The Rugby League Blogger

 It's here finally! The World Cup got underway this afternoon at Newcastle with England hosting Samoa. It was an electric atmosphere with a brilliant "tournament welcome" as it's being referred, featuring a great pre-show from the Kaiser Chiefs. England also went into the game at St. James' Park as underdogs, for one of the first times in their illustrious history. However, Samoa are definitely a country on the rise! Team news For England, Young starts on the wing over the experienced Ryan Hall. Young Player of the Year Jack Welsby starts in the halves alongside the experienced George Williams. NRL talent Farnworth, Burgess, Whitehead and Radley come on to the bench. St. Helens duo Morgan Knowles and Matty Lees feature on the bench. Starting Lineup 1. Sam Tomkins, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kallum Watkins, 4. Herbie Farnworth, 14. Dom Young, 6. Jack Welsby, 7. George Williams, 8. Tom Burgess, 9. Micky McIlorum, 18. Chris Hill, 11. Elliott Whitehead, 20. Mike McMeeken, ...

  Finally! It feels like we have been waiting years but the World Cup is finally upon us. It's a tournament that is sure to bring lots of thrills over the next month. After a year's delay, 16 teams will finally flock to the UK to take part in this historic competition. England may be hosts but they are far from favourites, and will face tough competition in Samoa to just finish top of their group! For the first time in a while, the usual 3 of England, Australia and New Zealand look like they have other competition for the title, with both Samoa and Tonga looking strong and flying the flag for the Pacific Islands. Without further ado, let's get into my predictions for Gameweek 1! England v Samoa (St. James' Park, Saturday 15th October, 2.30pm, Group A) What a huge game to start off the tournament! It's a changed up and refreshed England side for this World Cup with head coach Shaun Wane picking a good mix of inexperience and experience. England regulars Ryan Hall and...

 French Rugby League has a tumultuous history and it's fair to say the sport in France has been through a lot. However, not many know that their history began all the way back in the 1870s. That was when Rugby Union was first introduced in France, and it quickly grew amongst rural, southern areas of France. When the Rugby Union and Northern Union, which would later become Rugby League, split in 1895, France decided to stay with the Home Nation unions. However, their quickly became allegations of professionalism and onfield violence in French internationals, which led to their suspension from Rugby Union's Five Nations Championship in 1931. This is what paved the way for Rugby League to be introduced in France. Harry Sunderland and the British RFL worked to get an Australia v Great Britain test to be held in Paris, after an earlier attempt in the 1931-32 Kangaroos tour was refused by the FFR. They got their goal as Australia and Britain played an exhibition match at Paris' S...

Last night was a disappointing night for all involved with Hull FC. Conceding 38 points in one half is unacceptable, let alone when you had the lead at the break. The red card for Ligi Sao only compounded the disappointment. The team showed a lack of desire and fight, and we're ultimately an embarrassment. You look at the stats and see that we have now conceded 196 points in the month of July. It wasn't a one off thing, it was something that has been consistent throughout the month. What is the more worrying part is that this has happened for 4 of the last 5 seasons. Under Radford, we lost our last 11 games in 2018, and our end to 2019 was also abysmal. 2020 was good under Andy Last, but last year was also a poor end, with us losing 9 of our final 10 games. This makes it clear then that this problem is not new. So why would you sack Hodgson? Radford failed to get the players pumped up for his last few seasons. That's why we saw results like 80-10 to Warrington and 72-10 to ...

 Hello and welcome back to my blog. It's that time of the year again. It's the Super League run in. There are eight games left of the year but there is so much still to be decided. Toulouse and Wakefield are still locked in an intense battle to decide who will be relegated. There is a very tight race for the play offs, with all the teams between 5th and 10th fighting to make it in. Although it looks like Saints have bridged a big enough gap now to get the League Leaders Shield, 2nd place (and the other team to get a bye through the first week of the play offs with Saints) is still being fiercely contested between Wigan Warriors, Huddersfield Giants and the Catalans Dragons. In this blog, I will predict every game left this season and then tally up the points to get the final table. If I've learnt anything this year, it's that I am not great at predictions so this will probably be miles off. However, it's just a bit of fun, so I hope you enjoy it. The winning team wi...

 Hello and welcome back to my blog. Today I have an interview with a man that needs no introduction; it is Huddersfield and Super League legend, Jermaine McGillvary. In a professional career spanning 15 years (to date), the great winger has made over 370 professional appearances. The bulk of them have come for Huddersfield, who he has made about 280 appearances for. He has also made 25 appearances for various England and Great Britain teams, as well as 1 game last year for the Combined Nations. Despite retiring from international rugby league last week, he is still going strong in domestic RL. He earned player of the match in the Challenge Cup Semi Final victory over Hull KR and also scored a try in the second half of Huddersfield's narrow defeat to Wigan in this years final of the Challenge Cup. In 2008 and 2009, Jerry also spent time on loan at Batley and Barrow. It is at the former club where he is joint record holder for most tries in a game with 5, against Whitehaven on May 24...

 Hull FC had started the year somewhat decently, sitting in 5th place at the end of May, which is respectable for a Hull side who were expected to struggle this year. However, when playing Wakefield Trinity a few weeks ago, Jake Connor picked up an injury, resulting in Brett Hodgson to make the decision to take off the former England international. Hull FC and their head coach Brett Hodgson confirmed last week that their star fullback would be out for "a minimum of 10-12 weeks." This should see Connor return for the last few weeks of the regular season or the play offs should Hull get there. This brings us on to Hull's first problem. Jake Connor donning the famous black and white jersey Hull have almost entirely built there team around Connor. So far this season, the fullback has tallied an impressive 26 try assists. This accounts for a total of around 60% of Hull's tries this season. Therefore, it is understandable as to why Hull fans were worried from the evening of...