-0.

Paul Deacon and George Carmont, the two Wigan players that are supposedly retiring at the end of the season, are set to play after shaking off the knocks they picked up in their match last week. Whilst Olivier Lima returns for Bradford. Other than that there isn’t much team news to tell you about!

I’m going to throw a spanner in the works and tip Bradford for the win. Good luck to both sides & go and support your teams!

St Helens v Featherstone Rovers;

Venue: Stobart Stadium Halton, Widnes

KO: 15:00

Referee: J Child

Teams;

St Helens (17 from): Wellens, Gardner, Shenton, Soliola, Meli, Roby, Graham, Wilkin, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Ashurst, Magennis, Foster, Armstrong, Ashe, Makinson, Hale, Greenwood, Thompson, Hand.

Featherstone (17 from): Hardman, Powell, Smeaton, Bostock, Saxton, Kain, Finn, Tonks, Kaye, Dickens, Grayshon, Spears, Dale, Welham, Haley, Morrison, Worthington, Divorty, Hardaker, Dee, Davey, Steel, Carr, Mvududu, Nurse, Gaunt, Williams, Hepworth, Hemingway, Netherton, Chappell, Johnson, Pearson. (This is Fev’s full squad & not a 19 man squad, which is obvious if you can count…)

Saints’ are still injury ravaged and they’re coming into this match on the back of a loss to Huddersfield last weekend, a match that they probably could have won. I suppose the injuries didn’t help but ah well, that’s rugby!

Featherstone are also a tad injury stricken – clearly not on the same scale of Saints though - , themselves are without Tony Tonks (great name), Tommy Saxton and Nathan Chappell. Whilst Kirk Netherton cannot play as he is cup tied.

I’ve already done one shock of the round so I’m gonna play this one safe and go for the Saints victory.   

Good luck to your teams. I haven't proof read this so sorry if there are any errors in it! 

Challenge Cup 5th Round Preview

I have some exciting news for you all! As of next Wednesday (26^th May) I’m going to do a mid week round up of all the latest rugby league news :-) I told you it was exciting!

Saturday 21^st May 2011

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats v Castleford Tigers

Venue: The Hearwell Stadium/Belle Vue/ whatever it’s called these days, Wakefield

KO: 14:30pm

Referee: Richard Silverwood

Coverage on BBC 1 (and BBC 1 HD)

Teams;

Wakefield (17 from): Blaymire, Murphy, Korkidas, Rinaldi, King, Henderson, Morrison, Lee, Johnson, Morton, Mariano, Howarth, Veivers, Davey, Wildie, Hyde, Griffin, G Johnson, Amor.

Castleford (17 from): Arundel, Chase, Clark, Dixon, Emmitt, Ferres, Fozzard, Holmes, Hudson, Isa, Jones, Mathers, Milner, Orr, Owen, Snitch, Thompson, Widders, Youngquest.

I reckon this will be the match of the weekend, so don’t let me down fellow Yorkshire sides! I’ll be sure to tell you in my write up on Sunday night/Monday morning whether it lived up to my expectations or not.

Wakefield beat Castleford by four points in the Easter Friday meeting between these two sides after a thrilling game. Could Wakefield pull off another shock and beat their neighbours? Of course they could, I’m not saying they will though!

Castleford will have Willie Isa and Nick Youngquest back for this match after injury. They have also recalled Jordan Thompson and Daryl Clark; they missed last week’s thrashing against Warrington.

Wakefield have kept Dale Morton, who has scored three tries in the past two games, in their squad after a successful return after a serious knee injury. However, they are without five players, two of which are injured, Chris Dean and Luke George. Whilst the other three are all cup-tied, they are Liam Higgins, Tyrone McCarthy and Gareth Moore.

I’m not a lover of either side but I’d love to see Wakefield beat Castleford again. It may happen, but I’m not sure. Good luck to both sides.

Widnes Vikings v Hull FC;

Venue: Stobart Stadium Halton, Widnes

KO: 15:00

Referee: R Hicks.

Teams;

Widnes (17 from): Leuluai, Grady, I'Anson, Allen, Coyle, Heckenberg, Lunt, Tyrer, Kavanagh, Penny, Pickersgill, D Sculthorpe, Houghton, Ropati, Gore, Varkulis, Gardner, Flynn, K Haggerty.

Hull FC (17 from): T Briscoe, Dowes, Gleeson, Horne, Houghton, Kent, Lauaki, Manu, Moa, O'Meley, Phelps, Radford, Sharp, Tickle, Turner, Washbrook, Westerman, Whiting, Yeaman.

Widnes will be somewhat weakened for this match after their three dual registered players, Dom Crosby, Logan Tomkins and Joe Mellor have not being given permission to play by their parent club, Wigan.

Richard Agar is going to rest Sam Obst for this match as he suffered a side strain in their match against Salford last weekend. Craig Fitzgibbon will also be rested and Sean Long is still out with his broken hand.

I know very little about this match as you can probably tell from the preview. I reckon Hull will beat Widnes, in some style. They’ll miss the Wigan boys.

Challenge Cup 5th Round Preview

Friday 20^th May 2011.

I hope you’ve had a great week!  Exams are coming thick and fast so please excuse me if the previews and reviews are a bit short over the next few weeks. I’ll try my best to keep up with it all but as you can imagine I’ll be a little short of time!

Warrington Wolves v Swinton Lions;

KO: 20:00

Venue: Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington

Referee: T Roby

Teams;

Warrington (17 from): Atkins, Blythe, Bridge, Briers, Carvell, Clarke, Cooper, Grix, Higham, King, J Monaghan, M Monaghan, Morley, O'Brien, Riley, Solomona, Westwood, Williams, Wood.

Swinton (17 from): Mort, Foxen, Dodd, Hurst, Flooks, Ainscough, Watson, Morrison, Smith, Holland, Hawkyard, Cunniffe, Joseph, Ashall, Wilson, Paterson, Meekin, Gallagher, Hamilton.

I used to think Swinton were actually called Swindon; I still called them Swindon up until sometime last year when I was told that they’re two completely different places. You guys will definitely sleep tonight after hearing that, I’m sure!

Warrington have been given arguably the easiest tie of the round, and that’s no disrespect to Swinton. League leaders of Super League (Swinton are also league leaders, of Championship one) Warrington will rest Brett Hodgson who got injured last Friday during their thrashing of Castleford last Friday, he confirmed that night on his twitter page that it was only a spasm and that he’d be fit, there is no point playing him in this match anyway! Louis Anderson will also be rested and not Vinnie as reported by the BBC, as the latter no longer plays for them!

Swinton are clearly doing well this season as they are sat at the top of Championship One. I don’t really know too much about them I’m afraid so if you’re a Swinton fan I apologise for not knowing your geographical location (you wouldn’t have thought that I got an A* in Geography the other day would you?!) and for knowing literally nothing about your team. Oh and for what I’m about to say….

To be honest, I can’t see this being anything other than another 50+ score for Warrington. They’re on fire at the moment and whatever they do seems to come off for them. Good luck to both sides.

Leeds Rhinos v Harlequins RL;

KO: 20:00

Venue: Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds

Referee: B Thaler

Teams:

Leeds (17 from): Smith, Delaney, Senior, Hall, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Lauitiiti, Bailey, Kirke, Burgess, Hauraki, Clarkson, McShane, Hardaker.

Harlequins (17 from): Ambler, Bailey, Bolger, Burnett, Calderwood, Clubb, Dorn, Ellis, Gale, Howell, Koupartisas, Krasniqi, Melling, O'Callaghan, Randall, Temata, Ward, Wilkes, Williams.

You’ll be happy to know that I know the geographical locations of both these cities as I visit both regularly, aha.

Leeds are in good form at the minute having won their last five matches (in league and cup) whereas Harlequins are quite the opposite. Their Super League form is terrible; they haven’t won a Super League match since the 11^th March. They did thrash Gateshead a couple of weeks ago to progress to this round of the Challenge Cup however, it was nothing more than expected.

Chris Clarkson is set to return for the Rhinos this weekend after limping off in the previous round’s match with a suspected broken ankle. They’re still without the other two players, Danny McGuire and Brent Webb, who were injured in the same game.

I’m not to sure as to which way this result will go. The Challenge Cup is a whole different game and it depends on who is most up for it on the day. I’ll stick with the form – and home – side, Leeds for the win!

 Salford City Reds v Hull KR;

KO: 20:00

Venue: The Willows, Salford

Referee: T Alibert

Teams;

Salford (17 from): this never fails to happen on Challenge Cup weekend. I am lacking team news!

Hull KR (17 from): Briscoe, Cook, Cockayne, Clinton, Dobson, Fox, Fisher, Galea, Green, Hodgson, Lovegrove, Latus, Murrell, Netherton, Vella, Wheeldon, Webster, Welham, Watts.

Despite lacking team news for Salford several sources have told me which players are set to miss out, through injury or otherwise. Wayne Godwin and Ashley Gibson won’t be playing as they were both injured in last week’s defeat by Hull FC. Sean Gleeson is set to return, however, after recovering from a hernia operation.

Hull KR may well be without Liam Watts despite scans showing that he hadn’t broken his thumb in the victory over Bradford last weekend; Clint Newton and Liam Colbon are also out. Scott Murrell will be available to play though.

This is the sort of match that I’m not really bothered who wins. Hull KR.  

Super League: Round 14 Review.

Friday 13^th May.

I mentioned in my previews for this round that some teams could have their worst dreams come true on Friday 13^th and for Harlequins and Castleford that pretty much came true! More of that later…

Salford City Reds 16-32 Hull FC;

Hull FC continued their winning run on Friday night with victory against Salford. Hull opened their points bank early, going 18-0 up by the eleventh minute. Similar to how the started the match against St Helens a couple of weeks ago; we all know how that finished! Hull didn’t want to let Salford mount a comeback like Saints did.

Salford had put 102 points past their opponents in their last two matches so you could say that confidence was pretty high. Their defence this week was dreadful, especially in the first quarter. They did score two tries before halftime and were back in the game, despite being 14 points behind. The half time score was 24-10 in Hull’s favour.

Salford started the second half better than they did the first half. They scored first through a Stefan Ratchford try which was converted by Daniel Holdsworth, however that was their final score of the match with Hull going on to score two more tries.

Crusaders RL 23-10 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats;

Crusaders still sit bottom of the table despite their victory against thirteenth placed Wakefield. It was the away side that started the game better, scoring two tries both of which were scored by Dale Morton. Only one of which was converted by Josh Griffin, however. The Yorkshire men went into the half time break 10 points up.

Crusaders got back in the game immediately and it was soon 10 all and it was clear to see that Crusaders wanted this victory more than the Wildcats, despite their performance in the first half.

A Michael Witt drop-goal in the 68^th minute gave Crusaders the lead for the first time in the match; whether it’s one point or a hundred, it’s still a lead! Wakefield put a lot of ball to ground and it was probably their handling errors in the second half that lost them the game. Ryan O’Hara and Rhys Hanbury both scored in the final few minutes to seal victory for Crusaders who are now only 2 points away from Wakefield in the table.

 Leeds Rhinos 30-6 Catalans Dragons;

Leeds continued their winning streak with victory over French side Catalans. The win takes them up to 5^th place in the Super League table. According to all accounts the scoreline flatters Leeds a little as Catalans tried their very best, with quite a few players out, and were still in the game for at least an hour.

It must have been a real tough encounter in the first half as only one try was scored; Ryan Hall was the scorer for Leeds. 6-0 was the half time score.

It was a battle of the defences throughout the whole game and it wasn’t until the 52^nd minute when the next try was scored, Kylie Leuluai scoring his second try of the season for Leeds. Ryan Hall ran 60 metres only to be taken in to touch 20 metres away from Catalans’ line. Catalans themselves scored ten minutes after Leeds’ second try with Ian Henderson scoring; it was converted by Thomas Bosc. That was their only score of the game.

Sinfield kicked a penalty for the home side before Zak Hardaker scored two tries near the end of the game to seal the victory. Rob Burrow also scored to give Leeds a 24 point winning margin.

Wigan Warriors 54-6 Harlequins RL;

Harlequins absolutely thumped Gateshead in the Challenge Cup last weekend but they were 24 points down by the 12^th minute of the match, no repeat of their victory against the reigning super league champions again this year!

It’s pretty clear from the scoreline that they were never in the game and they were losing by 42 points at half time, imagine the team talk! Admittedly, the Londoners did get better in the second half, well marginally, but lets face it they were never going to come back from 42-0 at half time were they?!

Former Wigan wing-man Mark Calderwood scored Harlequins’ solo try which could only give them mere consolation on the journey home. Harlequins, it could have been worse, you could have been Castleford playing Warrington.

Warrington Wolves 62-0 Castleford Tigers;

Castleford got well and truly destroyed on Friday night by Warrington who were playing in their charity kit. I am possibly the only person who likes that kit as the consensus on twitter was that it was “vile” and “disgusting”. Eddie called it gold, is he bloody colour blind as well as being a complete idiot?

Castleford were physically strong enough to battle with league leaders Warrington who were on fire. They went 10 points up within seven minutes as Super League debutant Gareth O’Brien and Warrington legend Lee Briers both crossed for Wire.

Castleford’s defence was pretty much none existent, well it wasn't players were there, obviously, they just couldn’t “defend the indefensible".

There are so many tries, eleven in total, to talk about but I actually feel sorry for Castleford. I know what it’s like to be on the wrong end of that sort of scoreline against Castleford – Challenge Cup last year, worst match ever!

Well done Warrington, it’s back to the drawing board for Castleford.