International Rugby League is a funny thing. You always get the feeling that its held together with sticky tape and rubber bands. Whether its the expert commentary team from England stuffing up players names from the opposition they have clearly never seen, depspite the fact these players are regular NRL players, to the Kiwi commentators…
I don’t like reading fictional stories unless they are of the pornographic kind. I just feel like they are a waste of time, and anyway, I’ll wait until it comes out as a movie. So when I go to the BBC web site to read the Rugby League news, and I come across a piece…
It must be time for England to walk into another international Rugby League competition because I’m hearing the word “confidence” being thrown around a lot this week. We’ve been here before, and yes, I know, I know, I could probably let it all slide and our lives would not change one bit. You don’t come…
Its a tournament that was conceived with the notion that regular test football between the top nations would see other teams life their game and come up to the same level we have seen Australia play at forever. Has it worked? New Zealand’s success in 2006 and the 2008 World Cup is look at as…
New Zealand have easily accounted for England 24-10 in front of a pretty decent crowd in Wellington. With both teams wearing historic jerseys and really going all out for a few photos to mark the occasion, its was interesting to see James Graham snarl “Don’t touch me” to a ground coordinator who was just trying…
Some people tell me that I see things in black and white terms. This is a flaw apparently. You see, I don’t understand that in this day and age, you have to be flexible. I think thats a load of horse shit quite honestly. I’ve always been someone that thinks that this game should be…
England Captain Jamie Peacock is out for the rest of the season and now, people are wondering who should captain England going into the Four Nations tournament to be hosted in Australia and New Zealand at seasons end. When selecting the next captain, you have to remember that the RFL has a bit of a…
The administration in Rugby League on both sides of the world right now is a complete and utter shambles. Stupidity, self interest and ignorance are all getting a work out and the lack of a real leader, someone that can push things forward and make decisions, is there for all to see. Anything thats good…
A harsh, cold dose of reality. The 2008 World Cup was supposed to be a turning point for English Rugby League. It was the competition where reality set it and expectations had been reset. The catastrophic performance of the English side, which saw them barely beat Papua New Guinea, thrashed by Australia, and then easily…
You will probably have noticed that the grumbles are starting to grow about Sam Burgess and his decision to not turn out for England’s mid season Test Match against France. The two other English players taking part in the NRL, Gareth Ellis and Mark Flanagan, both play for the West Tigers and both have made…
After a much publicized world wide search the Rugby Football League has announced that Steve McNamara is the man to coach England into the next World Cup. Damn….. The Rugby Football League have been comical in the way they have appointed coaches over the last decade. Ask yourself this, if the Great Britain/England team was…
Over the last 20 years, when ever Great Britain or England have come to Australia to play a series or any kind, it has resulted in failure on an epic scale. That their best tour in that time frame was coming third in a three team competitions, where one of the top two sides lost…
I don’t need to tell you what a shambolic farce Great Britain and England have been at International level over the last 30+ years. Promises are made, lots of big, bold statements, a big build up, and then, well…we all know what happens. The fact that we are coming off of a Four Nations competition…
Normally we don’t see the the draw for a major international Rugby League competition until a few weeks before the bloody thing kicks off, however this time around the IRLF (ARL/RFL) have taken time out from meetings in Singapore in high priced hotels to get a draw out early. The 2008 World Cup was a…
There is a Golden Rule in Rugby League that states: If you wanna f*cking it up, leave it to a Pom. So goes every single thing the Poms touch when it comes to Rugby League, it is like they have a national commitment to Rugby League disaster. This time around the dirty, soap dodging whingers…
Every day I like to jump online and do my rounds of all of my favorite Rugby League news sources. I hit up the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, the Sydney Morning Herald, I sometimes see if the Australian and anything good to read, and then I’ll take a quick look at the BBC. Then I…
Tony Smith has quit his England coaching job just minutes after his side lost the Four Nations Final by a scoreline of 46-16. Smith said the idea of spending six weeks away from his family was a major decision for him to stand down, as well as commitments to his Super League job at Warrington….
Feels good man, feel’s real good. Australia has blown England off the park in the Four Nations Final in Leeds by a scoreline of 46-16. The fight half was a beauty, with both teams swapping the lead for the entire 40 minutes. Australia were under pressure early, giving away stupid penalties, and had to hold…
You probably already knew it was time for a big final between Australia and England. You would have received the e-mail from the RFL asking if it was ok for them to put your name up as a possible referee for this game! In what is shaping to be a very big end to the…
I’ve been very critical of England for a very long time, I’ve give my opinion on changes that needed to be made, and so when those changes have come into being, I shouldn’t be surprised by Englands improvement. England beat New Zealand 20-12 in a good old fashioned test match! New Zealand started well and…
This is a very strange week for all teams in the Four Nations Tournament. Australia is through to the Final, we know that much. We also know that France is no chance of making the final. These two teams play each other while England take on the World Champions in the New Zealand Kiwi’s with…
Twenty minutes of easy, untouchable football, sixty minutes of complete and utter garbage. That pretty much sums up Australia’s performance in their 26-16 win over England in Wigan this evening. Australia looked like they would easily rack up the massive scoreline I expected them to in the first quarter of the match. As I predicted,…
Its been a week of hysterical poms and over the top statements as we work into what I call the “48 Hours Of Honest Reflection” that comes following another massive Australian win over a terrible English side. We’ve had all but one Pom in the press doing the cheerleading thing this week, some ridiculous, simplistic statement, and…
France have given England a very big wakeup call in the opening game of the Four Nations, leading by 12-4 at halftime only to fade badly in the second half to give England the 34-12 victory. For all of the talk out of Enngland that they have the best forward pack in the world, the…
After weeks of waiting for a good footy fix, the Four Nations is finally here! It has been interesting to see the way the four teams have approched the series in the last ten days. Australia has been quietly confident, but you get a sense of them brooding on that World Cup Final loss last…
A few Internationals games have been played over night and we saw some big scorelines and one major upset. England got off to a very slow start against Wales but eventually won 48-12. I didn’t get to see the match but I’m told it was not a good quality game and Paul Sykes has a…
England have named their Four Nations squad and a few surprised with a few big names left out! Leon Pryce, Rob Burrow, Keith Senior and Paul Wellens are all gone in a side thats very inexperienced at test level. Pryce has been terrible for a while now, playing out of position doesn’t help him. He…
The Rugby League Ashes series goes back 101 years and to the very heart of the establishment of Rugby League in Australia. For 90 years it was the pinacle of the game. It was THE proving ground. It was where greats become legends, where former greats realised the game had passed them by. It was…
When people ask me who was the last real English halfback, I tell them Bobby Goulding. The game was different back then back when Bobby played, but he was a handy players for a short while there. He was creative, he was fearless, he had a swagger no English player today has, and he had…
Jamie Peacock has been watching the Cricket (You already know this is going to end badly) and he is pumped up! Like a retarded kid with ADD that just had three Red Bulls, he is bouncing off the walls. Now, society usually has a filter for people like Jamie Peacock, but unfortunately because of his…