London Broncos 20 Barrow Raiders 30, attendance 480
Broncos Tries : Ulberg (2), Gahan, Macani
Conversions : Leyland (2)
Raiders Tries : Iaria, Emslie, Ritson (2), Shaw
Conversions : Shaw (4)
Penalty : Shaw
@ The Cherry Red Records Stadium (A.F.C. Wimbledon)
Plough Lane
Wimbledon
London
SW17 0NR
£20 Admission
Team Sheet, free.
Today marked my 150th ground that I have seen rugby league played on. Over the years London have certainly contributed greatly in that total, this being the tenth ground I‘ve now seen them host a game on (1 as Crusaders, 9 as Broncos). I had only recently visited this ground for football, as it is the home ground of A.F.C. Wimbledon, who I saw draw 2-2 versus Cheltenham Town in a League 1 match on Tuesday 1st February 2022.
Today’s match was 11th versus 5th in the league table, with the visitors already assured of a place in the play offs, whilst Broncos were only playing for pride. Broncos led 6-0 early on, but Raiders turned it round to lead 6-14 at the break. Two tries in the first twelve minutes of the second half saw Broncos go back in front, but their lead only lasted seven minutes, as Barrow edged ahead again at 16-20. Two more tries saw the lead increased to 16-30, before a late try for Broncos saw the scoring rounded off, with a deserved 20-30 win for the visitors.
Above : A minute’s silence following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Thankfully, unlike the Football Association, the Rugby Football Union decided not to postpone all matches following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, so at least I was able to watch a local sporting event this afternoon, which was only ten minutes drive from home. I had previously seen football played here, albeit on an outside pitch, when I saw a 2-2 draw between Dorking and Leatherhead in a pre-season friendly on 21st July 2009.
This was the first home game for Dorking following promotion back into National League 2 East. Having lost their opening game 10-29 at Blackheath last week, they put in a strong performance to take the points today. Worthing went ahead within five minutes, but Dorking turned things round to lead 14-7 by the half hour mark, but it was soon level again at 14-14 before Dorking converted another try to lead 21-14 at halftime. Dorking had the better of the second half and comfortably held on to their lead with a deserved 44-24 win, which was enough to take the bonus point.
Above : A minute’s silence held before kick off as a mark of respect to Queen Elizabeth II.
London Broncos 36 Sheffield Eagles 28, attendance 550
@ Kuflink Stadium (Ebbsfleet United F.C.)
Stonebridge Road
Northfleet
DA11 9GN
£15 Admission, bought in advance online
No Programme.
This was an ’on the road’ game for the Broncos, as their home ground at A.F.C. Wimbledon is undergoing work on the pitch. They are aiming to play one game in Kent each season, in an effort to attract support and help spread the game in the South East, but there is just not the interest in Rugby League down here. Despite giving an attendance of 750 on their website, it was at least a couple of hundred fewer, although there may have been season tickets counted on the official total.
The first half performance of the Broncos was pitiful. They were simply dreadful and were lucky to only trail 0-28 at halftime, which would have been more, but Eagles failed to convert four of their six tries, which in the end cost them dearly. As bad as Broncos were first half, they were the total opposite in the second. Eagles only came close to adding to their score once in the second half and as Broncos started to run in the tries, the comeback certainly looked possible, if perhaps a little optimistic, but they went in front late on and even added a converted try in the final minute to complete a tremendous turnaround, taking a 36-28 win that few would have though possible at halftime.
I had visited Ebbsfleet United on Sunday 2nd January, when I saw them beat Dartford 1-0, which was after a gap of just over thirty years since my first visit and nothing has changed in the intervening six months. It is a fantastic stadium and remains one of my favourite non-league grounds ever visited.
£12 Admission, via Fanbase App. (Cash turnstile £15)
Programme, available via QR Code only.
Before today I had only ever been to two rugby union matches, the first being Leicester v Barbarians at Welford Road in 1991, then I saw Cambridge University v Oxford University in the Varsity match at Twickenham three years later, in front of a 60,000 plus crowd. It was only the fact that we drove past the ground here, noticing the impressive main stand, whilst on the way to our hotel on Friday afternoon, that I was even aware that Watsonians played in Edinburgh. I looked on BBC Sport and noticed they were listed as playing this afternoon, so a little bit of research led us to coming along.
The Super6 is, as it suggests, a semi professional competition played between six teams, which is intended to bridge the gap between the amateur and fully professional teams of the United Rugby Championship. As well as these two, the other member clubs are Ayrshire Bulls, Heriot’s Rugby, Southern Knights and Stirling County.
This was a much faster paced game than I had been expecting, although it would still have to go some to get up to the speed of a decent level Rugby League match. Boroughmuir came into this bottom of the table, with this being their first away win of the season.They led 10-21 at the break and although Watsonians came back into it they held on for a deserved 29-35 win. The two fixtures between the two were played for the Allan McNish Memorial Trophy, which Watsonians won on aggregate, despite today’s defeat.
Today’s match was at Rugby Lions R.U.F.C. which is situated in Webb Ellis Road, named after the alleged inventor of rugby football, William Webb Ellis, who back in 1823, whilst as a pupil at Rugby School, picked the ball up and began running with it during a school match and the new game of ‘rugby’ was invented.
This was the third home venue for Coventry this season, due to pitch works taking place at their normal home at Butts Arena. It was only two weeks ago that I saw them play the last of three matches staged at Broadstreet R.U.F.C. and today would begin a run of their final four league matches being played here in Rugby.
I had visited Rugby Lions R.U.F.C. previously, as Rugby Town F.C. played here during the 2000/01 season. My visit was for a Midland Combination League Division 2 match, which was a 0-0 draw versus Lichfield Enots on Wednesday 21st February 2001. The ground today is pretty much unchanged.
Coventry started off well today and led 8-0 after twenty minutes, but Hunslet came back into it and took a 8-16 lead. Both teams added another converted try to give a 14-22 halftime score. Bears then scored another try early in the second half, which was converted, to make it 20-22, but unfortunately were unable to add another point during the next 37 minutes and Hunslet dominated them from here in for a comfortable 20-48 win.
This is now the third ground I have seen Coventry Bears use for home matches. On 5th May 2004 I saw them beat Bramley Buffaloes 48-14 in National League 3 at Old Coventrians R.U.F.C. in Tile Hill Lane, then on 5th September 2004 they beat Sheffield Hilsborough Hawks 36-18, also in National League 3, this time at Coventry R.U.F.C. at Butts Park Arena, which is still their home ground these days. With the pitch there being converted from grass to 3G, it has meant using an alternate venue and this was the third and final match being played here at Broadstreet. The final four home league fixtures are scheduled to be played at the birthplace of Rugby Union, at the ground of Rugby Lions R.U.F.C.
Having seen Coventry a couple of weeks ago, when they were beaten heavily at Workington Town, I thought that they actually played well in spells and didn’t deserve to lose by such a margin. Today, however, they were pathetic and Doncaster ran in tries at will and it was probably only the 30+ degree heat that prevented a real massacre. It was 6-20 at the break, then Doncaster added another converted try to make it 6-26 early in the second half. In the 54th minute both teams were reduced to 12 men following a few punches thrown. Doncaster added another 28 points before Bears finished off the days scoring with an unconverted try in the last minute.
Workington Town 54 Coventry Bears 16, attendance 895
@ Borough Park
New Bridge Road
Workington
CA14 2DT
£15 Admission
£2 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
With their own ground at Derwent Park undergoing work to widen the playing surface and remove the speedway track, to enable Workington F.C. to stage matches there next season, it meant Workington Town would be returning to the ground they used before moving to Derwent Park in 1956. Just over 30 years ago they played three matches here at Borough Park and will use it for the next couple of matches, or perhaps longer, depending how quickly the ground improvements are completed. The 4 photos below show the current state of work being carried out at Derwent Park……..
Workington has been chosen as a host for games in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, but this is subject to a new stadium being built, which will then be shared by the town’s rugby league and football clubs. Workington F.C. will move the 500 yards or so across to Derwent Park to share with Town, whilst the new stadium is built on the site of Borough Park, which of course staged matches in the Football League until Workington’s relegation in 1977, then once completed, both clubs will move in to the new shared facility. Having originally been passed by the Labour Council, a new Independent Councillor has now been voted in, but they are against the plans, so it may not now happen……
I had actually visited Borough Park twice before, both times for football. On 27th January 1990 I saw Workington 0 Droylsden 2 in a Northern Premier League Division 1 match in front of 150 spectators. Then, on 22nd November 1992, I returned to see Workington 1 Shepshed Albion 7, again in a Northern Premier League Division 1 match, this time watched by a crowd of 130. As Shepshed had been playing a match in Kendal on the Saturday, following an overnight stop, they played this match at 12 noon, which was perfect to double up with the rugby league, who were at home at 3 o’clock at Derwent Park in a Division 3 match versus Nottingham City, which they won 68-0 in front of 1,311 supporters.
As I headed north from my overnight base in Warrington, I had passed the Coventry Bears team coach near Junction 38 of the M6, just before 12 o’clock, as they made the long slog to West Cumbria for the second successive match, having played at Whitehaven last week. They came into this match third from bottom in the league table, but have managed to win three matches so far, which is a vast improvement for them and they are far more competitive in games. Town scored two tries in the opening ten minutes, but Coventry replied quickly with a converted try of their own and despite conceding three more tries they did get another of their own so at halftime it was 26-12. The second half was pretty much one way traffic and Town ran in five more tries for a resounding 54-16 win.
This was 6th versus 3rd in the league table and was much closer than the score line suggests. Egremont were missing a few regulars, but they were the better side early on, as both teams struggled to handle the ball as quite a heavy shower passed overhead and they were unlucky to go in at halftime with the score 16-4 to the hosts. Crusaders scored two more converted tries as we headed into the last twenty minutes of the match, before Egremont reduced the arrears to 28-10 as we entered the final five minutes. Crusaders finished things off with a try and conversion with the last play of the game.
West Wales Raiders 12 Workington Town 58, attendance 100
@ Stebonheath Park
Penallt Road
Llanelli
SA15 1EY
£10 Admission
£2 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
I was surprised it was as far back as 24th November 2000 that I had first visited Stebonheath Park, for football, when I saw Llanelli 1 Barry Town 6 in a League Of Wales fixture. These days it is also home to the top rugby league club of South Wales, who were re branded as West Wales Raiders when they moved here. I don’t know how, or why, these clubs from outside the traditional heartland of rugby league bother though. A crowd of just 100 is pathetic for a national level three match and not all will have paid. It doesn’t help when the team are rubbish. They had lost all 9 games coming into this and the only reason that they are not bottom of the league table is due to Keighley Cougars starting with a minus points penalty, although having won five games already, the gap is now just a point between them and Raiders.
I thought today might be a game that Raiders had a chance of winning, as Workington had only won 4 of their 9 matches so far. It wasn’t even close. When former New Zealand and Tonga international Fui Fui Moi Moi went over for the visitors second try after eleven minutes it was already game over. By halftime it was 0-28. Workington converted another try, before Raiders converted a try of their own to make it 6-34 twelve minutes into the second half. Three more converted tries from the visitors made it 6-52, before Raiders scored again, but almost immediately Workington restored the gap to round it off for an easy 12-58 win.
Apparently, it had taken Workington nine hours to make the trip from Cumbria, having left on Friday and having had an overnight stop en route. According to their twitter account, the team coach arrived back at Derwent Park at 02.26 on Sunday morning!
With the football season in England now over, it was a chance to watch some Rugby League. I hadn’t watched a game at this level for quite a number of years. The main problem at this level is that it is not the greatest quality and it is very unreliable as to whether the match will actually take place, or indeed, where it will actually be played. No such problems today though, as both clubs had tweeted about the fixture and as neither had lost yet this season, then there was a very good chance that I’d get a game in.
Oxford dominated the first half, going into the break 26-0 up. When they increased the lead to 32-0 ten minutes into the second half it looked like it might become a bit of a procession, but Cheltenham scored the next two tries to make more of a game of it. Oxford went over for two more tries, before Cheltenham added two more themselves to pull it back to 44-22, before one more converted try for the hosts rounded off the scoring in the final minute.
Above : Oxford fail to convert a first half try. Below : They open the second half scoring.
