UK Elite Teams By Season : 1995-96

For the last championship before Super League, it was an abbreviated affair, there were just ten games, each team playing the other just once. The number of teams dropped from 16 to eleven. Six teams had been relegated to the second division and the London Broncos promoted.

The League. Wigan were the winners with 36 points, with Leeds second (28) and Halifax next (25). St Helens (24) came fourth.

The Challenge Cup. At the quartet finals stage, the results were Bradford 30-18 Wakefield Trinity, Halifax 24-35 Leeds, Hull Sharks (FC) 0-20 Widnes Vikings, Salford Reds 26-46 St Helens.

The semi finals saw Saints overcome Widnes 24-14 and Bradford overran Leeds 28-6. 78,500 turned up at Wembley Stadium to see the final. Bradford led at half time 14-12 and 26-12 with with just over a quarter of the match to go. Then St Helens overcame that deficit to claim the trophy 40-32, the highest scoring cup final.

The League Cup. This was the 25th and last edition of the second cup competition, known as the Regal Trophy. In the quarter finals, the results were: Widnes 23-28 Wigan, Leeds 44-22 Carlisle, Saints 46-18 Halifax, Warrington 38-20 Rochdale.

In one semi final Wigan defeated Leeds 3818 and in the other St Helens thrashed Warrington 80-0! Saints may have gone into the final with some confidence but it wasn't enough as they went down to close neighbours Wigan 16-25.

The Premiership Finals. This was not held this year.

Summary: St Helens won the Challenge Cup and made the final of the League Cup and by virtue of those successes were the most successful club for the year with 46 points (my points system). Leed's consistency got them 38 points but no silverware. Wigan won the League and League Cup but was bundled out of the Challenge Cup in the 4th round by St Helens. That cost them top spot and gave them 36 points. Widnes did well for a team in the cup competitions only.

	Rk	Team	Lge	Fnl	CC	LC	Total
	1	St Helens	14		20	12	46
	2	Leeds	18		12	8	38
	3	Wigan	20			16	36
	4	Bradford	10		16		26
	4	Halifax	16		6	4	26
	6	Warrington	8			8	16
	6	Widnes			12	4	16
	8	Sheffield	12				12
	9	Castleford	11				11
	10	Oldham	9				9
	11	London	7				7
	12	Workington	6				6
	12	Salford			6		6
	12	Wakefield			6		6
	12	Hull FC			6		6
	16	Carlisle				4	4
	16	Rochdale				4	4
		Total	131	0	84	60	275

To see the 1996 season, just click here.

Weird NZ Anti RL Stories : Part Five

Some years ago when I lived in Auckland, I'd go along to watch the Warriors RL team. Friends were invited to join as well. While some weren't that into sport, others were but all seemed to enjoy the game. One particular guy that came along was quite keen on RL but was foremost a RU supporter.

A little while later the above mentioned guy started gloating to me whenever the Warriors lost. It was quite intense at times. I think I asked why he was going on like that and he called them a rubbish team etc. I put it down to his being frustrated when they lost but didn't understand why he directed that at me.

I moved to another part of the country and some years later we caught up at a mutual friend's place for an evening. The Warriors were in a good spell of form and he started going on how well they were doing. I reminded him that it wasn't that long a go he couldn't say a nice word about them. He then told me why.

Apparently he had asked me once about the All Blacks and I said I didn't follow them, nor the game of RU at all. He said nothing at the time but he took offence at this, because "every New Zealander should follow and support the All Blacks". He therefore decided to get back at me by ridiculing any loss by the Warriors.

I thought this peculiar because 1) I didn't realise why he was doing it so what was I supposed to learn by his behaviour? 2) I'm not going to start following a sport that has no interest to me just to please someone else. All it made me do was thing he wasn't a good sport.

So while he wasn't actually anti-RL, he made himself out to be because of my indifference to the national game of the country. One thing I am not is a sheep that follows the crowd. I like what I like and that isn't dependent on what others like.

It is a reminder that some can view a sport as part of the national culture and that attitude is what may be behind the anti RL sentiment that regularly surfaces in NZ. RL is viewed as competition to RU and RL has to be kept in its place, lest it challenge the national game.

The Warriors playing at home

France Elite Teams By Season : 2002-03

Villeneuve-sur-lot

I am looking for information about the 2001-02 league table so cannot relate that season with this one. For 2002-03 there were eleven clubs contesting the top division.

League: Villeneuve XIII narrowly won the league with 53 points, the same as second placed SM Pia. UTC (St Estève XIII Catalan) was a point further behind on third and the Limoux Grizzlies fourth on 46 points. Toulouse Olympique XIII were next on 42.

Finals: This year the games were home and away apart from the final. The quarter finals were as follows:

Villeneuve 36-4 (a) and 52-6 (h) Villefranche.
Limoux 37-32 (a) and 40-30 (h) Toulouse Olympique
FC Lézignan 38-5 (h) 11-40 (a) SM Pia
RC Saint-Gaudens 24-18 (h) 19-18 (a) UTC

Semi finals:
Saint-Gaudens 44-22 (a) 40-16 (h) Lézignan
Villeneuve 33-17 (h) 12-18 (a) Limoux

The final was played at Narbonne before 8,000 attendees. Villeneuve  proved too strong for Saint-Gaudens, winning the title with a 31-18 victory.

Lord Derby Cup: In the quarter finals, the results were: Toulouse 32-20 Carpentras, Pia 34-8 St Livrade, UTC 30-10 Villefranche, Villeneuve 32-20 Lézignan.

On to the last four: Pia 28-26 Toulouse, Villeneuve 30-24 UTC. The final was held at Carcassonne in front of 7,000 spectators. Villeneuve narrowly took the match 16-14 from Pia.

Summary: Villeneuve took all three titles on offer for a maximum of 60 points according to my way of rewarding teams. Pia was awarded 40 points and second place, UTC 34 and Toulouse 30. What a year for the Villeneuve club. St Livrade did well to make the quarter finals of the cup. It's right next door to Villeneuve.

	Rk	Team	Rnd	Fls	LD	Tot
	1	Villeneuve	20	20	20	60
	2	Pia	18	6	16	40
	3	UTC	16	6	12	34
	4	Toulouse	12	6	12	30
	5	Lézignan	10	12	6	28
	6	St Gaudens	11	16		27
	7	Limoux	14	12		26
	8	Villefranche	9	6	6	21
	9	Carpentras	8		6	14
	10	Carcassonne	7			7
	11	Paris Châtillon	6			6
	11	St Livrade			6	6
		Total	131	84	84	299

To see the 2003-04 season, just click here.

UK Elite Teams By Season : 1996

The first year of Super League! Plus it was the 102nd year of top flight RL. The eleven teams from 1995-96 were retained, with the addition of Paris St Germain.

The League. St Helens won the first SL league with 40 points, followed by the Wigan Warriors on 39 points. The Bradford Bulls were third (34), London Broncos (25) came fourth and Warrington Wolves came(24 points) made up the top five. Workington Town was last and relegated from the elite flight.

The Challenge Cup. Due to switching from winter to summer, this shortened season did not feature a cup competition.

The Premiership Finals. The shortened finals competition featured the top four from the league. Wigan just got past Bradford 42-36 while Saints defeated London 25-14. 35,000 went to Old Trafford to see local rivals St Helens and Wigan go head to head. As it turned out, the Warriors ran away with the final 44-14.

Summary: I made Wigan the team of the year with second in the league and grand final victory. Two behind Wigan's tally was St Helens on 28 points. Topping the league and losing the grand final was a good result but not quite enough to be the top side. Bradford and London did well in what proved to be a two horse race.

	Rk	Team	Lge	CC	Fin	Total
	1	Wigan	18		12	30
	2	St Helens	20		8	28
	3	Bradford	16		4	20
	4	London	14		4	18
	5	Warrington	12			12
	6	Halifax	11			11
	7	Sheffield	10			10
	8	Oldham	9			9
	9	Castleford	8			8
	10	Leeds	7			7
	11	Paris St Ger	6			6
	12	Workington	5			5
		Total	136	0	28	164

To view the 1995-96 season, simply click here.
To see the 1997 season, just click here.

Weird NZ Anti RL Stories : Part Four

In part two I found out what I had suspected, bias by Sky TV New Zealand. it was confirmed with a phone call I received from the channel. From time to time, customers were offered other channels free for short periods in the hope they would agree to add the channel to their package when the offer ended.

One day i got a call from a man from Sky telling me I was being offered one free channel from a selection. He cheerfully said he noticed I already had the Sports channel so he would think i would jump at the chance to have the dedicated Rugby Union channel for free (for three months I think). I said I didn't watch RU so that was of no interest to me but what were the other channels on offer?

He suddenly changed his attitude to one of of terseness, saying that would be all then. I said hang on, I was happy to take another channel, just not that one. He didn't want to tell me what the others were and wished to terminate the conversation. I did manage to get another one, begrudgingly.

I thought the whole point of the exercise was to promote SkyTV and encourage me to spend more. What I remember feeling was it was a TV company that allowed my disinterest in RU to negatively impact on its treatment of a paying customer. How unprofessional. Unfortunately that seemed to be the culture that was part of SkyTV in NZ.

For more on this TV company see Part Three.

Ideas For Improving RL

Games need to evolve otherwise they can become predictable and less interesting. I find RL can be at times too much drive up the middle with big forwards. How could that be modified to give more variety?

Minimal change: This would involve a player forced of the pitch along the sideline. Currently that means loss of possession. It encourages teams to stay away from the touchline unless there is a clear defensive deficiency on a particular flank. The change would mean that when a player goes out, it counts as one tackle and the play the ball would be made either five or ten metres infield.

Result. Teams would not be penalised when spreading the ball wide and getting forced out. On the fifth tackle they would lose possession as now but otherwise they could continue with their attack. The game would see more of the field used more often.

Caveat. I can't see a down side to this.

Major change: This would be going back to the five metre defense rather than the current ten metre one. The ten metre gives the big boys more time to wind up and hit the defensive line with greater impact. The attacking side makes plenty of ground by that one dimensional play. It requires high fitness levels as defenses have to run back and forth up to ten metres each set. Less fit amateurs and semi pros cannot keep that up when playing full professional players. It also rewards teams with big, fast players.

Result. Attacking teams would have to have a deeper formation. Passing the ball wider as going up the middle would be less advantageous. Then coupled with the rule above, not such a problem with being forced out. It would mean lower scores and less blow outs of the scoreline. At World Cups for example, the one sided scorelines that blighted the 2017 edition would have been mitigated.

Caveat. Would fans dislike the tighter matches, with less scoring and more emphasis on kicking down field to make yardage? The ease that attacking teams can march down the field would be reduced. I think that's good but some may not.

Summary: The first rule is a no-brainer to me. The second would need trialing to see how it panned out. Coaches would have to rethink strategies big time. I'd like to see them tried at the very least. I hope policy makers read my blog.