Rugby League News
Munster given time to grieve with his family after death of his father
But he still plans to lead Maroons in Origin III to honour his dad
The death of Cameron Munster’s father Steven has come as devastating news just days out from the State of Origin series decider.
The Queensland captain, in a brave decision to honour his dad, plans to still lead the Maroons on Wednesday night after taking time away to grieve with his family.
Continue reading...Super League clubs are expected to increase the foreign quota from seven to 10 players next season. Should they?
Saturday night’s cracker between Castleford and Wigan at Wheldon Road was typical of Super League’s multicultural nature. The bulk of the away team’s points were scored by Australians; a Samoa international from Christchurch was the home side’s main creator; and a player born in Sydney with Maltese heritage was among the game’s outstanding performers. Castleford, with five overseas players, were narrowly beaten 26-20 by Wigan, who had four imports in their side.
Given that both teams are allowed seven overseas players, it seems strange that Super League clubs may vote next month to increase next season’s quota from seven players not trained in the European Federation to 10. Some clubs are already offering contracts based on the assumption that things will change.
Continue reading...Veteran prop comes out of Maroons retirement for Game 3
Blues camp back Brian To’o to recover from injury to play in Sydney
Canberra veteran Josh Papalii has been ushered out of State of Origin retirement to give Queensland’s forward pack fire and brimstone in this year’s decider, while NSW coach Laurie Daley has named an unchanged 17.
Papalii called time on his Origin career ahead of the 2023 series but will be named at starting prop when Billy Slater unveils his 17 for Origin III on Monday. The 33-year-old prop has been instrumental in the first-placed Raiders’ charge up the ladder this year and will add extra vigour to Queensland’s pack come 9 July in Sydney.
Continue reading...Red Devils lose 58-0 against St Helens but a winding-up petition was adjourned and they have received a £3m bridging loan
The start of a brighter future, or merely another false dawn? Only in the weeks to come will we know just what the latest developments off the field surrounding Salford Red Devils mean but on it these remain troubling and frustrating times.
The irony cannot have been lost on any Salford fan who was inside the Totally Wicked Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Four months ago, they began their season at the same venue amid huge controversy, after the Red Devils chose to field their academy side and lost 82-0 in protest against the salary-cap restrictions placed upon them by the Rugby Football League.
Continue reading...High-ranking figure suggests deal ‘as good as done’
Scepticism from elite clubs about financial impact
Super League could expand to 14 teams as early as next year if a strategic review led by the Rugby Football League’s interim chair, Nigel Wood, can convince the existing 12 teams that expansion is financially viable for 2026.
Wood, the governing body’s former chief executive who was brought back earlier this year after clubs decided he should lead a review that would scrutinise all aspects of the professional game in the United Kingdom.
Continue reading...St Helens 18-4 Leeds
Cross, Dagnall and Sailor run in tries for Saints
St Helens potentially breathed new life into their season and quietened some of the noise surrounding their inconsistency with a victory over Leeds Rhinos that could easily represent a watershed moment for the remainder of 2025.
Paul Wellens’ side have been some distance from the standards many expect from the most successful team in Super League history, with the Saints some way adrift of the leading pack at the halfway stage of the season. They were expected to fall short here too against a Leeds side that once again look like title contenders.
Continue reading...Munster leads Maroons to glory in first match as captain
The first time the teams played at Optus Stadium the Blues won 38-6 in 2019. The last time, the Blues won 44-12 to level the 2022 series. Home from home.
What does Cameron Munster make of captaining Queensland? “It’s everything. As a kid you always wanted to play for Queensland and I never thought I’d have the opportunity to captain this beautiful team and this beautiful state. So to be able to do that tonight, I’m very proud. I can’t wait to lead them out.” Beautiful.
Continue reading...Having previously swapped rugby union for NFL, Wade shares his excitement for a fresh challenge after a ‘humbling’ start to life in rugby league
For a man who has done it all in rugby union and experienced the bright lights of the NFL, the glint in Christian Wade’s eye when asked what drew him to a new challenge with Wigan suggests this was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.
It has been some fortnight for one of the Premiership’s all-time greats. His farewell appearance for Gloucester – and perhaps in rugby union altogether – ended with victory against Northampton and two tries. The second of those was a sensational long-range finish in the dying embers of that game which would have caught the eye of any Wigan supporters keenly checking out what their new signing is capable of.
Continue reading...Wests Tigers five-eighth to rekindle partnership with Nathan Cleary
Moses sent for scans after injuring calf in training session
Jarome Luai will replace Mitch Moses as NSW’s five-eighth for the second State of Origin match after a calf strain dashed Moses’s hopes of playing. Moses pulled up sore while running the ball during a training session at NSW’s Blue Mountains camp on Thursday, injuring the same calf that troubled him earlier this year.
The Blues have sent Moses for scans on the injury that delivers a blow to their hopes of sealing a series victory by winning Origin II in Perth on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Accolade has never been given to a rugby league player
Boston, 90, a pioneering black figure in British sport
The Wigan Warriors legend Billy Boston has become the first rugby league player in the sport’s 130-year history to receive a knighthood.
Rugby league has never had a player awarded the highest accolade in an honours list, with calls increasing in recent years thanks to the fundraising done away from the field by people such as Kevin Sinfield – who is expected to be given a similar honour at some stage – and the late Rob Burrow. But Boston’s name has also always been high on the list of candidates overlooked.
Continue reading...Sneyd picked up his third Lance Todd Trophy but his opposite number brought home the bacon for Hull KR
Having been voted the man of the match in three Challenge Cup finals, Marc Sneyd should be considered one of the great half-backs of his generation. But, having now lost as many finals as he has won, and been repeatedly overlooked by England, the 34-year-old is in danger of leaving the game without the silverware his consistent class deserves.
Moments before Hull KR inflicted a last-gasp 8-6 defeat on his Warrington side, Sneyd snared 31 of the 37 votes from Wembley’s press benches. The other six went to his opposite number, Mikey Lewis, who then kicked the winning conversion with less than two minutes left. Sneyd undoubtedly came out on top in the battle of the half-backs, schooling a player a decade his junior.
Continue reading...Queensland captain expected to make way for Tom Dearden
Beau Fermor also dropped with Kurt Capewell to step in
Queensland’s Daly Cherry-Evans has become the first State of Origin captain dropped mid-series this century, as one of several huge Billy Slater selection calls. Slater will name a 20-man squad for Origin II on Monday morning, but Tom Dearden is expected to replace Cherry-Evans in the No 7 jersey in Perth next Wednesday.
Beau Fermor is the other player dropped after the Maroons’ series-opening 18-6 loss at Suncorp Stadium, with Kurt Capewell set to replace him. Kurt Mann is then expected to take Dearden’s spot on the Maroons’ bench, after acting as 18th man in game one.
Continue reading...Close calls in the past couple of years point to a team on the up and they are favourites to beat Warrington
For a while around the 80s, it must have felt like the good times were never going to end for Hull KR: Challenge Cup winners in 1980; winners of the Premiership in 1981 and 1984; champions of England in 1979 and again in 1984 and 1985.
Legends such as Roger Millward, Gavin Miller and George Fairbairn – revered on one side of Hull to this day – at the heartbeat of one of the finest sides in history.
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Continue reading...Vaughan left the NRL in disgrace but he has been a guiding light on Warrington’s road to two Challenge Cup finals
Paul Vaughan arrived in England two years ago as damaged goods, an NRL cartoon baddie after he had been sacked by the Dragons for breaking Covid rules and fallen out with Canterbury. If he wins the Challenge Cup at Wembley on Saturday, he will be a Warrington superhero.
The sight of the giant prop – who looks as if he squeezes into a jersey two sizes too small and shorts borrowed from Kylie Minogue – running in from the back fence to get Warrington out of trouble, or smashing his way through a defensive line before delicately offloading with delightful subtlety, is hard to forget.
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