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 Round 14 marked the end of the first half and beginning of the second half of the regular Super League season. There were plenty of highs and just as many lows but these were my pick.
HIGH No 1: Michael Lawrence (left), 18 last month, gave Warrington's former Australia international Matt King the runaround in Cardiff and the impressive young centre twice burnt off Hull KR's Kiwi international Jake Webster and bagged a brace of tries in Huddersfield's 50-16 win on Sunday. Another name for the England World Cup melting pot.
LOW No 1: The Super League Show's non appearance in the north on Sunday morning. A studio clash at the BBC in Leeds with The Politics Show meant the programme was pre-recorded, but a computer cock up before airtime meant it never made it to the screen until the 3.05am Monday rerun.
HIGH No 2: You could argue that Wakefield's defence was not quite as robust as it should have been, but how do you defend against a Leeds team whose scintillating support play proved overwhelming ? The Rhinos were a joy to watch on Friday, not least full back Brent Webb, who rumour has it will be pulling on a Warrington shirt from next season.
LOW No 2: Huddersfield director Tim Adams was left cursing Giants captain Chris Thorman for his touchline conversion of Michael Lawrence's second try. Adams had £10 on Huddersfield to win between 26 and 32 points. Then up stepped Thorman to land the goal that made it a 34-point winning margin. Curses!
 "At times it has been a bit like Zulu defending our camp," Kevin 'Lt Gonville Bromhead (aka Michael Caine)' Sinfield said after Leeds had just left the bodies of Wakefield Wildcats scattered over the plains at Headingley in a 58-12 slaying. When it comes to comparisons with the missionary station at Rorke's Drift in Natal, I probably think this season of Hull's wounded warriors battling the odds. But, no, apparently it's a redoubtable group of Rhinos who have been fortifying Headingley with upturned wagons and sacks of mealie, belting out Man of Harlech and warding off Zulu warriors in their thousands while awaiting the cavalry - Jamie Jones-Buchanan (that's three for a start) and all.
* It wasn't the best of games but was St Helens's 28-10 win over Catalans as bad as their coach Daniel Anderson suggested ? "It was ugly. I think mediocre is overstating it. We were poor and they were terrible," he said. Ouch! As for the Dragons, former Brisbane and Australia half back Kevin Walters looks set to be announced as Mick Potter's successor, and Catalans have reportedly weighed in with a big offer for the much-wanted Kangaroos centre Mark Gasnier.
 Wigan used to win all the trophies. Now the complaint is that there aren't enough of them. But with the old BBC2 Floodlit Trophy being dragged out of cold storage after 29 years and up for grabs in the new Carnegie Floodlit 9s at Headingley in August, the rumour is that more of rugby league's grand old trophies are to be dusted down and played for in a whole raft of new tournaments, thanks to those ubiquitous sponsors Leeds Metropolitan University.
Captain Morgan Trophy - a one hit wonder in the 1973-74 season for first round winners in the Yorkshire and Lancashire Cups. Now renamed the Carnegie University Challenge, featuring teams of academics in a tag festival against Super League academy squads, followed by a fastest finger round on psychology, sociology and politics and international relations.
Trans Pennine Cup - for second division teams in 1998, divided into White Rose and Red Rose groups. Batley's first trophy for 74 years, but this year the Carnegie Ilkley Moor Ba tat/She's a Lassie from Lancashire Invitation Trophy will be fought over by teams of morris dancers from across the two counties with Maypoles for posts. Guest appearance by Bernard Cribbens.
Le Treize-Tournoi - No, not a university drive for French students but a faithful-ish recreation of the highly popular six-team cross-channel competition in 1998, in which Lancashire Lynx and Villeneuve, the finalists 10 years ago, will compete for the prestigious Carnegie Fil Rouge prize with mops, sponges and buckets. Hosted in Perpignan by Keith "Carnegie Cheggers" Chegwin.
Charity Shield - the new-look Carnegie Charidee Shield will be the focus of "Carnegie Cornucopia". With Magic Weekend apparently headed for Edinburgh, Cardiff will stage an alternative two days of rugby league magic - Jeremy Paxman hosts a 48-hour University Challenge marathon for all 12 Super League mascots. Is Bullman a brainiac, Ronnie a numbskull ? Be there to find out but be quick. Cardiff hoteliers have already got wind of this big event.
If there are any other old trophies knocking around that you know about and you'd like to see lifted by a deserving winner, then Carnegie would love to hear from you.
* Professor Barry McDermott, of the Carnegie School of Critical Theory & Relativity, is to address the annual rugby league Friedrich Nietzsche/Stuart Fielden lecture, 'Transgressing the boundaries: pacifism and the head high tackle.'
 When you're here, you're half way there. That's what they say in Adrian, Texas, the midpoint of Route 66. At half time in this weekend's round 14 of engage Super League matches, sides will be half way through the 27-match regular league programme. As we approach the mid mark, I present my one-word summation of teams' peformances so far, in the order they sit in the table before Friday night's Leeds v Wakefield and Wigan v Warrington fixtures.
1, Leeds - outstanding; 2, Catalans - surprising; 3, St Helens - menacing; 4, Bradford - stuttering; 5, Warrington - underperforming; 6, Wakefield - uplifting; 7, Wigan - frustrating; 8, Hull KR - enlightening; 9, Harlequins - erratic; 10, Hull - unfortunate; 11, Huddersfield - disappointing; 12, Castleford - drowning.
 Sheffield Eagles are to snap up their "Birdman of Alcatraz" in Damien Reid, who is due to leave prison after serving three months for breaking a man's jaw on a night out and could walk/fly straight into the Eagles' team to face Widnes in Sunday's Co-operative National League One fixture. Reid has done his bird, and with Salford cancelling the 24-year-old centre's contract without playing a game for them, his former club has stepped in. Reid scored seven tries in 21 appearances for Sheffield last season and has been keeping fit in the prison gym. Sheffield coach Mark Aston, who has visited him in jail, said: "Salford have released Damien and they don't want to support him, but Damien has told me there's no way he's going back to prison. People make mistakes." Indeed they do, but Reid is fortunate to have got a second chance.
The following obituary of Australian coaching legend Jack Gibson, who died last week, appears in Thursday's Times.
Rugby league is marking its 100th year in Australia. When it came to naming Australia’s Team of the Century, as part of the celebrations, the choice of coach for this mythical side was unequivocal. Jack Gibson was often referred to as a “supercoach” or “master coach”, whose methods and philosophy transformed the game both in Australia and here in Britain.
Continue reading "Obituary, Jack Gibson" »
 Sam Tomkins scored five tries on his Wigan debut in the 106-8 Challenge Cup annihilation of Whitehaven, but the 19-year-old scrum half isn't even in the Warriors' squad for Friday's home game with Warrington. His elder brother Joel is, however. Get used to the Tomkins name at the JJB, because a third brother, Logan, is in the club's academy. Who knows, we could have an England team eventually with a trio of Tomkins and quartet of Burgess's (the Leeds and Bradford branches). Wigan coach Brian Noble, who cautioned after Sam's five-try heroics about not putting him in the "Universe" team just yet, has left him out because Kiwi Thomas Leuluai is back from international duty in Australia. But after a breathtaking first appearance, it will surely not be long before we get another glimpse of the talents of Tomkins S.
Wigan chairman  Ian Lenagan's Sydney shopping expedition resulted Wednesday in a three-year deal for Parramatta hooker Mark "Piggy" Riddell from next season. "He is exactly the type of hooker Wigan needs to lead our forwards and to further develop young Michael McIlorum," Lenagan said of the 27-year-old Riddell, who has made 77 appearances for the Eels since joining them from St George-Illawarra in 2005. No mention there of former GB No 9 Mick Higham, who seems destined to leave the JJB Stadium after this season. Piggy should get on well in Wigan with all those pies, although the old Riddell, who'd go home after training "and drink somewhere between eight and 12 beers", he confessed earlier this year, is no more, he says. Yes, but has he tried a good pint of Holt's ?
 Conspiracy theorists have been having a field day over the Carnegie Challenge Cup quarter-finals draw. And being a bit of a warm ball/cold ball theorist in the past, I've been digging away. The draw, featuring Martin Offiah (left), was broadcast on the BBC News Channel at 6.50pm on Monday live from London, or was it ? The precise draw appeared on the totalrl.com fans forum at 12.31pm based on a text message sent to a Bradford fan. Had the draw already been made and leaked out ? Er, afraid not, just a case of texter's luck. The draw machine was in fact still in the boot of RFL media manager Andrew Whitelam's car headed down the M1 and the draw was made live (really, honestly, truthfully) - unlike the fifth round draw that went out as live but was in fact recorded three hours beforehand due to a studio availability problem. Had it been done early, I think the producer on Monday might have edited Offiah's bumbling comments afterwards in mixing up just about every tie. Anyway, that man on the moon caper ...
 The RFL (patron The Queen) is being urged to abandon God Save the Queen for an "English anthem" for England in the World Cup. "When England is competing seperately from the other home nations, it is wrong to use the British National Anthem," according to Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland, vice-chairman of the all-party Parliamentary Rugby League Group. Mr Mulholland says that "Scotland and Wales will fly out to Australia with their own anthems". I could swear Scotland knocked Wales out in the qualifiers.
Anyway, Mr Mulholland has urged in a press release that "chief executive" Richard Lewis - I could swear Lewis is the League's executive chairman and that Nigel Wood is in fact chief executive, but maybe I'm being pedantic - to organise an online poll of fans. Let me be of assistance here. What would you like Tony Smith and the boys to sing ? Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem, There'll Always be an England, White Cliffs of Dover, An English Country Garden, It's a Long Way to Tipperary, The Floral Dance, Three Lions, I've Got a Brand New Combine Harvester ... or the National Anthem that England's football and rugby union teams haven't being bludgeoned into giving up ?
 He's back. Wendell Sailor, his two-year ban for taking cocaine having expired, has joined St George Illawarra-Dragons in the NRL, six years after the former Brisbane wing's conversion to rugby union and 37 appearances for the Wallabies. Sailor's rehabilitation in league is expected to start with a match for the Dragons' feeder club Shellharbour this weekend. "Binge drinking and drugs certainly were my demise and I've worked on that," he said. Glad to hear it, Wendell, who reckons he's quicker than before, at 33!
Having played 39 minutes of league for Castleford reserves but with no contract to show for it, Dwain Chambers has also attempted a change of codes, with an approach by his agent to Sale Sharks. "We were told he would be great in the community and that he was excellent with youngsters but so, too, would Father Christmas," a dismissive Dave Swanton, Sale's media manager, said. Widnes were this morning forced to issue a Chambers statement. "As a club we wish Dwain well for the future, but that future will not be at the Stobart Stadium," according to Vikings Sporting Director Terry O'Connor. Where next for Dwain ... Scunthorpe Barbarians ?
 St Helens, Leeds, Bradford, the two Hulls, Wakefield, Wigan (probably) and, er, Oldham. The club never to have made it to Wembley, who these days languish in Co-operative National League Two, are two matches away from ending their 79 years of hurt in the Challenge Cup. Okay, so the Roughyeds are 250-1 shots to lift the cup they last won in the pre-Wembley era in 1899, 1925 and 1927, but a week after their coach Steve Deakin was considering his position after being subjected to personal abuse during the league game at Blackpool and received a vote of confidence from chairman Bill Quinn, Deaks and his team came up trumps in the 58-12 thumping of NL1 side Dewsbury in Sunday's fifth round tie.
Continue reading "Oldham's Wembley dream alive" »
 Kicked off their pitch until Monday because of some trifling football match on Sunday afternoon, Wigan Warriors, who were curiously blamed by some round ball types for the state of the JJB pitch at a time when the rugby league season hadn't even started, are casting around for a venue in the event of a Challenge Cup quarter-final home draw. They'll know that possibility 45 minutes before their fifth round tie against Whitehaven starts. They've also got the Huddersfield league fixture on June 6 to rearrange, with the JJB to undergo six weeks of essential repairs. These will start after the Warrington match there on May 16. And talking of turf wars ...
Continue reading "Turf Wars and Cup Tips" »
 Rugby league has today lost a copper-bottomed legend with the death of "supercoach" Jack Gibson, the man who only last month was named coach of Australia's Team of the Century and who revolutionised coaching in the 1960, 70s and 80s. His death after a long illness was announced shortly before Australia's 28-12 victory in the Centenary Test against New Zealand at the SCG. His legacy, though, lives on, one rich in success and whose methods (and great one-liners, such as "If you're standing still, you're going backwards fast") are in common usage in both hemispheres.
The five-times Premiership winning coach delivered lines that will last forever: "Ding dong, the witch is dead" (after Parramatta won their first Premiership title in 1981); "They'd boo Santa Claus, this mob" (on the Brisbane crowd during a State of Origin series); and "He must have an egg-timer - every four minutes, he blows the whistle" (on Queensland referee Barry Gomersall). RIP Jack.
 Wigan chairman Ian Lenagan was in Sydney on a Kangaroos hunt after seeing Australia beat New Zealand 28-12 in Friday's Centenary Test. The Warriors are looking to life after Trent Barrett and "the man with the biggest chequebook in the game", according to the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, is set to wield it. Australia forwards Carl Webb and Ryan Hoffman were reportedly on Lenagan's radar - Darren Lockyer was and maybe still is, but his agent insists he'll still be at Brisbane in 2009. Before the match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Lenagan had been due to meet up with Parramatta hooker Mark Riddell. "Anybody playing for Australia one has to contemplate. There is a shortage (at Wigan) and we are always looking for good players," Lenagan was quoted as saying before the game. "We will be watching players from both sides, but I don't want to name any individual targets. It is too early for that." Watch this space ...
 Thanks goodness for that. Four years of wrangling, legal costs and bad blood  have come to a merciful conclusion with the end of the prolonged dispute over Bradford's signing of Iestyn Harris from Cardiff in 2004. The High Court ruled in 2006 that Leeds had first call on their former captain when he returned to league from rugby union. The two West Yorkshire rivals have finally come to a settlement, with Bradford apologising and paying compensation and costs to Leeds, and accepting that though they thought they were free to sign Harris and did so in good faith, they appreciate now that he was in fact committed to re-sign for Leeds.
Bradford also apologised for comments made by chairman Peter Hood earlier this year, in which he claimed the tug-of-war could cost Bradford more than £3million if they lost another court case and result in possible bankruptcy. Resolution of the dispute is also a huge relief for Harris, whose contract at Odsal expires at the end of this season, but who has been linked with a possible move to Bridgend, in the event that Celtic Crusaders are granted a Super League licence.
 Omens, omens. Are Wakefield really on their way to Wembley ? With cup magician John Kear in charge, you just never know. Then there's the fact that the previous two times that they have beaten Barrow in the cup, in the first and third rounds, they advanced to Wembley - in 1968 and the "watersplash" final (above), and 1979 when they lost to Widnes. Sunday's fifth round trip to Cumbria also coincides with two anniversaries - 40 years to the day since Don Fox infamously missed the winning conversion in front of the posts against Leeds on May 11 1968, and 45 years since they last lifted the Challenge Cup, when Derek "Rocky" Turner led them to a 25-10 victory over Wigan on May 11 1963.
 They've been parading the World Cup outside Sydney Opera House and the marketeers claim their biggest ever campaign for a Test match, yet fewer than 10,000 tickets have so far been sold for Friday's Centenary international between Australia and New Zealand at the 36,000-capacity Sydney Cricket Ground. Adjacent to the SCG is the patch of land where Australia met A H Baskiville's Professional All Blacks (the All Golds) in the first international match in Oz on May 9 1908. Once again, though, and despite the historic context of Friday's match and it coming less than six months before the World Cup starts, the international game is struggling to sell in Sydney. "You've nine teams here. It's a tough market to sell in," according to NRL marketing director Paul Kind. Excuses, excuses. Is Sydney, the sport's powerhouse city, really so parochial ? Little wonder that the World Cup final in November is being held in Brisbane, for which more than 25,000 tickets have already been sold.
STOP PRESS ... a late rush for tickets and a big walk up to the SCG ensured a healthy 34,571 crowd in the end to see Australia beat the Kiwis 28-12, with two tries by Mark Gasnier and others by Paul Gallen, Cameron Smith and Israel Folau. Johnathan Thurston landed four goals.
 The circus has moved on. But boy the five weeks of clowning and daredevilry were fun, Castleford got a shedload of publicity and Dwain ? Well, he got his smile back - and bruising and pain in places he never knew existed. Was rugby league tainted by his five-week voyage of discovery ? Don't be daft. Anyone in their right mind knew, though, that it would not end in a £60,000 contract. If Chambers was five years younger, it might have been different.
But time is against him and Cas. While Chambers's thoughts switch to the Olympics and possibly challenging his lifetime ban, Cas need to get back to serious matters on the pitch - and they are serious for a team now looking out of their depth in Super League. I'm afraid that the line "we had Dwain Chambers here once, you know" won't count for much come July and the announcement of the successful dozen or 14 Super League licence holders. His agent is still chuntering about a possible league career with one or two clubs interested. However, we really know that the Big Top is down and the circus has left town.
* Cas were so embarrassed over their Millennium Magic flop that they are to reimburse some of what fans spent travelling to Cardiff by way of reduced priced home tickets or merchandise to the value of 50 per cent of their MM ticket.
 Welcome to Knowsley Road (left). No, from now on it is welcome to the GPW Recruitment Stadium. The what ? We've had some pretty dreadful ground renamings in rugby league - remember the Atlantic Solutions Stadium, now back to Belle Vue fortunately, and you can stick your Chris Moyles Stadium at Featherstone, because it's still Post Office Road to me - but this one takes the biscuit.
Good luck to a local company but the new name for St Helens's famous 118-year-old home is the most dull mouthful I've come across - and it's going to be called that until the end of the 2010 season. No mention in this morning's press release about the new stadium, but Saints chief executive Tony Colquitt is quoted on the tie-up, talking about a "platitude of benefits." I don't know what the multitude are going to make of that either.
* Why did Saints not take a leaf out of East Riding ARLFC's book and go for the glamour option ? The Hull amateur team are renaming their home Keeley Hazell Park after the page 3 girl. After all, Jonny Vegas has a big chest.
 Monday doesn't feel quite the same without three back-to-back matches to watch. Six games, 61 tries, 63,144 spectators over the two days (compared with 58,831 a year ago), and just one Keith Chegwin, thank goodness. Cheggers' voice was cracking up from the start of day one and by the finish he sounded like Bonnie Tyler - sorry Bonnie, no offence. We get to do it all next year, maybe in Cardiff, maybe Murrayfield, Dublin potentially, possibly in Barcelona ... sorry made that last one up. But it'd be nice, wouldn't it ? Cardiff, though, had its memorable and not so memorable moments on and off the pitch ...
Continue reading "Millennium Magic - the verdict" »
 Harlequins coach Brian McDermott has a reputation as an incendiary device in press conferences, especially when his team have lost. When your team have lost in the last three minutes and really should have won, there's trouble afoot. Reporters suspected as much as they descended the bowels of the Millennium Stadium to quiz rugby league's Mr Angry after today's 18-16 defeat by Catalans.
Question: What are your overriding emotions after that game ? Anger ? Disappointment ? McDermott: I have no opinion on that question. Are you a psychologist ? Do you want to ask about the game ?
Question: Mick Potter says you deserved to win ... McDermott: I disagree.
Question: Was it just the last 10 minutes, because up to then you looked in control ? McDermott: I disagree with that.
Continue reading "McDermott's Millennium meltdown" »
 Strange but all the talk is not of Cardiff next year but possibly Edinburgh Magic in 2009. The RFL, keen as always to keep spreading the gospel, are looking at Murrayfield (left) to host the May Day Bank Holiday extravaganza following on from the 2000 and 2002 Challenge Cup finals there. Geordie Magic has also been tentatively mentioned, although Newcastle United are hardly likely to give up St James' Park at a key point in the football calendar.
All this could, of course, be a warning shot over the bows of the Cardiff authorities, who do not appear to have embraced the Millennium Magic hard sell with the same gusto as the League and the Super League clubs. The chatter in the bars of Cardiff followed on from a strange old first day and a less than spectacular 30,628 attendance - 1,700 fewer than for the first day of last year's inaugural event.
Continue reading "Och aye, Murrayfield Magic" »
 It took the second hour of my constitutional around Cardiff this morning to spot my first Harlequins shirt. Plenty of Catalans blood and gold colours for Sunday's Perpignan-London derby - their fans packing out one branch of Starbucks - Warrington fans are here in force for the opening game and a strong following from Cas, if the shirt count is anything to go by. There are some big lads and lasses here and a colleague reckons after conducting an unscientific poll this morning that the lardiest are from Bradford - not so sure about that being on the plumptious side myself. The Engage Fanzone is proving especially popular. As for a Hull KR group obviously out to tickle their fancy before the Hull derby, we could see you sneaking into Ann Summers. Bradford and Warrington players exchanged jokes on the steps of the Hilton in an atmosphere akin to the morning of Challenge Cup final day. The magic is spreading. Let battle commence.
* Read the Millennium Magic preview in Saturday's Times here.
 Eights hours is the daily recommended amount of sleep and eight hours the recommended dose of live rugby league at Millennium Magic for those of you who cannot get enough of The Greatest Game. Not much a chance of a kip in Cardiff with Super League round 13 played out at one of the world's great stadiums, with three games back to back on Saturday and the same again on Sunday. From first to the last of 480 minutes - and who can forget the final minute of last year's breathless Bradford-Leeds derby? - magic or mayhem can occur at any time. As for the winners and losers, here are my tips, which come with the usual hazard warning.
Continue reading "Tips for Millennium Magic weekend" »
 Trent Barrett is to leave Wigan early but what legacy will he leave ? The coming months may tell us more clearly, but despite former Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsay's protestations last year that Barrett should have been the Man of Steel recipient and not St Helens's James Roby, I can't help but feel that the former Australia stand-off has far from filled his potential in the British game. There are times he purrs like a Jaguar, others he splutters like an old Lada; times when his involvement is such that Wigan can appear rudderless without him, others when he seems ready to hop on the next flight to Sydney, which he will be doing at the end of the season. He and Kiwis scrum half Thomas Leuluai have never fully gelled at half back. Indeed, Leuluai's outstanding effort in the win over Leeds last month came, significantly, without Barrett outside him. Strange but Wigan could be a better team post-Barrett. Over the next five months will his mind be fully on the job at the JJB, or wandering to offers stacking up for him in the NRL for 2009 ?
It has gone largely unnoticed but this weekend's Millennium Magic marks nearly 80 years since Cardiff first  played host to The Greatest Game - Wales lost 39-15 to England at the Sloper Road Greyhound Stadium on November 14 1928. A Cardiff club lasted one season in 1951, the Cardiff Blue Dragons proved only slightly longer lasting in the 1980s and South Wales folded in 1996 after one season in the second division. Notwithstanding a chequered record, the city has enjoyed some memorable matches. My starter for ten ...
1 February 1 1995: Wales had taken a 46-4 hammering by the 1994 touring Kangaroos in Cardiff and reverted to the grandparent qualification that had served them from 1975-84. Enter Wigan's Kelvin Skerrett at Ninian Park as the Dragons beat England 18-16 en route to European Championship glory, thanks to two Kevin Ellis tries and 10 points from the boot of Jonathan Davies.
Continue reading "10 Cardiff RL Classics " »
 A weekend in Cardiff. Forty eight hours of heaven or hell ? Good, bad, or a bit of both ? Let me present my unashamedly biased love it or loathe it guide to Millennium Magic.
I loathe Millennium Magic because ...
1 They're keeping the roof shut again and cranking the sound system up to a level where your brain begins bursting through your cranium and dogs start barking in Bridgend, so I'll have my industrial ear plugs on and a ready supply of paracetamol.
2 Cardiff High Street at gone midnight. Dante's Inferno is the best description as you steer past brawling drunks, vomiting teenage girls and assorted yobs yelling obscenities on the way back to the sanctuary of your city centre hotel.
Continue reading "10 reasons to love and loathe Millennium Magic" »
Forget Millennium Magic. That's what 40 members of amateurs Saddleworth Rangers are doing for a  more exotic weekend of Arabian nights than Cardiff nights (apologies Wales). Rangers are taking on the United Arab Emirates national side in Dubai on Friday - the first officially recognised rugby league game on UAE soil at the new Emirates rugby complex in the desert outside the city. UAE played their first and only game in Lebanon last month and lost to the Bank of Beirut Espoirs. The game against the pioneers from Saddleworth, plus over 35s and nines matches, has been widely advertised and is the launchpad for a four-team competition in Dubai in the autumn. "This game will undoubtedly flush out loads of rugby league players and fans living and working in this amazing city," an excited Sol Mokdad, the UAE Rugby League Development Director, said. So who'll be the first to declare Dubai for the World Club Challenge ?
* STOP PRESS ... Saddleworth emerged triumphant over the UAE, winning 36-18.
 "We've made some headlines this season but I know this will be the news that all Tigers fans will have been waiting for," Castleford chief executive Richard Wright said of a new four-year contract for wunderkid Joe Westerman (left). The Dwain Chambers show was great fun while it lasted but there was a sense at The Jungle today of knuckling down to serious business - and keeping Westerman, 18, from big city rivals Leeds's clutches was a serious bit of good news for the struggling Tigers. Has Joe had word that Cas have got their Super League franchise ? The last I saw of Chambers on Sunday night was him leaving with his entourage for the train down to London. He is expected back midweek for discussions, but with with the news on Westerman there's a sense that Cas are moving on.
* Who hasn't got their name in for the Catalans job in 2009 ? According to Dragons chairman Bernard Guasch, Wigan's Brian Noble and Huddersfield's Jon Sharp, who has a new rolling term deal with the Giants, are among 20 candidates who've put their names forward. It could get crowded on the beach at Canet Plage ...
 
  * Pictures by Andrew Varley Picture Agency
Here is my report on Dwain Chambers's rugby league debut that appears in Monday's Times.
Dwain Chambers got knocked down but each time he got back up again. The controversial 30-year-old sprinter's rugby league career may well end up consisting of the 39 minutes he played in four spells in a reserve-team friendly for Castleford Tigers yesterday, but his spirit and willingness shone through the pain and exhaustion he palpably felt.
Continue reading "Dwain picks up the ball and runs" »
 No quiet night in for Dwain Chambers on the eve of his big Castleford reserves debut. Dwain abandoned his Glasshoughton hotel, where he has been living Alan Partridge style for the past month, for a Saturday night out at the Flying Pizza restaurant in Roundhay in Leeds. No pasta for Dwain, by all accounts. However, I'm not sure about the energy supplying proporties of his Pizza Carmelo, consisting of cheese, ham and mushrooms, sensibly washed down with a Diet Coke. It's chucking it down in Cas this lunchtime. I just hope that pizza's not sitting too heavy Dwain come three o'clock.
* Well, he came on four times, spent 39 minutes in total on the field, touched the ball seven times, made three tackles, assisted in two more and missed three. He also knocked on twice. But, hey, Cas A beat York A 30-16 and the 3,244 crowd were right behind Dwain, who hurt his shoulder late on trying to prevent the former Wakefield Wildcat Mark Applegarth scoring a try. Verdict: unbelievably raw but unbelievably willing. I suspect that's it for Dwain and rugby league. But it's been fun.
 My copy of The Greatest Games DVD by Pdi arrived a few hours before another classic worthy of inclusion in the Super League pantheon of memorable games. Having fidgeted and yawned through the two dreadful midweek Champions League semi-finals, St Helens and Warrington supplied a timely reminder on Friday night of rugby league's capacity to take the breath away at times. The sheer speed of an end-to-end battle made those two football matches seem sluggish by comparison.
You know a belter when you see one when a player on the losing side scores a hat-trick, one a candidate for try of the season. I know, I know, Kevin Penny is more than a little suspect in defence (but you can point more than a few fingers on that score last night at Matt King, an Australia centre) but such pace, such daring, Penny's got to come into the World Cup frame. Three by Paul Clough (above) for Saints in the 30-22 win were less spectacular but the young forward's definitely another in England coach Tony Smith's field of vision.
Continue reading "The Real Champions League" »
Bradford tackle Wigan and in another intriguing encounter Hull face Huddersfield but where will the  main rugby league press pack be on Sunday afternoon ? No prizes for guessing The Jungle to see a friendly between Castleford and York reserves. Mad, isn't it ?
But then the whole Dwain Chambers saga the past month has been gloriously madcap and unashamedly publicity seeking, although in the midst of the mayhem, I can't say I've been anything other than impressed by Chambers's stoicism and good humour, and I wish him well in his first and, in all probability, last game of rugby league.
Despite the attractions of Odsal and the KC Stadium on Sunday, I'd curiously rather be in the rickety main stand at Wheldon Road to see Chambers pick up a ball and run. Sure, there's that car crash element but there's also a seductive side to the occasion. What if ... ?
Continue reading "D-Day for Dwain and tips for Super League round 12" »
 Salford's Robbie Paul (left) and St Helens's Jon Wilkin (right) I recognise but who's the Smurf in the middle ? H CO-OPER, by all accounts. Not Our 'enry but the official mascot of The co-operative. The National League and Conference sponsors have appointed Paul and Wilkin as brand ambassadors - no, not the ones who spoil you with cardboard-tasting chocolates at their embassy bashes, but "reflect and support our ‘Good For Everyone’ vision, where community and healthy values are so important," Liz Matkin, The co-operative's Sponsorship Manager, said. Two cleaner, more healthy rugby league types you couldn't wish to meet, eh Robbie ? Ambassador Paul, Ambassador Wilkin, we salute you.
In St Helens's excitement today about signing New Zealand forward Tony Puletua (right) from 2009 - good news for Saints comes in threes after confirmation of Mick Potter's appointment yesterday and a ninth consecutive home draw in the Challenge Cup against Warrington - the press release mentioned that Puletua was looking forward to a new challenge after 20 years at Penrith in the NRL. He's been around a while our Tone but not that long surely ? That'd make him 38, and I know that Sean Long, Keiron Cunningham and Paul Sculthorpe are getting on a bit in the Saints line-up but Puletua would be positively geriatric. Lo and behold, an amended press release from the Knowsley Road publicity machine arrives accurately reporting 28-year-old Puletua's 10 years at Penrith. Put the Zimmer frame back into storage ...
 Happy St George's Day, a day when retailers get to flog off the gear bought in to mark England football's inglorious Euro Championships quest. Never mind, it's six months to rugby league's World Cup in Australia and Tony Smith's England kicking off against Papua New Guinea in Townsville on October 25. We'd love to show you Jamie Peacock in his England gear, except that it still isn't out yet. Anyway, the proud Peacock issued this rousing ralling cry beneath the flag: "Sometimes in this country we are too quick to put ourselves down. You don't see that in Australia or throughout the rest of Europe. People have pride in their country and I am proud of my country and my local community. I think St George's Day gives us a chance to talk about what is great about being English. I know fans across the country will be backing us Down Under, because they know we will be giving our all to win it for England." Stirring stuff Sir James.
 The big sell for Millennium Magic has urged us to "feast on fantastic food" - burgers and chicken wraps featuring on the RFL's culinary highlights in Cardiff - and Scott Quinnell has given his "thumbs up" to the two-day Super League extravaganza, but surely the marketing bods at Red Hall are missing a trick when it comes to Cwl Cymru - yes, Wales is the height of cool days. The Principality is the talk of the chattering classes - The Times on Tuesday devoted a three-page spread to Welsh cool - and yet instead of Joe Calzaghe, Duffy, Gavin & Stacey, Rhys Ifans, Mr Cheeky Girl Lembit Opik, Dr Who and Torchwood (they're filmed in Cardiff), Rob Bryden, Ioan Gruffudd, etc. - what do we get from the League ? Ronnie the Rhino, Bullman and Wolfie are co-favourites to win the Super League Mascot Games. Hardly Shirley Bassey, is it ?
 "Nothing surpasses being named in [Australia's] Team of the Century. It really does tower over everything else," was how Andrew Johns (right) described his selection in the side that money couldn't buy and that marked the high point of Australia's centenary celebrations so far. Johns was joined in the team of all time by another honorary Warringtonian, Brian Bevan, who made only seven club appearances in Oz before joining the Wire and establishing a world record of 796 tries. Dally Messenger, the pioneer of the Aussie game, had to settle for a place on the bench but what a bench ...
Australia's Team of the Century: Clive Churchill; Brian Bevan, Reg Gasnier, Mal Meninga, Ken Irvine; Wally Lewis, Andrew Johns; Arthur Beetson, Noel Kelly, Duncan Hall, Norm Provan, Ron Coote, Johnny Raper. Substitutes: Dally Messenger, Frank Burge, Bob Fulton, Graeme Langlands. Coach: Jack Gibson.
How about this for a postponement ? The reserve teams of Whitehaven and Widnes were raring to go, a crowd of 300 had gathered at the Recreation Ground on Saturday, but an hour after the game should have kicked off, no referee or touch judges had turned up. Whitehaven had to call the match off, fans were reimbursed and the RFL has been landed with a formal complaint that a fixture listed on its website appears not to have been allocated any officials. "It was an absolute shambles," said Whitehaven coach Dave Smith. "You've got to feel for the Widnes staff, players and supporters coming all this way. A bill will be going in from both clubs to the League."
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Round 14 marked the end of the first half and beginning of the second half of the regular Super League season. There were plenty of highs and just as many lows but these were my pick.
