When Sydney Daily Telegraph writer Phil Rothfield decided to list 62 reasons why the 2013 Rugby League World Cup was terrible, I defended him. I honestly believe that the sport can react too quickly to criticism. I think sometimes Rugby League needs to realise that it can do things better. That there is room for…
2011 started out with a plan to start the Rebellion in the USARL and leverage that to jump start youth development of the sport in the USA. As the only way to make sure rugby league is stable in the USA is to have youth playing to sport in Schools as there is not a…
Australia has beaten the United States 62-0 to book a place in the World Cup semi finals. Brett Morris and Jarryd Hayne both scored 4 tries each, but the big news was that Billy Slater left the field early in the second half after aggravating a knee injury he has carried all season. Slater will…
Daly Cherry-Evans looks like has has secured the bench utility spot in Australia’s World Cup team with Robbie Farah dropped from the squad named to take on the United States this weekend. While Australia named a 20 man squad, Farah was still unable to find a place in the side. Cherry-Evans form has been sensational…
A motion has been tabled in Parliament celebrating the life of Steve Prescott MBE, calling him “a hero in sport and in life”. Tabled by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Rugby League Group, Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland, the motion recognises Steve’s playing career and his astounding feats since he was diagnosed with pseudomyxoma…
NRL Chief Executive Dave Smith will address British Members of Parliament at a meeting of the UK’s Parliamentary Rugby League Group, just days before the RLWC2013 final. Smith’s visit is the second successive meeting of the Group to have an international focus and take place during the World Cup; on October 29 Scott Carter, Rugby…
New Zealand has smashed Papua New Guinea 56-10 in Leeds. The Kiwi’s started in ominous fashion by scoring a try after just 2 minutes. They backed that up with a second try after just 6 minutes. I could go on and tell you about every try scoring play the New Zealand team had in the…
Scotland has come back from an 8-0 halftime deficit to beat the United States by a scoreline of 22-8. The first half was a real arm wrestle with the United States getting the better of things through a better completion rate. Their first two tries really put the pressure on Scotland and it caused them…
Daly Cherry-Evans has retained his place in the Australian side ahead of the Kangaroos clash with the Wolfhounds in Ireland. Cherry-Evans has been named alongside Cooper Cronk in the halves in after an outstanding performance in the Kangaroos big win over Fiji last weekend. It looks as though Tim Sheens is once again looking to…
The Gold Coast Titans are prepared to break the bank to lure Gold Coast Suns AFL player Karmichael Hunt back to Rugby League according to a News Limited report. Hunt does not come off contract until the end of 2014, the same time the Gold Coast Titans have a large amount of salary cap space…
Tonga has defeated the Cook Islands 22-16 in a very good game that has big implications for the World Cup quarter finals. Tonga was supposed to put a big score on the Cook Islands. For most of the first half however the Cook Islands were giving Tonga all sorts of problems. Isaac John was sensational…
Every so often something funny happens on the footy field that you just can’t let pass by without re-visiting. One of those occurrences happened in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup match between the Cook Islands and Samoa. With both teams needing a win to keep their chances alive, the Cook Islands were playing well….
Samoa has beaten Papua New Guinea 38-4 in a dominant performance over a very poor PNG outfit. The first half of this match couldn’t have been any more one sided. A try in the first few minutes by Samoa was a sign of things to come. Papua New Guinea turned the ball over way too…
In his ongoing series of season reviews, Daniel Nichols looks back on the Cronulla Sharks season. Finished: 5th Predicted: 4th Fan Prediction: Top 4 Where It Went Right: On field, this was the Sharks best season since 2008 as they ventured into the second week of the finals. Off field the club managed to sign…
Daniel Nichols looks back on the Newcastle Knights season in his ongoing series of season reviews. Finished: 7th Predicted: 7th Fan Prediction: 5th-6th Where It Went Right: Supercoach Wayne Bennett almost did it again. A month before the finals, not even the most committed Knights fan would have told you they’d be within 80 minutes…
Daniel Nichols continues to look back on the NRL season. Today it’s the Canterbury Bulldogs turn! Finished: 6th Predicted: 1st Fan Prediction: Top 4 Where It Went Wrong: The Bulldogs suffered their biggest blow of the season before it even kicked off when superstar fullback and Daly M medalist Ben Barba was stood down for…
Former England Rugby Union coach Clive Woodward has caused a bit of a backlash in a long winded article about the English Rugby Union team. In his his Mail Online article Woodward came off like a bloke that has had too many people blowing smoke up his arse. The type of self important bullshit that…
Daniel Nichols continues his series if season reviews. This time it is the North Queensland Cowboys turn! Finished: 8th Predicted: 5th Fan Prediction: Top 3 Where It Went Right: We all know how the season ended for the Cowboys. 7 tackle try aside, the Cowboys should never have been in a position where a refereeing…
Greg Inglis has warned Australia to avoid ‘having their pants pulled down’ by Fiji when the two teams meet at Langtree Park on Saturday. The Kangaroos are hot favourites in the betting odds to beat Fiji and lift the World Cup trophy at the end of November. They got their tournament up and running with…
There has been numerous complaints about eligibility rules for players of dual heritage or the grandfather rule calling it a farce even by Mr League Freak himself, yet so far we have seen the strongest and closest World Cup yet. International Eligibility Rule states a player may represent a country if it is their country…
Daniel Nichols continues his NRL clubs reviews. Today he looks back on the Gold Coast Titans season. Finished: 9th Predicted: 13th Fan Prediction: Top 8 Where It Went Wrong: If not for a horrible injury toll at the club, the Titans may have been playing finals footy in 2013. Superstar centre Jamal Idris was the…
Scotland has defeated Tonga 26-24 in what is easily the biggest upset of the World Cup so far. Tonga exploded out of the blocks and an easy try early in the match seemed to confirm what most people thought, that this game would be very one sided. However Tonga played some very lazy football in…
In an extremely surprising announcement, there will be an official 2013 Rugby League World Cup video game released on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The game will be released on November 21st and is available for pre orders NOW! This news has come out of the blue. I’ve not heard a single thing about this…
Channel 9 has submitted a request to the NRL to show the Sydney Roosters vs South Sydney Rabbitohs on March the 6th and the Brisbane Broncos vs the Canterbury Bulldogs on March the 7th according to a report today in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. The match ups will see the defending NRL premiers led by…
Sam Burgess is unlike most English players in that his goal was to head to Australia, play in the National Rugby League and test himself against the worlds best players every single week. When he joined the South Sydney Rabbitohs he had forged a reputation for himself at test level at a very young age…
Akuila Uate has scored a hat trick as Fiji ran away with a 32-14 in over Ireland in Rochdale. Fiji looked a class above Ireland and were physically dominant throughout the contest. Even as Fiji lost a player to the sin bin in the heavy rain, Ireland simply couldn’t work their way back into the…
Forget the score line, forget that one team won and the other lost. Forget the implications for the World Cup tournament….because none of it matters. New Zealand’s 42-24 win over Samoa was simply a fantastic game of Rugby League that had just about everything you could want in a sporting contest! New Zealand started the…
Sometimes even a player like Sonny Bill Williams gets it terribly wrong! Sonny Bill Williams is normally a man that can do no wrong but in New Zealands 42-24 win over Samoa in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup SBW had his very own LOL moment! After breaking the Samoan line and looking like he…
France has defeated Papua New Guinea 9-8 in a close match that PNG will feel they should have won. The French opened the scoring after getting good field position off the back of a penalty. The field position allowed them to catch PNG off guard a little as they scored the first try of the…
Italy has won its first ever game in a World Cup with an impressive 32-16 victory over Wales in Cardiff. Italy looked really sharp and played very well considering the ground was a mess by the time both teams walked out onto the field. Anthony Laffranchi played great up front, Josh Mantellato was always dangerous…