Category: Rugby League

• RFL says game on despite alleged Leigh owner complaint

• Holders Wigan hitting form at the right time

Friday night’s Super League playoff semi-final between Leigh Leopards and Wigan Warriors is expected to go ahead as planned, but only after it was overshadowed by a controversy that could only really happen in rugby league.

The events of last weekend should have been the springboard for a significant and positive six weeks for the sport, kickstarted by St Helens’ stunning victory over Leeds in the opening round of the playoffs. Saints won in dramatic circumstances, scoring the winning try after the full-time hooter had sounded and whetting the appetite not only for the run-in to Old Trafford but also this autumn’s Ashes series.

• Owner Derek Beaumont unhappy at Wigan’s allocation

• Fixture in doubt as organisers scramble to find solution

Super League’s play-offs have been thrown into turmoil after Leigh Leopards’ owner threatened to withdraw his side from Friday’s semi-final against Wigan over a row surrounding ticketing allocations.

With the winners progressing to next Saturday’s Grand Final at Old Trafford, Leigh are bidding to reach the showpiece for the first time, but their participation in the game is in doubt.

Rugby league all-time great wants to return Super League action to the capital – and bring NRL stars along for the ride

The latest chapter in the London Broncos story came to a low-key end on Sunday afternoon with a Championship victory in Widnes, but if the men now tasked with reviving one of rugby league’s most turbulent clubs have their way, there will be no more days that sombre again.

It is to the immense credit of a handful of individuals that professional rugby league is still alive in London at all. Last winter, when the club’s longstanding owner, David Hughes, announced he was stepping away, it was left to the figures such as the head coach, Mike Eccles, to get them through a winter of huge discontent, with finances almost at breaking point.

• Leeds 8-16 Catalans Dragons

• Rhinos face possibility of trailing in fifth

Leeds Rhinos’ hopes of a top-two finish before the Super League playoffs are now all-but over: and they could yet finish as low as fifth after delivering a worryingly under-par performance to suffer a shock defeat against Catalans Dragons.

Brad Arthur’s side have been magnificent for most of this season but this was arguably the nadir. Had they won here against a Catalans side with nothing to play for, they knew victory away at second-placed Wigan last week could have ensured second spot, and guaranteed a bye through the opening round of the playoffs.

However, should results now fall as expected elsewhere in the final two rounds, it is likely the Rhinos will finish fifth – meaning the prospect of being away in the first week of the playoffs and likely then have an away trip to the league leaders, Hull KR, just to reach the Grand Final.
The opening 40 minutes was incredibly low on quality from the hosts, and did little to suggest they are primed and ready for the playoffs. Leeds were, in ruth, woeful and far below the standards they have set under Arthur this season. It was therefore no surprise when they fell behind as Ugo Tison spotted a gap in the Leeds ruck to cross from dummy-half.

It was a moment that summed up Leeds’ play to that point; laboured and significantly off the pace. Their attempts to provide a response to falling 6-0 behind were panicked and it was evident they were missing the composure and guile of Jake Connor. Leeds would trail further by half-time, after Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet’s penalty nudged Catalans eight points ahead.

It was a scoreline that didn’t flatter the Dragons, who had defended courageously and taken their one real moment of promise in attack. You expected the Rhinos would respond after half-time, but they continued to labour without much effect whatsoever.

Aispuro-Bichet then added a second penalty to make it 10-0 and not even a run of four consecutive penalties Leeds’ way, plus the sin-binning of Romain Navarrete, could aid them in finding an immediate opening. However, they ultimately did capitalise on some pressure when Brodie Croft’s clever kick found Ryan Hall unmarked in the corner.

But with six minutes left, a crucial error from Leeds’ full-back, Lachie Miller, allowed Navarrete to mark his return to the field with the try that secured victory for the Dragons. Croft’s late try briefly threatened a comeback: but Miller missed a straightforward conversion to leave the gap at eight and ensure Catalans secured a rare away victory.

A group of Australian millionaires aim to transform the 22nd best team in the country into one of the elite

By No Helmets Required

If you heard that a group of Australian millionaires had attended the London Broncos v Bradford Bulls game at Plough Lane on Saturday with a view to buying one of rugby league’s sleeping giants, you might assume they were interested in the visitors, who won the match by 10 points to keep the pressure on York and Toulouse at the top of the Championship table.

But Brisbane Broncos and Australia legend Darren Lockyer, his long-term business partner Grant Wechsel of MWG Mining, and the former Brisbane Broncos CEO Paul White are about to become majority investors in London Broncos. The former South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou has agreed to become their new head coach, they have lined up a string of players from the NRL and aim to be in Super League by 2027, if not 2026.