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Showing posts from August, 2014

Rorke's Drift Test

14 th  July 1914                    Australia  6  Northern Union  14            Sydney The 1914 GB Lions tour to  Australia  became controversial when the third and deciding test was brought forward against the wishes of the GB team who were struggling with injuries. They were ahead 9-3 at half time but were reduced to ten players with 30 minutes to go (in the days before substitutions) during the second half when Frank Williams, Douglas Clark and Billy Hall were injured. The team defended heroically and even managed to increase their lead to 14-3 with a try from John Johnson (a forward playing on the wing in place of Williams) after a great break by captain and Price of Centres, Harold Wagstaffe. Sid Deane scored for  Australia  in the last few minutes but the Lions hung on for a magnificent win

RLIF Announce Latest World Rankings

After a summer of RL activity, the new world rankings have been announced by the RLIF. They are the first since the 2013 World Cup. The number of ranked-nations has risen to 34 including  new entrants Spain in 28 th  place.   Russia are up to 14 th  -the number of nations that will contest the 2017 World Cup. The biggest movers are Greece who rise to 26 th CLICK HERE for more info
France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will meet in the autumn as the fixtures were confirmed for the 2014 European Championships.  The winners will qualify for the 2016 Four Nations tournament to be held in the northern hemisphere. RL 2014 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP  17/10/14  Scotland v Wales    Workington      18/10/14  Ireland v France      Dublin  2 5/10/14  Ireland v Scotland    Dublin    25/10/14  France v Wales      Albi 31/10/14  Scotland v France   Galashiels    2/11/14    Wales v Ireland       Wrexham

2017 World Cup Qualifiers Announced

Seven automatic qualifiers for the 2017 World Cup have been announced. They are:-  Australia, New Zealand, England, Fiji, France, Samoa and Scotland    The seven nations all reached the quarter finals of the 2013 tournament. The next World Cup will be held in Australia and NZ and will involve 14 teams. The remaining seven participating nations will be selected from four regions; three from Europe, two from Asia Pacific, one from the Americas and another from MEA. The  four regions will reveal their qualification programmes by October 2014 and the process will be open to Affiliate Member nations who gain Full status before then USA were the only 2013 quarter finalist excluded but they do not have full member status A decision has obviously been made to increase the geograpical spread of the tournament at the expense of the Pacific nations leaving the Cook I as a potential loser. The opportunity to include a Middle East or African nation e.g. Lebanon is very exciting and cannot