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Page XIII editorial, first published 6th April 2012 in Rugby League World, Issue 373 (May 2012)

There were red faces when the RFL trailed a simultaneous press launch at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff and Old Trafford, Manchester to reveal the fixtures and venues for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, only to change the details at the last minute. Twice.To shift the launch event from Old Trafford (which we are still presuming will host the final) to Leigh Sports Village was bad enough, but to wait until the day before to let anyone know is unforgiveable. It was […]

Page XIII editorial, first published 2nd March 2012 in Rugby League World, Issue 372 (April 2012)

Rugby League: the game that never stops giving. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along come St Helens and Catalan Dragons to serve up a match with a conclusion more implausible than an episode of EastEnders. Daryl Millard’s winning try for the Dragons in a game that Saints had led 26-8 at one stage provided an astonishing moment of sporting drama that must have had the entire TV audience on the edge of their seats. Those who hadn’t switched off […]

Page XIII editorial, first published 3rd Feb 2012 in Rugby League World, Issue 371 (March 2012)

Thank goodness that’s over! The off-season can be dispiriting at the best of times, but when the reputation of the sport is being dragged through the mud with unsavoury revelations about players’ behaviour or backroom misdemeanours (or both, in the case of Gleeson-gate), it’s harder to remind yourself why you love the game when you can’t just turn on the TV to watch a match or head out to your local ground to shout off the frustration.Aside from raging at the injustice […]

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD’S MONTHLY FORM GUIDE (ROUNDS 1 – 3)

STOBART SUPER LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE MONTHBEN WESTWOOD (WARRINGTON WOLVES)

STOBART SUPER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE MONTH

1 Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors)2 Josh Charnley(Wigan Warriors)3 Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves)4 Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield Giants)5 Chris Riley (Warrington Wolves)6 Daniel Holdsworth (Salford City Reds)7 Scott Dureau (Catalan Dragons)8 Remi Casty (Catalan Dragons)9 James Roby (St Helens)10 Jamie Peacock (Leeds Rhinos)11 Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves)12 Constantine Mika (Hull Kingston Rovers)13 Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors)

MONTHLY RATINGS

FULLBACK1 Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors)2 Luke Patten (Salford City Reds)3 Richard Mathers(Wakefield Trinity […]

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD’S MONTHLY RATINGS

NORTHERN RAIL CUP PLAYER OF THE MONTHDANNY RATCLIFFE (HUNSLET HAWKS)

NORTHERN RAIL CUP TEAM OF THE MONTH

1 Danny Ratcliffe (Hunslet Hawks)2 Paul White (Halifax)3 Matt Parata (Keighley Cougars)4 Tangi Ropati (Featherstone Rovers)5 Gareth Potts (Batley Bulldogs)6 Ben Black (Batley Bulldogs)7 Dominic Brambani (Sheffield Eagles)8 Jack Howieson (Sheffield Eagles)9 Anthony Nicholson (Leigh Centurions)10 Paul King (York City Knights)11 Dane Manning (Halifax)12 Brett Phillips (Workington Town)13 Dan Toal (Barrow Raiders)

MONTHLY RATINGS

FULLBACKS1 Danny Ratcliffe (Hunslet Hawks)2 Ian Hardman (Featherstone Rovers)3 Ryan Fieldhouse (Halifax)4 Andy Ballard (Barrow […]

Thank goodness that’s over! The off-season can be dispiriting at the best of times, but when the reputation of the sport is being dragged through the mud with unsavoury revelations about players’ behaviour or backroom misdemeanours (or both, in the case of Gleeson-gate), it’s harder to remind yourself why you love the game when you can’t just turn on the TV to watch a match or head out to your local ground to shout off the frustration.Aside from raging at the injustice that the only time a major newspaper like the Mail On Sunday shows any interest […]

Several rule changes were introduced to the game on Boxing Day. The number of interchanges permitted during a game drop from 12 to 10 (down to 8 in Super League Academy); a player who comes into contact with a corner flag during general play, whilst in possession of the ball, will no longer be deemed to be ‘in-touch’ and match officials have been instructed to adopt a more lenient approach to players who carry on playing after the referee has called ‘held’ in a tackle. Instead of awarding a penalty, referees will now instruct players to return […]

London Broncos – Issue 370 – Download as PDF

As Quins rebrand and London Broncos are reborn, Michael O’Hare meets the capital club’s chief executive Gus Mackay.

This interview was first carried out in 2010, well before Gus Mackay joined the Broncos as chief executive officer in January 2011 Which is a bit odd I guess, until you learn that back then I had met his predecessor Paul Blanchard and asked him the same set of questions only to hear the week after that Paul had been offered a more exciting job elsewhere (I know, surely […]

Tell us what you think about Rugby League World and you could win a year’s subscription!

Complete the form in issue 370, out now, or click here to complete the survey online.

Closing date for responses is 30th January 2012.

The ending may have been familiar, as England succumbed to an Australian team led for the last time by Darren Lockyer, but their progress towards the Four Nations final ignited a passion for international Rugby League that we have not seen in this country for quite some time. It was genuinely thrilling to witness, while it lasted.The question now, as always at this time of year, is how do we bridge the gap, ditch the tag of gallant losers and go on to win something big?I don’t think the answer is ‘one more heave’; hoping that a […]

Three England players and three Aussies make it onto the 2011 Golden Boot shortlist. Sam Tomkins, Ryan Hall and James Graham lead the way for England in the nominations for the 2011 Golden Boot, awarded each year by Rugby League World magazine to the world’s best player. Australian legend Darren Lockyer, set to make his final international appearance at Elland Road on Saturday is one of three Kangaroos to make the shortlist. Lockyer is joined by hooker Cameron Smith and half-back Johnathan Thurston.

It’s the first time the shortlist has included an equal number of Englishmen to Australians […]

There’s a danger that the thrills and spills served up by the final two Super League play-off games this season between Warrington and Leeds, and Saints and Wigan, might gloss over the weaknesses in the current top eight system that were all too apparent just a few days earlier.

After all, for the first time ever we got a Grand Final without either of the top two clubs contesting it, so the play-offs must have been a spectacular success, right?

Wrong. Blow-out scores, slumping crowds and the contrivance of a ClubCall that no one cared about, least of […]

Why does Rugby League always struggle to sell out its major events? The lead up to the Carnegie Challenge Cup final at Wembley was full of panic stories about unsold ticket allocations despite the game being contested by two of our biggest clubs, Wigan and Leeds. I’ve argued before in this column that an obsession with attendance figures isn’t always healthy as it can detract from the spectacle on the pitch, which rarely disappoints regardless of how many are watching in the stands, but still, it’s hard to accept that there aren’t at least 100,000 people in […]

He won a joint record 46 Great Britain caps and an OBE. Now, 20 years on from his greatest performances, Garry Schofield scoops the Golden Boot.

The 25-year history of Rugby League’s Golden Boot throws up so many intriguing tales, not least the winner that never was. To cut a long story short, Adidas in Australia sponsored the award that was the brainchild of Open Rugby magazine back in the mid to late-eighties. The inaugural award went to Wally Lewis, the Australian captain, for his performances for club, […]

He won a joint record 46 Great Britain caps and an OBE. Now, 20 years on from his greatest performances, Garry Schofield scoops the Golden Boot.

The 25-year history of Rugby League’s Golden Boot throws up so many intriguing tales, not least the winner that never was. To cut a long story short, Adidas in Australia sponsored the award that was the brainchild of Open Rugby magazine back in the mid to late-eighties. The inaugural award went to Wally Lewis, the Australian captain, for his performances for club, […]

It’s not exactly a JFK moment: ‘where were you when Crusaders withdrew their Super League licence application,’ but the Rugby League world (M62 branch) has been consumed by talk of little else since that bizarre piece of theatre starring a funereal Richard Lewis was broadcast live on Sky Sports News on Tuesday 26th July. It’s generated plenty of conspiracy theories too. There’s no grainy Zapruder film to record the reaction of those directly affected by the assassination of the Welsh Super League club, or perhaps that should be suicide, given that it was the club’s owners rather […]

First published in Rugby League World Issue 364.

It’s possible that QuinsRL may be gone from Super League next year, even if they win a licence in the next round of franchising. The club are reported to be considering a name change, with a switch back to London Broncos a distinct possibility.I’d welcome that.Although I was born and raised in Bradford, I saw my first live game of Rugby League at Fulham’s Craven Cottage, so I’ve a lot to thank them for. I’ve maintained an affinity with the club in its many guises ever since, even though I […]

What’s to be done about the Challenge Cup? It’s a question that crops up round about this time every year, usually in the wake of a blowout scoreline or a disappointing attendance. There is never any shortage of options for changing the game’s oldest and most famous knockout competition to try and address its apparent failings, ranging from straightforward seeding through to more complex fixture formats.The danger is that any perceived weaknesses are magnified out of all proportion and knee-jerk changes are then made which could actually make matters worse.The essential beauty of the Challenge Cup is […]

Say what you like about the Easter weekend schedule having too many games, but it rarely fails to come up with the goods, producing matches that will live long in the memory of those who experience them.

This year, five different teams have topped the Super League table so far: Castleford, Harlequins, Huddersfield, Warrington and St Helens. We certainly appear to have travelled a long way from the days of the ‘Big Four’ who dominated the competition between them in its formative years. Even those clubs who find themselves near the foot of the table, though they lack […]

Rugby League World wants your thoughts on the following two issues that have been hitting the Rugby League headlines recently.

Should coaches be given more freedom to speak out about contentious incidents during a game and on the performance of referees without fear of censure or financial penalty from the RFL?

And…

Has Doncaster player Shaun Leaf been harshly treated for a minor indiscretion blown out of proportion by the sensationalist media or has the reaction to him betting on the outcome of a game been justified?

Email your thoughts on one or both of these issues to feedback@rugbyleagueworld.net and we’ll […]

New Scientist journalist Michael O’Hare explodes the popular myth that Rugby League has failed in London.

First published in Rugby League World issue 361.

You can read the article in full by clicking here.

Our resident Super League star columnist Jamie Jones-Buchanan interviewed Gareth Hock in November last year about his absence from the game and his ambitions to return to play for Wigan in 2011.

You can read the interview in full by clicking here.

Post your questions for Robbie Hunter-Paul on our forum here or email them to guestroom@rugbyleagueworld.net or tweet @rlworld

Best question wins a Rugby League World mug!

In the next issue (number 362 on sale 6th May) we have a competition to win the new England shirt signed by the team, courtesy of those nice folk at ISC.

We’re also now giving away an exclusive ‘not available in the shops’ Rugby League World matchball each month for the best contribution to our fans feedback page.

As if that’s not enough, there’s also a much desired Rugby League World mug up for grabs for the best pic in our ‘RLW Around the World’ feature, where you, dear reader, send us your holiday snaps in which you despoil […]

So now we know! England are to play the Exiles at Headingley, Leeds on Friday 10th June in this year’s mid season ‘International Origin’ match and fans have also been given a vote on which players will make it into the Exiles team.

Tell us what you think about the Exiles and the ‘International Origin’ concept and we’ll print a selection of the best comments in the next issue of Rugby League World, on sale 6th May.

Here’s a few points to consider: What did you think of the promotional build up to the Exiles launch? Which players did […]