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Cas will canter back to Super League

Not that any of you will be surprised.








Last night's televised demolition of Doncaster Lakers set the benchmark for the rest of the National League promotion contenders and Doncaster, if you believe the people that run the club, were supposed to be one of them.

The Tigers racked up 66 points from 13 tries, starving Doncaster of possession throughout the game, forcing errors and clincally finishing their attacking plays.

Having spoken to people at the club prior to the National League kicking-off, it's clear the people at Welford Road are on a mission. The squad is right and the off-field operation looks to be moving in the right direction, with a new home at Glasshoughton in the pipe-line. Unusually for a Rugby League club, they're also thinking long-term. Having had to patch up a Super League squad in the space of a few months last season, it's evident that Super League recruitment has already begun. The squad is filled with quality, not least with Awen Guttenbeil and Danny Brough committing to the club despite last years relegation and as evidenced last night, the club's junior ranks are starting the bare fruit.

Widnes will obviously have something to say about this and it would be easy to forget how they dismantled Leigh last week. Whilst Castleford will end the regular season at the top of the tree, promotion does ultimately come down to one day in October at Headingley.

As for Doncaster, if that is a potential Super League franchise then perhaps it's time for a rethink on the whole concept. The club does have a stadium that would be the envy of certain Super League clubs and the pre-match entertainment is very much reminiscent of the "Bullmania" that has made Bradford famous, but the playing side is a long way from the required standard. The club made the decision to go full-time this season and so far, it's not paying off. Super League in 2009? They've got no chance.

Eggsciting Weekend

The Easter weekend is upon us and in Rugby League land, that doesn't just mean that the crappy Easter puns will be resurfacing.





Easter is by far the busiest period in the sport's calendar. Not only does the National League kick-off today with Leigh's trip to Widnes, but Super League starts to get serious with two rounds played in the space of one weekend.

The coaches hate this weekend, claiming that it's just too much too soon but the RFL, Sky and I suspect most fans love it. With three derby games, including the first Hull derby for twelve years, this weekend definately captures the imagination.
Monday's clash at the KC Stadium sold out two weeks in advance, with tickets changing hands on eBay for in excess of £100. Wigan have sold out the JJB Stadium for the visit of St Helens and Leeds' trip to Bradford will attract the usual big crowd. The following round has a couple of attractive ties as well, with Bradford going to Wakefield and Leeds hosting Wakefield in dress-rehersal's for the side's respective Challenge Cup ties.

But aside from the accountants, the club's hate this weekend. Leeds have got arguably the easiest schedule, with four days break between their games over the bank holiday but even then, bruising encounters with the Bulls and Warriors in such a short space will take their toll. The usual complaints from coaches will inevitabley surface over the course of the weekend but whilst it fills the schedules of Sky Sports, it's a part of the season that's here to stay.

Has the cup lost it's magic?

The forth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup gets underway this weekend and to be honest, nobody seems that bothered.






In the past few years, the forth round of the competition has been seen as something of a joke amongst many. This week, as in previous years, sees a host of one-sided mismatches which are far from catching the public's imagination.

Despite various attempts to revive the competition, leading to the final being switched from May to August, it's still not until the latter stages when the crowds start to take an interest in the Challenge Cup. Wigan have sold the majority of their allocation for their trip to Widnes and so a good crowd will be expected at the Halton Stadium, as perhaps it will at Warrington but apart from that, the sight that will greet most spectators this weekend is that of empty seats and deserted terraces, despite the host of cut-price tickets on offer.

It's not hard to see why supporters are somewhat apathetic about the early stages of the cup. Fancy taking in the Cumbrian part-timers of Workington battling it out against an international filled Leeds side? How about Batley's trip to the world champions St Helens? If not, then how does Hull FC vs Hunslet float your boat?

Even if the lower rounds come in with something of a whimper, it is far from the end of the competition. The Challenge Cup Final has always been the "day out" event in the calendar and with Wembley now ready to host the showpiece event, the RFL should have little trouble in peddling the 90,000 tickets that the new venue offers.

The Challenge Cup is in many respects, an unfortunate problem borne from the success of the professional divisions. As the Super League players get fitter and more NL1 sides opt to go full-time, the minnows have to go through the mere formality of bowing out of the competition, but making a few quid in the process.

For the time being, we've just got to hurry up into the quarter finals and pretend to care whilst we try and get there.

Smith named new Great Britain coach

For those of you that have been living under a rock for the past week in RL land, Leeds Rhinos coach Tony Smith has been named as the new Great Britain chief.






The Aussie, who will see out the remaining six months of his contract at Leeds, will take part-time charge of the squad for June's friendly with France before taking on the role full-time.

Opinion appears to be divided on whether the 40-year old is the right man for the role. RFL Chief Exec Richard Lewis hopes that Smith's track record of success with a young, British squad at the Rhinos can be transferred to the Lions to break a 37-year duck without a test victory against Australia.

In his three and a half years at Leeds, Smith has walked out at two Grand Finals, winning one as well as a Challenge Cup Final. He also led the side to a World Club Challenge victory over Canterbury in which of all the points scorers, all bar Willie Poaching had come from the Leeds academy.

But there are some dissenting voices. Since his first season in which Smith brought home the Super League trophy, the side has progressively gone backwards. Runners-up in 2005 could be attributed to some bad luck but an early play-off defeat at home to Warrington had many at Headingley calling for Smith to be shown the door, as has the side's indifferent performances thus far in 2007.

But of all the possible appointments, this is probably the most logical choice. Smith has handled International players and has played a part in the development in much of what may well prove to be the GB side in November. I still don't think it's enough to beat the Australians, but in the current setup, I don't think any coach would achieve that feat.

Give to those less fortunate

With Comic Relief just passed, it's probably time to take advantage of the goodwill of the nation.







Please help this noble and worthwhile cause, to aid those less fortunate than ourselves. Those supporters who have little knowledge of the rules of Rugby League, who think that the referee hates them with a passion, those who think that referee decisions are influenced by Radio Leeds commentators and those who have the misfortune of supporting Wakefield.

Please sign this petition to make Belle Vue a safer place for our media. Just one lesson will help followers of the Wildcats understand that striking, persistent offsides, ball stealing and dissent are in fact, penalty offences. A small donation may even buy a Trinity fan an RFL rule book.

Thank-you for your support

Ashton switch reflects Wigan mis-management

After weeks of speculation, Wigan full-back Chris Ashton has confirmed that he will become a Rugby Union player at the end of the Super League season.




The 19-year old has been offered a £140,000 salary by bottom of the table Northampton Saints and looks almost certain to be plying his trade at Franklin's Gardens after his current deal at the JJB expires.

This, as you can imagine, has riled Wigan chief Maurice Lindsay - a man who evidently prefers to conduct salary negotiations in the national media. To anyone, it would seem unusual that such information would be freely disclosed until you start to bear in mind that Mr Lindsay is well known for being a strong opposer of the salary cap concept.

With club spending on salaries restricted to £1.8m per annum, Lindsay and his accountants have to constantly keep tapping away at the abacus in order to get each and every player under the limit and abide by the rules of the game and Mr Lindsay doesn't like that.

So when Ashton decides to leave Lancashire, the £140k figure gets banded about in yet another attempt to pester the RFL into ditching the cap so that he can then spend money in setting an impossible benchmark for the rest of the competition, making the sport as predictable as it was in the early 90's whilst running up huge debts in the process. The only difference is that this time, he can't sell the club's ground to a supermarket chain to get the club back in the black.

What Mr Lindsay and his comrade Brian Noble won't mention in their anti-salary cap campaign is the signings of ageing Antipodeans, big-name GB internationals and Aussie test stand-off's.

If properly managed, the salary cap is more than enough to ensure that our best talent remains in the 13-man code. If however, you spend a good chunk of your allowance on players such as Michael Withers, David Vaealiki, Pat Richards and Shane Millard, then you deserve no sympathy whatsoever.

The problem is not with a lack of talent in grass-roots Rugby League, nor does the problem lie with the salary cap. There are several Wigan academy graduates plying their trade in Super League away from the JJB Stadium.
Like all the clubs that answer to Red Hall, the Rugby Union clubs are bound by salary cap regulations laid down to them by the men at Rugby House. The numbers might look bigger but after you factor in the bigger Union squads and the compulsory employment of "specialist" players, the overall difference is minimal. Only the sponsorships and the International prestige make the numbers look bigger.

The problem therefore, lies with Wigan's reliance on overseas players to meet short-term success targets and for that, the buck stops with Lindsay.