Something completely different. There’s been a lot of Rugby League lately and a lot of it was good.
Who thought Fiji would beat Papua New Guinea? 22-10, and it sounds like a terrific match, especially going by this.
More boringly, who could imagine both that this is the first time the Kumuls and Fiji have had a game, and that even I couldn’t find a way to watch the damn thing?
But that’s League for you. So is this; the UAE RFU has had the local RL expansion bod locked up.
New Zealand beat Australia, again, and they’re now officially ranked No.1 in the world, so they’re coming to beat us this autumn. The Guardian‘s Patrick Skene has a cracking interview with Kiwi legend Olsen Filipaina, including the killer detail that Graham Lowe got him riled up to beat seven bells of shit out of Wally Lewis and stymie the 1985 Kangaroos by getting his mum to threaten to “clip his ears”.
Yeah.
And it’s incredible to see Cougar Park full again. But not in these circumstances.
Update. Department of “what it’s all about”, Leigh vs Wakefield yesterday.
Sometimes those content recommendation algos really hit it. This was next to the Filipaina interview.
Danny Jones. Life is cruel.
I’m rather fascinated by what’s happened to Australian RL at the moment. It seems to be a transition period, but also an odd weakening, not just displayed by the Kiwi rise, but also oddly correlated with the last few years of recruiting more English players in NRL…
Wally Lewis has just gone down in my estimations after reading that Filipaina piece.
Graham Lowe has some more thoughts on Aussie decline here: http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_18151-graham-lowe-australian-rl-is-in-big-trouble.html
you know the story about Lewis at Wakefield Trinity? someone thought it would be wise to whack him at the first tackle and say “how do you feel now, £900 a match boy?” Lewis; “about £850 better than you?” in the light of his grudge against Filipaina the mean edge of that shines out more than the wit.
Interesting – so much like the French in t’other code – big club money leads to a decline in opportunities for the local players.
Probably also something to do with the ongoing rise of AFL, chipping away at the talent pool, even in the RL heartlands.