Newcastle Thunder 4 North Wales Crusaders 42, attendance 220
@ Blaydon R.U.F.C.
Crow Trees Ground
Hexham Road
Swalwell
NE16 3BN
£15 Admission
No Programme.
Due to their normal venue at Gateshead International Stadium being unavailable, this was switched to the ground of Blaydon R.U.F.C. The main pitch has a 3G surface and is fully railed as well as being floodlit. It is a good 200 yards from the clubhouse/changing rooms, across the car park, with a decent stand on the far side that had seven rows of bench seating, flanked by grass banking and a partially raised area in one corner, adjacent to a tea bar.
Newcastle came into this sitting rock bottom in the league table (9th place) having lost all eleven games so far, whilst North Wales Crusaders were sixth and still in with a chance of making the play offs, despite only having won four of their ten games played. As expected, it was a high scoring away win, but Newcastle fought hard right to the end and it must only be a matter of time until they claim that must sought after first win. It was 0-20 at halftime, courtesy of four tries, two of which were converted, whilst the other two attempts both hit the post and bounced wide. Another twenty two unanswered points saw the lead increase to 0-42, before Newcastle rounded off the scoring with a try in the dying seconds.
I’d stayed overnight in County Durham after yesterday’s game at Siddal, so only had an hours drive north for this. It was quite pleasing that the journey home took under six hours, which was better than I’d been expecting, what with the heavy traffic usually encountered on a Sunday evening heading towards the M25.
This was the game of the day in the Premier Division, with 2nd hosting 3rd in the league table, level on points, with just two fewer than leaders West Hull. It certainly got off to a quick start, with Rochdale in front within ten seconds, when the kick off saw the bounce of the ball totally misjudged by the defence and the ball fell kindly for the visitors, resulting in a try near the posts, easily converted. Six minutes later it was 0-12 as Siddal conceded a second try. The hosts hit back with a try of their own and midway through the half levelled the score at 12-12, which remained the score at halftime.
Siddal edged ahead just three minutes into the second half to lead 18-12, but Rochdale soon levelled at 18-18 and the next try would be crucial. It went the way of the hosts and they scored another to increase their lead to 30-18 inside the last ten minutes and the points were safe. Rochdale did manage to score the last try of the day, to pull it back to 30-22, but too late to affect the outcome.
There are two parallel pitches here, the main one being floodlit and fully railed off, on the lower plateau of the two. Very scenic backdrop, especially on a day like this and the weather will have certainly helped in attracting such a good crowd, with the clubhouse and tea bar both doing a roaring trade.
This was the first game I’d done in this league for five years, as new venues are quite a rarity. New entrants Bramshall bucked the trend when joining this year, as they play at a previously unused ground, as far as the Summer League goes, playing in the village itself. It’s to the east, on the left hand side of the B5027 road when heading towards Uttoxeter, sandwiched between Stocks Lane and Bramshall Farm. There is a single pitch, with a small wooden changing room building on the far side, with car parking inside the field, along both touchlines.
The match was 2nd versus 6th (out of 8) and looked for long periods that there might be a bit of an upset. Broughton took an early lead, which was cancelled out by a penalty half an hour in and when Bramshall had a player sent off for trying to head butt a Broughton player on the hour mark, followed quickly by a second goal for the visitors, which put them 1-2 up a minute later, it looked like a real uphill battle for Bramshall to get anything from the game. But, despite being a man short, they managed to force an equaliser with four minutes left and then headed in from a corner in the last minute, to put them ahead and they even managed a fourth goal in stoppage time, to wrap up a 4-2 win.
The five mile drive south east from my morning game took around thirteen minutes. On arrival, you enter the car park from North Road, with the social club right in front of you. Entry to the ground was through a gate, leading to a second car park area, where you paid your admission. There are three parallel pitches, running lengthways away from the entrance, with the main pitch being the nearest, with a floodlit training pitch next to it, with another pitch beyond. There is a small covered area, which also houses a tea bar, behind the near goal end, with the pitch railed on three sides (open at the far end) and a dugout on each side. Along the left touchline there are a couple of sections of open seating, which were of little use today with it raining for almost the entire match.
The game saw 2nd in the league table hosting 7th (out of 12) and although West Hull won comfortably in the end, it was very well contested throughout. The host opened the scoring, with the added conversion making it 6-0, but Egremont hit back with a try of their own to make it 6-4. Three tries in quick succession saw West Hull increase their lead to 24-4. Egremont reduced the lead to 24-10, but a try right on halftime saw West Hull lead 30-10 at halftime and five minutes into the second half they stretched their lead to 36-10, before another converted try made it 42-10 and it was game over. Egremont did score the last two tries of the afternoon, converting one, bringing the score back to 42-20, but it was too little, too late.
The journey home was much better than when heading north yesterday and took under four hours door to door, with no problems, taking me home via the Humber Bridge, A1, M11 and M25.
I only spotted this game just before midnight last night and as it was a drive of around ten minutes from my intended afternoon game and hardly diverting off route, then it made sense to take the game in.
The Hull Division of this league consists of just six clubs, with this being 5th versus 2nd in the league table. Cottingham Tigers have won one (deducted the points since) and lost the other two they’ve played so far, whilst East Hull have a 100% winning record from their three games. The visitors were in the National Conference League as recently as 2014, having withdrawn due to a lack of funding and shortage of players and were far too strong for Cottingham. It was a real case of ‘men against boys’ and not the sort of game you want to see, especially as a neutral.
The first try for the visitors came after just two minutes and by halftime they’d run in another six to lead 0-40. The second half was more of the same, but it was good to see Cottingham get a try of their own, which was then converted, to pull it back to 6-52 twelve minutes after the break, but it was little more than a consolation. Although they kept going right to the end, they were totally overwhelmed and when East Hull scored their final try, which was again converted, to make it 6-84, the Referee blew the final whistle, two or three minutes early, not that it made much difference to the outcome.
Home to Cottingham Tigers is the Roy Waudby Sports Arena, which hosts rugby, football and cricket. The rugby pitch is in the far left hand corner when looking from the entrance, with the pitch running lengthways. It is railed on each side, with the far goal end tight to the hedge and has a dugout opposite each other at the halfway line.
When I left home at 11 o’clock this morning, I wasn’t expecting it to be seven hours later when I arrived in York, following yet another horrendous journey north, via M25, M11 and A1, which was going okay until just south of Newark, where it was total gridlock due to the police having closed the A1 in both directions, following an ‘incident’, causing absolute chaos. Still plenty of time to check in at my overnight hotel, before heading back out to the south west of the city, where 5th were hosting 11th (out of 12) in the league table.
I expected a home win, but thought it may have been by a far higher margin, based on the league positions coming into this. It only took Acorn three minutes to score their first try and by halftime they’d increased their lead to 18-0, which could have been more had they not missed two of the conversions. Thankfully, West Bowling got the first try of the second half, which was what the game needed, at least from a neutral point of view. Acorn scored a penalty to increase their lead to 20-6, with West Bowling quickly back in it when they made it 20-12 within minutes, but late on Acorn added another try to make it 24-12 and the game looked safe. A minute from time West Bowling converted another try to pull it back to 24-18 and set up an exciting finish, but they only managed a couple of sets into their final attack before the final whistle went.
Home to York Acorn is the ARL Sports & Social Club.There are three pitches here, with the main one being to the left when looking from the clubhouse/car park. It is railed off and has a dugout on opposite sides of the pitch to each other, with raised grass banking running along one side.
I’d never been to a Rugby League Challenge Cup Final before, as it is normally held on a Saturday during the football season, but today was the perfect opportunity to put that right. It was also the chance to make a first visit to the ‘new’ Wembley Stadium. I’d last been here in 1992, but that stadium was demolished in the early 2000’s and replaced by a brand new 90,000 all seated stadium, which opened in 2007. Tickets were purchased online the day before the match, via the Rugby Football League and were available for collection at the stadium. We’d opted for top tier seats, where the view was distant (that’s an understatement!), but the sight lines were excellent. Unfortunately, the ground is just too big. Well, for rugby league, that is, despite this being two of the bigger names of the sport contesting the final. Probably okay if it’s full, but with the entire tier opposite us closed and a rather pathetic crowd of under 65,000 present, there was very little atmosphere. Infact, underwhelming/disappointing would describe it perfectly.
The ticket covered all three finals taking place today. I had absolutely zero interest in arriving early enough to watch the Women’s Challenge Cup Final, which kicked off at 11.45, but would certainly have watched the 1895 Cup Final between Sheffield Eagles and Wakefield Trinity, had it been scheduled as a curtain raiser to the main event, rather than scheduled for the 17.45 start that it did have. The Challenge Cup Final was moved from the original kick off time of 15.00 to 15.07, in order to honour the passing of legendary former Leeds Rhinos and Great Britain player Rob Burrow (played in the No.7 shirt) who died this week from motor neurone disease, at the age of just 41.
Rather than drive, the train took the strain today, as far as Victoria, with the journey completed via London Underground to Wembley Park. It is then a short walk up ‘Wembley Way’ (now appears to be Olympic Way) to the stadium. Certainly not as iconic as seeing the old ‘twin towers’ and due to the vast amount of buildings around here nowadays, the stadium doesn’t look that impressive as you approach. Tickets were easily collected and there are plenty of restaurants in the area to mean avoiding buying anything inside the stadium. As you’d expect, once inside, the food/drink prices were extortionate. Never seems to stop vast numbers being happy to be ripped off though.
As for the game itself, Warrington will have been disappointed, to say the least. They just never got going, despite taking the lead with an early penalty from Josh Thewlis to lead 2-0, after both sides had a man sin binned in the opening minutes, Mike Cooper for Wigan, followed shortly afterwards by Matt Dufty for Warrington, both for high challenges. A grubber kick, from man of the match Bevan French, saw Zach Eckersley touch down for Wigan, before Harry Smith converted to make it 2-6. French then scored a try himself, getting the ball down despite facing backwards as he crossed the line and it was again converted by Smith, to see them increase the lead to 2-12, which remained the score at halftime.
Midway through the second half Wigan increased their lead to 2-18, when Liam Farrel broke down the left to score, which was again converted by Smith. Warrington briefly hit back when Dufty cut inside to score, converted by Thewlis, to pull it back to 8-18, but they never looked like adding any more points and Wigan comfortably hung on for what was an easy win, adding the Challenge Cup (record 21st time) to the World Club Challenge, Super League Leaders’ Shield and Grand Final wins in 2023, meaning they are only the third team to hold all four trophies at the same time, following Bradford Bulls in 2003 and St. Helens in 2007.
I was quite surprised that we were back on a train within minutes of the final whistle and all connections homeward went smoothly. Won’t be becoming a regular on the trains though….
Having stayed overnight in North Wales, following the North Wales Crusaders game yesterday, it made sense to do this game on the way home, especially with it being at the slightly earlier time of 2 o’clock. I came to watch Midlands Hurricanes last March, but they just played on a pitch inside the warm up track at the back of the complex, but this season they have actually moved to hosting games inside the main stadium itself. I’d actually already seen football played here, having seen West Midlands U19 beat Staffordshire U19 5-2 in an English Schools F.A. Inter County Cup match back in November 1996, but this was my first visit to see rugby league. It was opened in 1976 and has an all seated capacity of around 18,000, although only the one side was open to spectators today. It was used as a host venue for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and is the home stadium to athletics club Birchfield Harriers. Unfortunately, due to it hosting athletics, it means views to the pitch are distant, due to the running track and made worse by having to view across the long jump/triple jump pits as well, which means sitting even further back from the action.
As for the game, it was 5th versus 2nd, with Keighley looking for the win that would return them to the top of the table, having been dislodged following Oldham’s win at North Wales Crusaders yesterday evening. Hurricanes led 6-0, but were then down to 12 men, following a sin bin, which gave Keighley the opportunity to hit back to level at 6-6 and despite Hurricanes then being back to full strength, Keighley immediately hit them with another try, which was converted, before adding a drop goal in the dying seconds to go in 6-13 ahead at the break. An early second half try, again converted, brought it back to 12-13, but Keighley edged clear by adding two more converted tries to lead 12-25 and although Hurricanes managed a try of their own with ten minutes left, which once converted pulled it back to 18-25, they had left themselves too much to do and the visitors deservedly held on to take the points.
As with yesterday’s game, the crowd announced was ridiculously inflated. I’d done a count, which is easy when everyone is on one side and the actual number present was 214 fewer than claimed.
North Wales Crusaders 24 Oldham 25, attendance 756 (official) 588 (actual)
@ Eirias Stadium (Stadiwm CSM)
Abergele Road
Colwyn Bay
LL29 7SP
£15 Admission
No Programme.
Since first watching a North Wales Crusaders home game at Wrexham F.C. (The Racecourse Ground) back on 28th June 2015, I’ve seen them play home matches at Queensway Stadium, Wrexham (June 2017), as well as ‘one off’ temporary venues of Nant Conwy RUFC (June 2023) and a week later at Chester RUFC. Today I finally got round to visiting their current home ground, Eirias Stadium, where they’ve been based since 2021. Capacity here is 6,080, although only one side of the ground is open to spectators for Crusaders games, with covered seating in the centre, flanked by open terracing. Unfortunately, there is a running track around the pitch, so the action is distant, which is made worse by the stanchions of the stand roof, as well as the floodlight pylons, blocking the view and it is an awful place to watch a game at. There is a decent car park here, which was surprisingly free and once inside there was hot food available (burgers, hot dogs) and beer and soft drinks, but surprisingly no hot drinks.
The match was 7th versus 2nd in the league table, which looked like being an upset right up until the final seconds of the match. Crusaders were 12-0 up after seventeen minutes, before Oldham managed to pull it back to 12-4 half an hour in and then 12-8 just before halftime, having missed both conversions that would have seen them draw level. A minute into the second half Crusaders added a third try and converted it to increase their lead to 18-8. Oldham then had a man sin binned, during which time Crusaders scored another try, again converted, to lead 24-8 and looked to be heading to victory. However, this was to be their last score of the match and once Oldham were back to their full number, the tide began to turn. With fourteen minutes left they scored a converted try to pull it back to 24-14 and then added another, again converted, to make it 24-20. In the dying minutes they levelled the scores at 24-24, but missed the conversion to go in front, but then, with the last kick of the game, they won it 24-25 with a drop goal from Danny Craven, which was certainly well received by the 200 plus away fans and the win takes them top of the table, for 24 hours at least, with this mornings leaders Keighley Cougars not playing until tomorrow.
The crowd here today was decent, but to see the official attendance given as 756 is laughable.
