Hull KR v Bradford Bulls

Hull KR v Bradford Bulls;

Venue: Craven Park, Hull

KO: 15:00

Referee: R Silverwood

Teams;

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

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

Neither side is in wonderful Super League form at the moment, and Bradford were pretty lucky to beat Halifax last weekend after another, dare I say it, dreadful performance. They both won but they conceded more points than they would have wanted, that’s for sure. I find it difficult trying to big up either of this sides of as they’re not my favourites!

Ben Jeffries will make his 50^th appearance for Bradford tomorrow after rejoining them from Wakefield. Jamie Langley and Matt Diskin are set to return to the depleted Bradford side after recovering from their respective injuries. They are without Chev Walker and Marc Herbert as they are both injured.

Hull KR will welcome back their full back Shaun Briscoe back into the side, he has missed the past six matches with a knee injury. Captain Michael Vella is also back in the side as he was rested for the Challenge Cup game against York last weekend.

I’ll go for the Bradford win, only because they’re nearer to me, haha. 

Saturday. Huddersfield Giants v St Helens. 14/5/2011

Huddersfield Giants v St Helens

Venue: Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield

KO: 17:00

Referee: T Alibert

Sky Sports 2

Teams:

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

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

The five players that sat out Huddersfield’s nail biting victory against Batley in the Challenge Cup last weekend, Scott Grix, David Faiumu, Luke Robinson, Dale Ferguson and Jermaine McGillvray, all return. I clearly didn’t pay enough attention to the Batley match last weekend as I swear blind Jerry played; I’m truly baffled. Graeme Horne is also back in the side after missing that game through suspension.

The Giants are still without injured trio: Keith Mason, Andy Raleigh and David Fa’alogo. The latter of which leaves me and many other Giants fans frustrated as he never seems to be fit for a long period.

Huddersfield’s injury list is nothing in comparison to Saints’; they have 11 players out injured. They’re doing amazingly well in the league despite the fact their injury list is endless, and unfortunately it is continuing to grow.

Paul Wellens, Saints’ captain, will return after missing the last three games with a heel injury. Tony Makinson is back in the team, alongside Shaun Magennis and Nathan Ashe. Due to the sheer amount of injuries in the Saints squad coach Royce Simmons has been forced to name three players who have yet to play Super League rugby, they are Scott Hale, Warren Thompson and Joe Greenwood.

Tony Puletua, Chris Flannery, Kyle Eastmond, Leon Pryce, Gary Wheeler, Paul Clough, Carl Foster, Lee Gaskell, Jonny Lomax, Andrew Dixon and Scott Moore make up Saints’ injured eleven, it’s nearly enough for a full team! (If you ignore the fact that most are half backs!)

Huddersfield seem to up their game when they play the so called bigger teams and will be hoping to improve on their shocking performance against Batley last weekend, obviously, I hope they do too! It’ll be difficult for Saints to perform with so many players missing but they’ll do their best and as I have already mentioned they’re doing ridiculously well considering that injuries have been a major problem for them all season. I think it all depends on how well Huddersfield start the match, if they start slowly Saints could take advantage. I think you all know who I want to win…

Round 14; remaining Friday matches.

I'm thinking of some new ideas that I can introduce to my blog in the next few weeks. If you guys have any suggestions feel free to comment on here, or tweet me! I appreciate all your comments and take all opinions into account!

Warrington Wolves v Castleford Tigers.

Venue: Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington

KO: 20:00

Referee: S Ganson

Sky Sports 3

Teams:

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

Castleford (17 from): Mathers, Dixon, Arundel, Owen, Chase, Orr, Jackson, Hudson, Emmitt, Snitch, Ferres, Jones, Milner, Fozzard, Aspinwall, Massey, McGoldrick, Holmes, Widders

Both sides come into this week's game on the back of a win, well a thrashing of their respective opponents, Keighley and   Rochdale, in the Challenge Cup last Sunday but that form is irrelevant for this match. 

Warrington lie top of the Super League after a four match winning streak, they're only top due to points difference, theirs is far superior to 2nd placed Huddersfield who are also on 18 points. Tony Smith will welcome 5 first teamers back to the side: Brett Hodgson, Ben Westwood, Louis Anderson, Joel Monaghan and Chris Bridge after all sat out their CC victory. Jon Clarke is also back in the side but the league leaders will be without Ben Harrison who has ankle ligament damage. 

Castleford had been top of the league themselves only a few weeks ago. They drew with Harlequins at The Stoop a week or so before the busy Easter period; that seemed to be the turning point in their season as they lost their three next matches after that. Confidence should have returned to the Castleford camp after their emphatic victory against Rochdale last week, but, let's face it, it was nothing less than expected really?

I think Warrington will continue their winning run but it won't be as easy as Warrington would like. It would be better for my boys if Castleford won, so you know what to do! 

Batley 18-28 Huddersfield match report & CC 4th Round review!

Batley Bulldogs 18-28 Huddersfield Giants

Huddersfield were given an almighty scare by their lower league West Yorkshire rivals, Batley Bulldogs. Batley started the game much better than the Giants; they were the better team throughout the whole match and were unlucky to lose.

Huddersfield took an early lead through a Kevin Brown try which was converted by Danny Brough, but Batley soon hit back with two tries from Dane Manning and Jason Walton which gave them a four point lead. Lee Gilmour scored for the Giants before half time which meant the two sides went into the second half locked on 10 points a piece.

After the break Batley again came out the better side, looking more like the Super League team through most of the match, former Huddersfield player Alex Brown scored giving Batley a six point lead (converted by Handforth) which was soon extended to an eight point lead after a penalty kick by Paul Handforth.

Try scorer Dane Manning was controversially sent off for a high tackle on Huddersfield’s Larne Patrick, who was arguably the Giants best player, although it didn’t take much. That sending off killed off Batley’s chances as Huddersfield scored three quick fire tries through Danny Brough, Joe Wardle and David Hodgson giving them the lead, despite the fact Danny Brough clearly didn’t have his kicking boots on as he converted only two kicks in the whole match. Leroy Cudjoe scored a late try under the posts for the Giants which meant Brough had an easy conversion.

The final score was Batley 18-28 Huddersfield but no way was it a true reflection of the game. Batley were the better side from the beginning and were unlucky not to go through; I’m sure they’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the Cooperative Championship season. Just lay off the high tackles, yeah?! ;)

The only positive any Huddersfield fan, like myself, can take out of the game is that at least they had a “proper” match and it wasn’t a walkover like many of the other matches, other than that it was a pretty pathetic display.

The only other match I’ve actually watched is the Leeds-Crusaders match which finished 30-20 to the home side. Leeds did incredibly well to win despite having only one fit substitute well before the end, and going 10-0 down very early on in the game. The Welsh side had a man sent off after a deliberate trip on Rob Burrow, as Eddie and Stevo would say, his mind exploded, and that had a detrimental effect on Crusaders’ chances of progressing to the fifth round.

There weren’t any shocks elsewhere with Leigh Centurions being the closest to knocking a super league side out, when they lost by 16 points to 22 .They were as unlucky as Batley were not to go through.

It was pretty much business as usual for the other Super League teams as, bar Crusaders, they all progressed to the 5^th round.

Carnegie Challenge Cup 4^th Round Results in full are:

Gateshead 0-70 Harlequins

Leigh 16-22 Catalans

Featherstone 42-16 FC Lezignan-Corbieres

Leeds 30-20 Crusaders

St Helens 52-26 Sheffield

Hull FC 82-0 Oldham

Halifax 34-46 Bradford

Hunslet 2-68 Salford

Doncaster 10-50 Wakefield

London Skolars 18-62 Widnes

Wigan 52-0 Barrow

Warrington 80-0 Keighley

Rochdale 10-72 Castleford

Dewsbury 38-44 Swinton

Batley 18-28 Huddersfield

York 22-64 Hull KR  

There were some huge scores in this round of Challenge Cup with a 1000+ points being scored in total! Like usual the draw for the fifth round has thrown up some great tie and there are some brilliant matches in prospect. The draw is:

Huddersfield v Catalan Dragons

Leeds v Harlequins

Salford v Hull K R

St Helens v Featherstone

Wakefield v Castleford

Warrington v Swinton

Widnes v Hull

Bradford v Wigan

All ties to be played on the weekend of 21/22 May. 

The Super League previews will return on Thursday night in time for the Friday night matches. Enjoy your week! 

Carnegie Challenge Cup 4th Round.

Sunday 8th May 2011.

York City Knights v Hull Kingston Rovers

Venue: Huntington Stadium

KO: 15:00

Referee: G Hewer

York (17 from): Bush, Haynes, Waterman, Ford, Wilson, Thackeray, Hardcastle, Benson, Barlow, Freer, Esders, Garside, Lewis, Stearman, Waller, Presley, Smith, Rice, Stamp.

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

York have added Jack Stearman and Benn Hardcastle to their squad for this match, but they are set to rest one of their key players in assistant coach, Chris Thorman. Anthony Thackeray and James Ford are eligible to play despite signing their contracts for York just last weekend from Widnes. 

Hull KR will welcome Peter Fox back into their side against the team where he began his career. The east Hull side have only won three games out of the last 12 in Super League; they lie 12th in the Super League table. 

York will put up a good fight but it's hard to see Hull KR not winning this one.

Wigan Warriors v Barrow Raiders

Venue: DW Stadium

KO: 15:00

Referee: T Roby

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.

Barrow (17 from): I had no team news for Barrow at the time of writing.

Michael Maguire, or Madge as people call him, has been able to name an unchanged side after last weekend's victory against lowly Crusaders. 

Richard Fletcher and James Nixon are out for Barrow due to undergoing surgery this week. They have got Liam Campbell and Martin Ostler back after recovering from injury. Barrow will not be able to play three of their four dual registered players, Ben Davies and Jack Hughes will not face their "parent" club and Huddersfield's Adam Walker will not play either. Huddersfield have given Barrow permission for Gregg McNally to play, hower.

I doubt Wigan will be stretched too much in this match and I'm pretty sure they'll be in the fifth round draw. 

Batley Bulldogs v Huddersfield Giants

Venue: Mount Pleasant

KO: 15:00

Referee: R Hicks

Teams:

Batley (17 from): Campbell, Brown, Maun, Williams, Rettie, Preece, Handforth, Potter, Lythe, Smith, Bretherton, Walton, Lindsey, Tootill, Flanagan, Buttery, Robinson, Mennell, Toohey.

Huddersfield (17 from): Lawrence, Cudjoe, Gilmour, Hodgson, Brough, Brown, Crabtree, Griffin, O'Donnell, Lunt, Raleigh, Kirmond, Patrick, McGillvary, Wood, Cording, Fairbank, Wardle, Molloy.

Huddersfield have named a very strong side for their visit to near-by Batley. The squad were given three days off this week to rest up after a busy Easter period. Graeme Horne is banned for the match after being found guilty of a dangerous tackle in the Catalans match last weekend. 

Nathan Brown has rested Scott Grix, Luke Robinson, Jamie Simpson, David Faiumu and Dale Ferguson. Ferguson's hand injury isn't as bad as first feared and should be fit to play against St Helens next weekend. 

Batley currently lie third in the Championship and are the Northern Rail cup holders but it will be a difficult match against the Giants on Sunday. They won their first five out of six matches this season but have lost their last two against Sheffield and Leigh last weekend. 

Being a Huddersfield fan I'm hardly gonna go against my boys am I?! If you're at the match and you see me, say hello! 

Halifax RLFC v Bradford Bulls

Venue: The Shay

KO: 15:15

Referee: P Bentham

Teams:

Halifax (17 from): Greenwood, White, Patterson, Nash, Worrincy, Holroyd, Black, Gannon, Beswick, Cherryholme, Smith, Bannister, S Barlow, Aizue, Watene, Penkywicz, Jones, Clayton.

Bradford (17 from): Ah Van, Bateman, Briggs, Burgess, Crossley, Donaldson, Hargreaves, Herbert, Kopczak, L'Estrange, Lynch, O'Brien, Olbison, Platt, Raynor, Walker, Royston, Sibbit, Whitehead.

Bradford are really struggling with injuries at the minute and have hit a bit of a lull. They are without former Leeds hooker Matt Diskin, Shaun Ainscough, Olivier Elima and Paul Sykes. 

Halifax are also struggling having lost six of seven games in the Championship this season. I'm not gonna lie to you, I quite frankly have no idea on their team, apart from the fact there are a couple of ex-Giants players in it! 

Hopefully it'll be a really good match for both ground spectators and those watching it on the BBC at home. Sorry, Bradford, but I want Hali-Hali-Hali-Hali-Halifax to win! 

Hunslet Hawks v Salford City Reds

Venue: South Leeds Stadium

KO: 15:00

Referee: W Turley

Teams:

Hunslet (17 from): Ratcliffe, Pryce, Clayton, Oakes, Kain, Grimshaw, P March, Helme, Chapman, Houston, Haughey, Dooler, D March, McLocklan, Lowe, Kelly, Blakeway.

Salford (17 from): Patten, Broughton, Nero, Jewitt, Clay, Ratchford, Holdsworth, Cashmere, Godwin, Boyle, Neal, L Adamson, Owen, Smith, Sneyd, Gibson, Sidlow, Paleaaesina, Spencer.

Salford will rest Stephen Wild and Vinnie Anderson, other than that I think it'll be a normal Salford side. Their form is a bit hit and miss, as is Hunslet's.

Hunslet beat York 50-12, but then lost to Featherstone by 48 points to 12. Player-coach Paul March thinks that they can pull off a shock and beat Salford, and I think they can too!

Rochdale Hornets v Castleford Tigers

Venue: Spotland

KO: 15:00

Referee: T Alibert

Teams:

Rochdale (from): Crook, Roper, Donoghue, Bowman, Hobson, Yates, Strong, Gorton, Cookson, Ashall, Merville, Bloomfield, Saywell, Newton, Ekis, McDermott, English, McGovern, Johnson.

Castleford (from): Dixon, Arundel, Owen, Chase, Orr, Jackson, Hudson, Emmitt, Snitch, Jones, Milner, Fozzard, Massey, Thompson, McGoldrick, Holmes, Widders, Clark, Eden.

Castleford have lost the plot a little over the past few weeks; having started the season so well they've lost their last three games and never really looked like winning them either. They'll rest three of their usual first teamers, Richie Mathers, Brett Ferres and Martin Aspinwall. Ryan Hudson and Nick Fozzard are set to return for "Classy" (or not so in my opinion!;)) Cas. 

I don't know enough about Rochdale to tell you about their team, but I doubt they'll be able to beat an under strength Castleford anyway. Castleford should get back to winning ways in this match. 

Warrington Wolves v Keighley Cougars

Venue: Halliwell Jones

KO: 15:00

Referee: G Stokes

Teams:

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

Keighley (17 from): Duffy, Sagar, Lawton, Baines, Hutchinson, Demetriou, Smith, Shickell, Feather, Benjafield, Cartledge, Pursglove, Shepherd, Wray, Law, Barr, Nicholson, Rawlins, Drake.

Challenge Cup holders Warrington begin their 2011 campaign against the Keighley Cougars. They'll play without full back Brett Hodgson who is rested for this match. 

Keighley are second in Championship One and are on a four match winning streak which will give them confidence going into this match. 

Warrington have put 50+ points on the board 4 times this season and this could well be another high scoring match. 

Doncaster v Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Venue: Keepmoat Stadium

KO: 15:00

Referee: M Thomason

Teams:

Doncaster (17 from): Butterfield, Colton, Spurr, Steen, Sanderson, Doebeck, Spaven, Scott, Ely, Crawley, Robinson, Lawton, Emmett, C Hughes, Keswik, Samson, Edwards, Fawcett, Carbutt.

Wakefield (17 from): Murphy, George, Korkidas, King, Henderson, Morrison, Lee, P Johnson, Dean, Morton, Gledhill, Mariano, Howarth, Veivers, Davey, Wildie, Hyde, Griffin, Amor.

Kyle Amor has been given permission to play for Wakefield from his parent club, Leeds. Wakefield won't be able to play another loan signing, Warrington's Tyrone McCarthy. Liam Higgins and Gareth Moore can't play either as they're both cup-tied. They have won three of their last five matches. 

Doncaster have won three matches out of seven and lie in 7th position in Championship One. 

I apologize to fans of Dewsbury, Swinton, London Skolars and Widnes. I am busy with exams and I really don't have time to write previews for your matches! Good Luck!

Good Luck to all the teams and enjoy the matches!

Carnegie Challenge Cup 4th Round.

Saturday 7th May 2011

St Helens v Sheffield Eagles;

Venue; Stobart Stadium

KO: 15:00

Referee: B Thaler

Teams;

St Helens (17 from): Gardner, Shenton, Soliola, Meli, Eastmond, Perry, Roby, Graham, Wilkin, Flannery, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Ashurst, Dixon, Magennis, Foster, Armstrong, Ashe, Hale, Greenwood.

Sheffield Eagles (17 from): Cottle, Mills, Yere, Bergin, Laulu-Togagae, Brown, Howieson, Henderson, Stringer, Szostak, Green, McDonald, Rowe, Hirst, Hepworth, Hanson, Battye, Scott, Smith.

Saints are without Tony Puletua who will skip this game to rest some knocks, he is replaced by Chris Flannery. They are still without five half backs: Jonny Lomax, Scott Moore, Leon Pryce, Lee Gaskell and Gary Wheeler. 

Sheffield are currently on a five match winning streak and are fourth in the Championship. They'll be hoping to pull off a huge shock and beat Saints who have an endless list of injured players. 

It'll be difficult for Sheffield to beat Saints but anything could happen and they beat Wigan in the 1998 Challenge Cup final despite being the underdogs. 

Hull FC v Oldham

Venue; KC Stadium

KO: 13:00

Referee: C Leatherbarrow

Teams:

Hull FC (17 from): Aldous, T. Briscoe, Crooks, Dowes, Gleeson, Horne, Houghton, Kent, Lauaki, Lyne, Manu, Moa, Obst, Radford, Sharp, Turner, Washbrook, Westerman, Whiting.

Oldham (17 from): Williams, Wood, Clarke, Whitmore, Ellison, Bradbury, Dallimore, Clough, Gillam, Gilchrist, Stenchion, Sutton, Fogarty, Ward, Diveney, Noone, Robinson, Nield, Bentley.

Hull coach Richard Agar is set to rest Craig Fitzgibbon and Mark O'Meley after their bruising performances in recent weeks. Lee Radford and Jack Aldous return in their places. Agar has also called up a few other youngsters and will rest top try scorer Kirk Yeaman along with Danny Tickle and Cameron Phelps. 

Injuries and suspensions mean that Oldham are without 10 of their squad for this match. They have also had to call up four players who don't actually have squad numbers as they're so short of players. 

Hull reached the final in 2008, three years after they won the competition in 2005, but have been knocked out in this very round over the past two years, admittedly, both those matches were all super league encounters. Oldham will do all they can to send Hull out of the competition early but I doubt they will be able to do so even against a weakened Hull side. 

Leeds Rhinos v Crusaders RL

Venue; Headingley Stadium

KO: 15:15

Referee: S Ganson

The first half is on BBC One and the second on BBC 2.

Teams:

Again! I am lacking team news for this match, so you know the drill if you have it, comment on here for me please :)

It's the only all super league encounter in this round of the Challenge Cup meaning that there can only be 13 SL teams maximum in the draw for the fifth round. 

Crusaders are without Jordan Tansey, a former Leeds player himself, as he is cup tied. Tony Martin and Jason Chan are also out through injury. However, they welcome back Vince Mellars, Peter Lupton, Richard Moore and Elliot Kear. 

Leeds are on a three match winning streak and have recently beaten Crusaders. They are now back at full strength, well almost (I don't know!). Leeds were the runners up in the competition last year and will be hoping to go one further and win it this year. It'll be difficult for both sides but I think Leeds will progress to the fifth round. 


Featherstone Rovers v Lezignan XIII
Venue: Big Fellas Stadium

KO: 18:30
Referee: R Laughton

I am going to be honest with you, I don't have a clue about this match. The most I know is that I keep getting Facebook event requests about it. I'll take a stab in the dark and go for Fev to win.