Rugby13: Rugby League

Wigan beat Leeds thanks to late penalty miss

ebbs — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:33:49 +0000

It would have been a travesty had Wigan not won this match, though a late fight back by Leeds made it very tight. Wigan rushed into a 17-0 lead at half time, thanks two Cameron Phelps tries within the first 10 minutes and a third from Liam Colbon. Pat Richards kicked a conversion, penalty and drop goal to bring the half to a close.

The second half and Leeds got onto the score sheet as Danny McGuire crossed early after the break but Wigan responded with Darrell Goulding going over in the 59th minute. Ryan Hall, Keith Senior and Gareth Ellis scored for Leeds, closing the gap to 1 point and then and Rob Burrow missed a last-minute 40m penalty which would have taken the win. Final score:

Wigan 23 Leeds 22

Scorers

Wigan Tries: Phelps (2), Colbon, Goulding Goals: Richards 3 Drop-goals: Richards

Leeds Tries: McGuire, Hall, Senior, Ellis Goals: Sinfield (2), Burrow

Teams

Wigan: Richards, Calderwood, Goulding, Carmont, Phelps, Barrett, Leuluai, Fielden, Higham, Coley, Hansen, Tomkins, Hock

Replacements: Colbon, McIlorum, O’Carroll, Tuson

Leeds: Webb, Hall, Ellis, Senior, Donald, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Diskin, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Lauitiiti, Sinfield

Replacements: Smith, Bailey, Burgess, Allan

Referee: A Klein (London)

St.Helens win has closed the gap

ebbs — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:31:01 +0000

St.Helens closed the gap on Leeds at the top of the table with a convincing win against Huddersfield last Sunday, despite fielding six players who featured for England on Friday.
Leeds relied on the Academy to help them win on Saturday but St.Helens raced to a half time lead of 28-6, showing no signs of the Friday night game. They went on to win very convincingly with the final score of:

St Helens 46-16 Huddersfield

Scorers

St.Helens Tries: Cunningham, Meli, Fa’asavalu 2, Gardner, Talau 2, Long, Roby. Goals: Long 4, Sculthorpe

Huddersfield Tries: Hemingway, Kirmond, JonesGoals: Hemingway 2

Teams

St Helens: Wellens; Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli; Eastmond, Long; Graham, Cunningham, Hargreaves, Gilmour, Clough, Sculthorpe.
Replacements: Wilkin, Roby, Fa’asavalu, Thompson.

Huddersfield: Hodgson; Aspinwall, Wild, Whaturia, Lawrence; Hemingway, Robinson; Mason, Hudson, Griffin, Jones, Lolesi, Raleigh.
Replacements: Crabtree, Snitch, Jensen, Kirmond.

Referee: A Klein (London)

State of Origin Queensland win series

ebbs — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:23:01 +0000

New South Wales 10-16 Queensland.

Israel Folau scored two tries to help Queensland to victory in the deciding State of Origin match in Sydney. Winger Folau pounced to score after Anthony Quinn fumbled Scott Prince’s kick, before Queensland half-back Scott Prince went off with an arm injury. A Matt Cooper try put NSW ahead but Folau then leapt over Quinn to gather Johnathan Thurston’s kick and plant the ball down for his second try. Billy Slater scored the clinching try for Queensland and Thurston converted.

It sealed Queensland’s third Origin series triumph in a row in the annual grudge match between the two major rugby league states in Australia. Queensland’s win, secured in front of a crowd of more than 78,000, improved their poor record in Sydney. The Maroons had won only once in 13 games in the New South Wales capital.

Teams

New South Wales: Stewart, Hayne, Monaghan, Cooper, Quinn, Anasta, Pearce, Mason, Buderus, White, Fitzgibbon, Hoffman, Gallen.
Replacements: Gidley, Cross, Laffranchi, Tupou.

Queensland: Hunt, Boyd, Inglis, Tate, Folau, Thurston, Prince, Price, Smith, Civoniceva, Crocker, Harrison, Johnson. Replacements: Slater, Hannant, Myles, Thaiday.

Referee: Tony Archer

Super league Results Rd19 and Fixtures Rd20

ebbs — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:51:53 +0000

Here are all the results from the weekend:

Wigan Warriors 38-20 Harlequins
Leeds Rhinos 18-12 Castleford Tigers
Hull FC 22-24 Warrington Wolves
Bradford Bulls 40-20 Hull Kingston Rovers
St.Helens 46-16 Huddersfield Giants
Wakefield Wildcats 14-30 Catalans Dragons

Fixtures Round 20

Fri 4 Jul Wigan Warriors v Leeds Rhinos KO 20:00 Sky Sports
Sat 5 Jul Harlequins RL v St. Helens KO 18:00 Sky Sports
Sun 6 Jul Castleford Tigers v Hull Kingston Rovers KO 12.00
Sun 6 Jul Hull FC v Catalans Dragons KO 15:15
Sun 6 Jul Huddersfield Giants v Bradford Bulls KO 15:00
Sun 6 Jul Warrington Wolves v Wakefield Wildcats KO 15:00

Predictions

Only one wrong this week was Hull going down at home to Warrington. Though Leeds were given a fright by lowly Castleford. This week should be more normal and here are our predictions:

Wigan
Leeds
Hull FC
Bradford
St.Helens

Telstra Premiership Rd16 Results and fixtures Rd17

ebbs — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:50:43 +0000

Here are all the results from the weekend:

Panthers 12-12 Broncos
Roosters 24-14 Bulldogs
Titans 22-26 Dragons
Sea Eagles 22-26 Knights
Cowboys 28-29 Rabbitohs
Wests Tigers 26-28 Warriors
Eels 24-22 Storm
Raiders 24-36 Sharks

Fixtures Round 17

Fri 4 Jul 6:45 Titans v Sea Eagles
Sat 5 Jul 6:30 Knights v Dragons
Sun 6 Jul 1:00 Storm v Raiders
Sun 6 Jul 2:00 Eels v Panthers
Mon 7 Jul 6:00 Bulldogs v Rabbitohs

Predictions

Disaster this week, with only 3 correct, just too many surprises. This week is tricky with the State of Origin on Wednesday but here are our predictions:

Sea Eagles
Dragons
Storm
Eels
Rabbitohs

State of Origin game 3 Wednesday

ebbs — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:50:41 +0000

Wed 2 Jul 9:00 NSW v Queensland ANZ Stadium Sydney. Final match in the 2008 series. We think NSW with home advantage will not be turned over as they were last time out and in a tight contest they will come through as winners.

Teams

NSW Blues:B. Stewart, J. Hayne, J. Monaghan, M. Cooper, A. Quinn, B. Anasta, M. Pearce, W. Mason, D. Buderus, B. White, C. Fitzgibbon, R. Hoffman, P. Gallen, A. Laffranchi, A. Tupou, B. Cross & K. Gidley

Queensland maroons: K. Hunt, D. Boyd, G. Inglis, B. Tate, I. Folau, J. Thurston, S. Prince, S. Price, C. Smith, P. Civoniceva, M. Crocker, A. Harrison, D. Johnson, B. Hannant, N. Myles, B. Slater & S. Thaiday

Leeds stage late fight back to seal victory

ebbs — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:23:23 +0000

Leeds, missing 14 players because of international commitments and injuries, fielded several Academy youngsters and had Brent Webb at scrum-half, and as you would probably expect they took quite some time to settle in fact Castleford took a 6-0 lead into the break thanks to Richard Owen’s score, and led 10-0 after Joe Westerman’s try. But Leeds stormed back into the game, with Lee Smith, Webb and Matt Diskin claiming crucial second-half scores to edge out bottom-of-the-table Castleford. Final score:

Leeds 18-12 Castleford

Leeds scorers: Tries: Smith, Webb, Diskin Goals: Smith 3
Castleford scorers: Tries: Owen, WestermanGoals: Huby 2

teams

Leeds: Jones-Bishop; Hall, Jones-Buchanan, Smith, Donald; Allan, Webb; Leuluai, Diskin, Burgess, Lauitiiti, Bailey, Worrall.
Replacements: Williams, Kaye, Haley, Chandler.

Castleford: Donlan; Fletcher, Shenton, Owen, Wainwright; Dorn, Sherwin; Huby, Henderson, Korkidas, Lupton, Catic, McGoldrick.
Replacements: Thackeray, Westerman, Higgins, Boyle.

Referee: P Bentham (Castleford)

England cut loose in Toulouse

ebbs — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:16:36 +0000

Tony Smith must have been happy with his teams preparations for the World Cup in Australia later this year. After a soft try to France early on, England took a strangle hold on the game and ran out easy winners. leading 8-16 at half time but with the French beginning to drop off the pace the men in white had a field day in the second half running in 8 tries to post a final score of:

France 8 England 56

Scorers were:
France Tries: Wynne Goals: Bosc 2

England Tries: Pryce, Gleeson 3, Fa’asavalu, Fox, Senior, McGuire, Wilkin, Wellens Goals: Sinfield 5, Burrow 3

Teams

France: Clayton, Khattabi, Sadaoui, Raguin, Stacul, Bosc, Wynne, Elima, Rinaldi, Fellous, Carrasco, Anselme, Mounis.
Replacements: Casty, Fakir, Sabatie, Duport.

England: Wellens, Gardner, Gleeson, Senior, Fox, Pryce, Burrow, Morley, Roby, Peacock, Ellis, Burgess, Sinfield.
Replacements: Graham, Fa’asavalu, Wilkin, McGuire.

Referee: Jason Robinson (Australia)

Australia Host the 2008 World Cup

ebbs — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:06:23 +0000

Pool 1

Australia
New Zealand
England
Papua New Guinea

Pool 2

France
Fiji
Scotland

Pool 3

Tonga
Ireland
Samoa

Exciting October in Australia

We expect some close fought battles in all the match’s in Australia during the pool stages but expect the top three nations to be in the mix come semi-finals time. Venues are spread all over the country and will offer fans both exciting rugby and fantastic scenery. We recommend you choose which areas you would like to visit as distances are huge and not conducive to moving quickly between venues.

Super league Results Rd18 and Fixtures Rd19

ebbs — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:43:15 +0000

Here are all the results from the weekend:

Leeds Rhinos 12-26 St. Helens
Catalans Dragons 52-14 Warrington Wolves
Hull Kingston Rovers 18-26 Wakefield Wildcats
Castleford Tigers 22-22 Wigan Warriors
Huddersfield Giants 26-16 Harlequins
Bradford Bulls 36-22 Hull FC

Fixtures Round 19

Fri 27 Jun Wigan Warriors v Harlequins RL KO 19:30 Sky Sports
Sat 28 Jun Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers KO 18:00
Sun 29 Jun Hull FC v Warrington Wolves KO 15:15
Sun 29 Jun Bradford Bulls v Hull Kingston Rovers KO 15:00
Sun 29 Jun St. Helens v Huddersfield Giants KO 15:00

Predictions

Well not a good week this time out, Leeds started the rot and Quins, Hull KR and Wigan kept it up, so only 2 correct. This week is tricky again with the international match France v England, but here are our predictions:

Wigan
Leeds
Hull FC
Bradford
St.Helens