International RL Blog

After watching Salford launch their new stadium in the snow we are all glad that RL in the UK is now played in summer. Despite a warm spring period and a very hot Magic Weekend, the cold weather has continued and RL spectators have been enduring a very cold wind up their collective kilts I watched Featherstone Rovers play Pia in the Anglo French Challenge on Sunday which was again played in dreadful conditions and neither side looked as though they wanted to be there. After a dreadful start, Pia we actually quite competitive and I believe the top French sides and top Championship teams would be evenly matched if given a fair chance. An Anglo-French Challenge or a Treize-Tournoi would be great idea but it must be organised correctly and positioned properly within the calender. The end of the French season coincides with the middle of the Championship and this is not good timing for either. September would be better but it must be organised in advance, publicised properly and if ...

Hull FC coach Richard Agar will be leaving his post at the end of the season and this could potentially be embarrassing for the club as they are just coming into a run of form. According to their SL license application Hull FC are top four team and they are certainly a  big club who should be doing better than scraping into the play-offs. Their new owner will have big expectations and will expect players performances on the field of play to at least match the performance of their administrators although appointing serial loser Shaun MacRae is not a good start It must be a massive cause for concern at the RFL that Featherstone Rovers (a good RL team) can comprehensively beat SL elect side Widnes (good at paperwork) twice in recent weeks. As was widely predicted, Toulouse have resigned from the RL Championship and rejoined the French Elite.     This makes sense and they are rejoining a competition which could and should be at least equal in stature to the RL C...