SIX TO GO – Cannonballs, unhappy Wane and Magic 9’s.

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days.

1.       Ban the Cannonball

The one thing in Rugby League at the moment that makes my blood boil is the cannonball tackle. It is an incredibly dangerous tackle and can seriously injure a player. When a player is stood up in a tackle and held up by 2 or 3 opponents they are very vulnerable to an additional defender coming in and attacking them at the back of the knee. If this is done with enough force then the weight of the player AND the weight of the defenders is brought to bear on the knee or ankle joints of the tackled player. There is not many worse feelings on a rugby field when you know that your leg is going to buckle underneath you and there is nothing you can do about it except hope that the pain and resulting injury aren’t too bad. I coach junior rugby league and I have taught 9 and 10 year olds to tackle by making the initial contact on the upper body to slow a players momentum before an additional tackler comes in low and wraps the tackled players legs together before the player is brought to the ground – never would I coach a player to attack the back of a players knees. Everyone knows it is dangerous – so why isn’t it outlawed in Super League – as it is in the NRL – and why do players still persist in attacking the back of a players knee’s when they know there opponent is in a vulnerable position – there is no excuse for it and not only should it result in a penalty it should result in an instant dismissal and a lengthy ban. Salford Red Devils half back Rangi Chase received a 7 match ban for a cannonball tackle on Brett Ferres earlier this season and you would have thought that the message was clear – carry out the kind of tackle that injured Ferres and you will spend a lengthy spell on the sideline. However, this is where the RFL do not help themselves – there seems to be no instruction to referee’s that they should deal with this kind of tackle severely and the RFL disciplinary committee have shown no consistency in how they handle this kind of tackle. If I was Rangi Chase, I would feel as though I had been victimised – especially having seen Wigan Warriors Sam Powell not even cited for a cannonball tackle on Dane Tilse of Hull KR 2 weeks ago and Catalans Dragons hooker Ian Henderson being found not guilty of the same offence against Wigan’s John Bateman last weekend. I found both of these decision unbelievable – I was out of my armchair in outrage when both of these offences occurred as both Powell and Henderson knew what they were doing and intended to attack the knee area. In the NRL, no contact is allowed below the knee in this kind of tackle situation and I really believe it is time the RFL took the cannonball tackle seriously and outlawed it immediately.

2.       Wane not a happy man!

I think Wigan coach Shaun Wane really needs to stop referencing opposition coach’s in his mid-week press conferences as it seems to be working against his team at the moment – certainly over the last 2 weeks anyway. It’s not often I enjoy watching Wigan play but the last two weeks have a brought a smile to my face as Hull Kingston Rovers and Catalans Dragons have knocked the Warriors out of the Challenge Cup and inflicted their heaviest defeat in a generation respectively. Is it a coincidence that Wane has mentioned the opposition in the build up to both games in a potentially inflammatory way that has fired the Warriors opponents up and given them the adrenaline rush they needed to perform at a higher level than was probably expected by Wigan. Prior to the Challenge Cup 6^th round defeat to Hull KR, coming just 2 weeks after the Warriors had embarrassed the Robins 60-0 in Super League, Wane stated that his players had ‘’fire in their bellies’’ because of comments made by Rovers coach Chris Chester. Chester’s comments were innocuous and were certainly not a shot across the Warriors boughs but Hull KR were certainly fired up and threw the Warriors off their normal game completely to record a famous victory. Likewise in the build up to the Catalans game in the south of France at the weekend Wane stated that he would be very disappointed with the way the Dragons performed away from home if he were their coach. That maybe so but I see no reason why Wane would even think about mentioning that as surely he would know that the Dragons would just take his comments and put them on the dressing room wall – no need for a team talk. And that’s just what happened. The Dragons blew the Warriors away with half back pairing Todd Carney, in particular, and Scott Dureau running the Warriors ragged behind a dominant pack spearheaded by the brilliant Zeb Taia and Elliott Whitehead. Whitehead leaves for the Canberra Raiders at the end of the year, Dureau is out of contract and there are strong rumours that Todd Carney maybe looking for a way out of his contract to head back to the NRL now that he has won his case for wrongful dismissal against Cronulla Sharks – the Dragons must do all they can to keep this dream half back pairing together. In this kind of form the Dragons can beat anyone and Wane is right that they are disappointing away from home but maybe he should start keeping his thoughts to himself more often.

3.              Leigh are unprofessional

I upset a couple of Leigh fans in my last column and having seen their performance in the otherwise well received Summer Bash in Blackpool at the weekend I will probably do it again this week because I really don’t like the way they are playing the game at the moment. Social Media was awash with negative comments about the Leigh v. Featherstone game on Sunday afternoon and whilst I in no way condone the actions of Featherstone Rover’s Paul Wood in, allegedly, gouging Bob Beswick for which he was sent off I can fully understand why teams are drawn into a physical battle with the Centurions. Their players are clearly sent out to wind the opposition up and this in turn brings about reactions from otherwise well-disciplined teams – let’s face it no rugby league player is going to take kindly to being heartily laughed at in their face when they drop a pass or make an error – it is totally unprofessional and childish and would cause havoc with some of the egos in Super League and would definitely lose them games. Then we come to Gareth Hock – I have no idea why Leigh signed him – he is not fit, brings nothing to their team, will not last the pace in Super League and just adds to their reputation as a bunch of bullyboys. He was lucky to last as long as he did on Sunday before being sin-binned and should have been cooling his heels in the bin in the first half for his unnecessary slap on Jordan Baldwinson. Paul Rowley is a very talented coach but seems to be revelling in their unpopularity at the moment and disrespecting a Super League and Challenge Cup winning coach as he did on Boots ‘n’ All last week will not go down well – he has the players and fans totally on side and they hang on every word he says but he should be ensuring that they concentrate more on paying rugby rather than resorting to bully boy tactics. They have some wonderfully gifted players and there needs to be more emphasis on their rugby playing ability rather than the negative side of their game. To be fair, it wasn’t just them on Sunday – Rovers had Wood was sent off, Reni Maitua has been brought before the disciplinary committee and half back Gareth Moore was all over the place niggling and chatting but the Centurions take it to another level.

4.       Magic 9s

I first called for the Magic Weekend to become the Magic 9’s back in February 2014 (http://rugbyleaguelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/magic-9s.html) after the inaugural Auckland 9’s and Salford Red Devils owner Marwan Koukash followed my lead earlier this year and has re-iterated his desire in the last week in the build up to this week’s Magic Weekend. The Auckland 9’s is a fantastic spectacle prior to the opening of the NRL season. The great weather, the beautiful Eden Park Stadium and crowds of 40,000 + on both days with a carnival atmosphere make it a great event. The reduced numbers on the field creates more space for the likes of Shaun Johnson, James Tedesco and Sam Tomkins among others to wreak havoc with wonderful sidesteps, great off loads and long distance tries. Now, the Magic Weekend is a great concept and is growing and is not something the game in the UK should abandon. But I think the 23^rd Super League fixture is unnecessary and the introduction of a Magic Weekend Super 9’s tournament, promoted and marketed correctly, would give the game in the UK another very special event to add to it’s calendar and another major trophy to play for. The clubs would have to buy into this concept completely. There would be no using the weekend to rest players because no league points are at stake; a rule could be introduced that there are no more than 2 players per squad who have not appeared in Super League games prior to the Magic 9’s weekend, meaning the vast majority of Super League stars would have to be on show. An organising committee could be put in place to attract a major sponsor for the event and make it financially worthwhile for the clubs and they would also have the time and ability to promote the tournament to the full and put the TV contract out to tender to SKY, BT Sports, Premier and a highlights package could be thrown in for BBC and / or ITV as well. The tournament would have to be full of razzamatazz, making it a fun filled weekend that parent’s could take their kids too and come home saying ‘WOW – I can’t wait for next year.’ The clubs would have a special 9’s tournament jersey just like the Auckland tournament which would bring in extra revenue in merchandise sales and hopefully the designers would show a little imagination. Also, the rules could be altered to make the concept even more exciting – teams wouldn’t be allowed to kick penalty goal’s – there would be bonus zones such as an extra point for scoring a try between the goal posts (as in Auckland) and what about an extra point for scoring from your own half between the 10 and 50 yard lines and two points for scoring from behind your own try line and up to the 10 yard line! I think it could work – it just needs a bit of imagination and the right people to push it forward.

5.       Smith’s good week / bad week

Warrington back rower Ben Currie is having a fantastic season and hopefully he is in the sights of England coach Steve McNamara for the end of season Test Series against New Zealand. Although he has already represented Ireland, via his grandparents, at the last World Cup he is very keen to play for England and for a big man he has a great turn of pace as well as being a powerful runner. He can also play in the three quarter line and last week against Salford he scored his 10^th try of the season and also provided the final pass for all three of Gene Ormsby’s tries in the Wolves 34-18 win which kept them in 5^th place in Super League. He is only 20 years of age but is a regular for the Wolves and is held in high regard by his coach Tony Smith. A player no longer held in high regard by Smith is former Wolves hooker Mickey Higham who joined his hometown club Leigh last week. Smith launched a blistering attack this week and is not happy with the way the move materialised and was unhappy with Higham putting in an official transfer request after the Wolves had initially rejected an approach from the Centurions and, reading between the lines, seems to think that Higham had his head turn by a behind the back approach from Leigh. That is not the way most clubs like to do business and Smith is now just happy that the business is over and done with but seems to have lost a lot of respect for Higham and is also unsure that Leigh will uphold the agreement that Higham will not face the Wolves in the Challenge Cup quarter final. Leigh have refuted any back door approach.

6.       Sinfield keeps going but Nanyn ends his career

Leeds Rhinos legend Kevin Sinfield helped himself to 16 points against Hull KR last weekend and in the process moved up to 3^rd place in the all time leading points scorers list in the history of rugby league – surpassing Gus Risman’s total of 4,050 points. Sinfield ends his rugby league career at the end of the year and would have to go on forever to move any further up the scoring charts as second placed Jim Sullivan amassed a career total 6,022 points over a 25 year career with Wigan and the record, which will never be surpassed, is held by legend Neil Fox who scored 6,220 points in a 23 year career with Wakefield, Bradford, Hull Kingston Rovers, York, Bramley and Huddersfield. The top ten points scorers list is full of legendary names from the British game (we Brits have obviously played a LOT more rugby league than our Antipodean cousins) such as those mentioned above along with John Woods, Cyril Kellett, Kel Coslett, Lewis Jones and Steve Quinn – and then up pops the name of Mick Nanyn who currently lies in 5^th place in the list with 3,718 career points and sits above such names as Kellet, Coslett, Jones and Quinn. But there is no fanfare for Nanyn as he enters retirement like there will be when Sinfield leaves the Rhinos at the end of the year – just a little word of thanks from his current coach at Swinton Lions, John Duffy. The difference is that Nanyn has played all of his rugby league outside of the games top division throughout his 16 year career. He started out with Swinton back in 1999 and has also had spells at Rochdale, Whitehaven, Widnes, Oldham and Leigh before returning to Swinton in 2013. Nanyn was a prodigious goal kicker as you would expect and has kicked 1,303 goals in 367 career appearances which also include 10 games for Scotland (he was born in Wigan!!!) but he also scored a huge amount of tries everywhere he played. He has scored 52 tries in 114 appearances in 2 spells with Swinton, 26 in 32games for Rochdale, 59 in 56 games for Whitehaven, 58 in 55 for Widnes, 21 in 32 for Oldham and 55 tries in 66 games for Leigh as well as 6 tries in 10 international appearances for Scotland.  He is a big man at 6’2’’ and nearly 17 ½ stone and was an imposing figure in the three quarter line. He never played at the top level of rugby league although he was signed by Harlequins RL back in 2009 but never made an appearance for them. Nanyn ended his career with a total of 278 tries and 1303 goals for a total points haul of 3,718. Even for a career spent outside of the top flight that is a sensational points total and I think Nanyn deserves some kind of recognition for his feats. 

A bit of extra time thinking:

The funeral of Keighley Cougars Danny Jones, who passed away from a heart attack during a match against London Skolars at the beginning of May, was held last week with nearly 2000 people attending both the church service and also outside watching on big screens. The Just Giving page for Danny’s family organised by the RFL Benevolent Fund has now raised nearly £165,000. God bless the Rugby League family. If you want to donate then this is the link: https://www.justgiving.com/dannyjones29

There is the possibility that an Emerging Kangaroos team will be put together to tour Papua New Guinea at the end of the year as the Aussies are beginning to realised that they may be made a mistake in ruling out all international RL in 2015 apart from the traditional ANZAC Test with New Zealand. The Pacific Islands have recently proven their ability on the international stage with two cracking matches between Samoa / Tonga and PNG / Fiji on the Gold Coast and the Emerging Kangaroos could be a fantastic vehicle to promote the game and improve the quality of the Pacific Islanders.

The DCE backflip saga is back on AGAIN apparently. Manly are desperate to keep their star half back and now have less than 2 weeks (June 10^th) to get him to renege on his provisional 4 year deal that he signed with Gold Coast Titans earlier this year. The Sea Eagles have already signed one of DCE’s best mates Nate Myles for next year (from Gold Coast) and are now close to signing another of his mates, Darcey Lussick, on a 3 year deal from Parramatta. The rumour is that they are also chasing Greg Bird from the Titans. This needs to be put to bed quickly and the sooner June 10^th comes and goes the better

Frank Pritchard and Chris Heighington are the latest NRL stars to be rumoured to be up for a move to Super League in 2016. Canterbury Bulldog’s Pritchard is being tracked by Hull FC and Heighington, the Cronulla Sharks former England forward, is now 32 and won’t turn down a final big payday if the right offer comes along. Newcastle Knights half back Tyrone Roberts has also been linked with a move t Super League with Leeds Rhinos.

Big Willie Mason looks likely to sign new deal with the Manly Sea Eagles. Mason joined the Sea Eagles from the Knights for 2015 and looks like playing on for another year which will take him to 36 years of age. Big Willie, who had a short and disastrous spell with my club Hull KR back in 2010, is already the oldest forward walking around in the NRL.

It has been a busy few days in the Super League as well:

Lopini Paea has left Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to head back to the NRL to join his former club Sydney Roosters.

Salford Red Devils will lose another forward at the end of the season. Hot on the heels of Scott Taylor confirming his 4 year deal with Hull FC it has now been announced that form forward Lama Tasi has signed a 2 year contract with St. Helens. Tony Puletua, who has a contract dispute with the club and has not featured this season, has also left to join Hull Kingston Rovers on loan for the rest of the year.

Brett Ferres has signed a 2 year contract extension at Huddersfield Giants. Ferres had 2 years left on his current deal but has now extended his contract until the end of 2019 and resisted interest from NRL clubs to stay loyal to the Giants.

Powerful forward Tony Clubb has signed a new 4 year deal at Wigan Warriors whilst Julian Bousquets has signed a 2 year contract extension at Catalans Dragons.

 

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69

5 WEEKS THAT WILL DEFINE HULL KINGSTON ROVER’S 2015 SEASON

Leading into the Magic Weekend Hull Kingston Rovers lie 10^th in the Super League table – not great you might think – not after being in the top 5 after an Easter weekend double over Hull FC and Huddersfield Giants – the first time we have achieved an Easter double since returning to the top league in 2007.

It’s fair to say that Rovers form since that hard fought win over the Giants on Easter Monday has not been great – we have lost 4 of our 5 league games since that win to plunge down to 10^th place, but it should be pointed that those 4 losses were all away from home against teams pushing for top 6 places.

There is no doubt that Rovers away form this season has been disappointing though – a solitary win at fierce rivals Hull FC on Easter Thursday is our sole triumph away from the KC Lightstream Stadium in the Super League. 

It has not been the easiest run of fixtures and those 4 away defeats, at Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos all came at venues we tend to struggle and any points gained would probably have been seen as a bonus.  

The performances have been a mixed bag – we rolled over at Castleford and were totally embarrassed in the 60-0 defeat at Wigan although we should have won at Catalans and performed well against Leeds last Friday with a depleted side.

Rovers have shown they can win away from home though.

We won at former Super League rivals Bradford Bulls in the 5^th round of the Challenge Cup, although the 50-30 victory was a real struggle until the last 20 minutes and, of course, 2 weeks after the 60-0 hammering at the DW Stadium we took the Warriors on at the Leigh Sports Village in the Challenge Cup 6^th round and wiped the smirks off their faces with a brilliant 16-12 victory to advance to the quarters finals of the Cup and earn a home tie with Catalans Dragons,  a team we defeated 50-20 at home earlier in the season and who generally struggle away from home as much as we have in 2015.

In amongst that run of away games we have had only one home game since Easter Monday and we took Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to the cleaners winning 54-6.

So, heading in to the Magic Weekend we are not in the position we would like to be – but all is not doom and gloom, we are only 1 point from 8^th and 4 points from 5^th and have a game in hand on most teams above us.

We have played some fantastic rugby league this year spearheaded by our captain Terry Campese – a man who has become a talismanic figure in such a short space of time and he is backed up by the likes of Albert Kelly, Ken Sio, Kieran Dixon, a rejuvenated Kris Welham, Ben Cockayne and Josh Mantellato in the backs with Adam Walker, Shaun Lunt, James Green, Kevin Larroyer, James Donaldson, Graeme Horne and the unheralded Maurice Blair and John Boudebza laying the foundations in the forwards.

The KC Lightstream Stadium has become something of a fortress and we have defeated Wigan, Catalans, St. Helens, Huddersfield and Wakefield on our home turf after narrowly losing out to the Leeds Rhinos on the opening day.

I was a major critic of coach Chris Chester towards the end of last season on the back of some poor results and especially after our woeful performance at the KC Stadium last July, and just after half time of the Wigan Warriors game on the 1^st March, when we trailed by 14 points having lost our opening 2 fixtures (including an awful performance at Wakefield the week before), I was shaking my head and thinking about who our new coach could be - but then something wonderful happened.

Terry Campese - Talismanic figure.

Campese took the game by the scruff of the neck and hauled us to a 22-20 win and the scenes at the end were fantastic with the players going round the edge of the pitch and hi-fiving the fans and having their photographs taken with their supporters – you would have thought that we had qualified for the Grand Final instead of having claimed our first league win of the year.

It seemed to galvanise everybody – coaching staff, players and supporters - and whilst things have by no means been perfect since then, we have looked like a dangerous team with the ball in hand and have improved our defensive performances (apart from the Wigan away league game when an U10s side would have ran through us!!!)

Hull Kingston Rovers now head into a season defining period of 5 very important weeks.

We play our local rivals Hull FC at the Magic Weekend on Saturday afternoon in Newcastle – a weekend where we always seem to perform well more often than not having won 6 of our 8 games at Magic and 5 out of 6 against our old rivals (does anyone remember Ganson’s last minute howler when he ‘’tracked the wrong player’’ which cost us our only Magic defeat to the black and whites????) and then we head into 3 consecutive home league fixtures against Castleford Tigers , Widnes Vikings and Warrington Wolves before the month of June closes out with the Challenge Cup quarter final tie at home to Catalans Dragons.

Five very important season defining weekends.

Win those 5 games, create some momentum and we could be nailing on a Super League spot for 2016 that comes with finishing in the top 8 and also booking ourselves a place in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup for the first time since 2006 – lose 3 or 4 of those and it could be a struggle to make the 8 and another missed chance at glory.

It has to be pointed out that last season we lost all of our homes league games against the Tigers, Vikings, Wolves and Dragons so I am not taking anything for granted but I certainly believe that we are a better and more together team now.

Tony Puletua - loan signing.

However, we are really struggling with injuries at the moment and have had to bring in forwards James Greenwood from Wigan Warriors and Tony Puletua from Salford Red Devils on loan as we currently have Adam Walker, Dane Tilse, Graeme Horne, Greg Burke, Shaun Lunt and Mitch Allgood on the sidelines due to injury.

Greenwood is a good young player and showed up well on debut at Leeds last week and I have always been a fan of Puletua – my real concern is that he has not played for Salford this season due to a contract dispute and is 35 years old although his big game experience will be vital and he will want to finish his career on a high after the disappointment of his time at the Red Devils.

Added to the 6 forwards missing we are also without three quarters Liam Salter and Darrel Goulding and star half back Albert Kelly has missed the last couple of games with a hamstring injury – although Maurice Blair has stood in brilliantly in the halves, particularly against Wigan in the Challenge Cup.

Top try scorer Ken Sio went off with concussion against Leeds last week and I am hoping and praying that he will be fit to take his place in the team this weekend.

As you can see, the next 5 weeks will make or break our season and we are in the middle of an injury crisis to boot.

Thankfully, we have recalled Jordan Cox from his loan spell at Huddersfield Giants and it is good to see the big Academy graduate back in the red and white of his home town club and we have also bloodied youngsters Sonny Esslemont and Steven Holker and have Aaron Ollett back fit and raring to go in his first Hull derby at the weekend.

These will be a challenging few weeks but if we can get over the Hull FC hurdle on Saturday afternoon then I think we will be set up nicely for 4 huge home fixtures that may lead us into the top 8 and further down the road to a first Challenge Cup final appearance since 1986 or see us fighting for Super League survival with the likes of Leigh Centurions, Bradford Bulls and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats amongst others and left dreaming of a Wembley appearance for another 12 months at least.

We all saw what Castleford did last season by coming from nowhere to nearly take out both the League Leaders Shield and the Challenge Cup before finishing 4^th after a last day defeat and losing out to the Rhinos at Wembley.

Nothing is impossible – we dare to dream and if the players are together and play at the top of their game and listen to and follow the maestro Campese then we could see you at Wembley on August 29^th and confirm our position in Super League for 2016.

Can you imagine though if the £1 million pound game between the teams that finish 4^th and 5^th in the middle 8s is between Hull KR and Hull FC?? The winner stays in Super League and the vanquished are relegated to the Championship – unlikely I know – but anything is possible!!

It will be an interesting, painful, euphoric, draining, mesmeric, exciting, infuriating few weeks – this is Rugby League!!!

SIX TO GO – Comebacks, Centurions and sunny Skeggy.

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days. My apologies for this being slightly late but it is the first time this week I have had chance to write.

1.       HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Unhappy coach - Shaun Wane.

Hull KR’s turnaround from a 60-0 Super League defeat at the hands of Wigan 2 weeks ago to a 16-12 Challenge Cup victory last Friday night was nothing short of miraculous and showed the team spirit that is in that camp. They played for each other and defended like they did over the Easter period and got in the Wigan players faced just as they did in their 22-20 win at the KC Lightstream Stadium earlier this season – something that they did not do 2 weeks ago when they gave the Warriors a training run and embarrassed themselves totally. The fact that the skipper, Terry Campese, was back in the side made a huge difference and he showed what a high quality player he is in high pressure situations. When others are losing their heads, including the opposition, he is a calming influence and knows the right thing to do at the right time and the right thing to say to the referee at the right time as well. If the hyper critical Garry Schofield thinks he is in with a shout for the Man of Steel then he must be doing something right. The victory was made all the more pleasurable following on from comments made by Wigan coach Shaun Wane that his players had ‘’fire in their bellies’’ after some of Rovers coach Chris Chester’s comments earlier in the week. His ugly face of thunder at the end of the game was worth that 60-0 drubbing 2 weeks ago and I have no doubt that he was expecting another comfortable night as I think he believes Wigan should be given byes right through to the final each year. One thing that hasn’t been picked up on too much was the tackle by Rovers full back Ben Cockayne on Joel Tomkins in the last few minutes. With Rovers leading 16-12 the Warriors launched a well-constructed attack to the right and Tomkins was going full steam to the line before Cockayne made heavy contact and did enough to steer him into touch with the help of his team mates – this is exactly the reason Cockayne needs to play full back – Kieran Dixon would have been brushed away by Tomkins. I also have to say that Wigan half back Sam Powell is a very lucky boy. His cannonball tackle on Dane Tilse was extremely dangerous and was on a par with Rangi Chase’s tackle on Brett Ferres that gave him a 7 week ban. I cannot believe he was not sent off, let alone not put on report or cited by the RFL Disciplinary Committee – it was a shocker and it was only the fact that Tilse has tree trunks for legs that he was not writhing on the floor in agony. Matty Smith had a swift word with Powell on the pitch and you could see he was telling him he was out of order. Where is the consistency from the disciplinary committee?? It was made all the sweeter by the fact that I picked Rovers to win this game when the draw was made. ;)

 

You can see highlights of the match here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJMKiQeTRhg

 

2.     COCKY CENTURIONS!!      

Leigh Centurions are not easy to like in my mind – I think they have an over inflated opinion of themselves which stems from their ridiculous Head of Rugby Derek Beaumont who does not mind piling into other clubs, owners and fans on Social Media. Some of the things that have sprung from his Twitter account should have seen him charged with bringing the game into disrepute and he can blame his son all he wants after his foul mouthed rants on Twitter a couple of weeks ago but the fact is that it was his account, he is the head of a professional sporting organisation looking to gain promotion to the elite level of the sport and he should start acting like a professional. I do not see the likes of Gary Hetherington, Adam Pearson, Ken Davey or Neil Hudgell

Paul Rowley

coming out with the crap he does. They have a very talented and professional coach in Paul Rowley but the fact is that they have limited opposition in the Championship, Bradford Bulls apart, and with the full time squad they have there is no wonder they have won 25 straight games – they are doing exactly what Hull KR did back in 2006 when they reached the Challenge Cup semi final from the second tier by beating WARRINGTON in the quarter finals – but the two Super League teams they have beaten where there for the taking. Salford had multiple injuries and suspensions and lost major players injured (Dobson and Patterson) in the game and Wakefield have lost any confidence they had at the start of the season and have forgotten how to win. Even so, both Salford and Wakefield SHOULD have beaten Leigh. I admit, it says a lot about the Centurions that they came back from losing positions to win both games and they play a very exciting attacking game of rugby league, but will they be able to raise their game on a weekly basis in the Super 8s OR the Super League if they manage to gain promotion.  With the current squad I would say no and even with the record signing of Mickey Higham from Warrington Wolves earlier this week I am not sure that they will have enough to either finish in the top 3 of the middle 8s or win the million pound game to ensure promotion to Super League.

 

3.      WOEFUL WAKEFIELD

I suppose the news that came from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats earlier this week in the wake of the Leigh defeat was less of a surprise than the Wildcats losing to Leigh.  Head coach James Webster had been a dead man walking for a number of weeks and it appears that the Leigh defeat was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Chairman Michael Carter has continually backed his coach and it was Webster who approached Carter and

James Webster

asked for the meeting on Monday that led to Webster recommending that it was best for both parties that he left the club. It is, without doubt, the best decision for everyone involved. Webster was obviously feeling the pressure and showed some naivety with some of the comments he was coming out with and had, more than likely, lost the support of the majority of players. It certainly looked that way in the second half of Sunday’s cup tie. I picked the Wildcats to win this game at the time of the draw and at half time I was sitting pretty thinking there you go – Leigh aren’t that good are they!!! Then came the second half collapse. It was guaranteed that Leigh would come powering back at Wakefeld and all it needed was some tough defence and a willingness to work hard for each other to get through the tough times and they would have been in the hat for the quarter finals. Unfortunately, they capitulated under the pressure as they have so many times this season and seemed to lose interest and heart as Leigh piled on 30 points with just 6 in reply to earn a 36-30 victory. It is such a shame for Webster as I believe he is a very talented coach, as he proved in the second half of last season when he took over from Richard Agar and lifted the Wildcats away from the relegation zone. It will be interesting to see who is willing to pick up this poisoned chalice for the rest of the season and beyond. I sincerely believe that Wakefield have a good squad when fully fit and think that, if they get there motivation back, they will retain there Super League position.

 

You can see highlights of Wakefield v. Leigh here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laDb05FlTm4

 

4.     INTERNATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE A MUST!       

State of Origin

 

It’s State of Origin time in Australia and as always there has been massive publicity and media attention on the coaches and the potential teams. State of Origin is the biggest sporting event in Australia and consistently tops the TV ratings for the whole country – it is very rare that any major sporting event comes even near to the top of the TV ratings in the UK – and this has led to some people to call for a return of the Yorkshire v. Lancashire County of Origin in a bid to improve our chances at international level. To me this concept is old hat and is not an attractive option. The fans would not follow it and the clubs would not support it and would pull players out of squads given any opportunity to do so as they have in the past. The County of Origin was supplanted by England playing The Exiles – a decent concept that faltered because the Exiles, at times, outshone England, because the clubs did not support it and players were pulled out or were playing in Australia and because the additional games could not be accommodated in the years fixture list. The only way to improve England’s performance at international level is to make the Super League more intense on a weekly basis AND more importantly to play regular top quality international rugby league. The 1^st Test v. NZ this November at the KC Stadium in Hull will be England’s first high profile international since the World Cup semi final defeat to the same opposition nearly TWO years ago (England will play Wales 1 week before the start of the Test Series). An English international team has gone nearly TWO years without a serious high profile international match – that just would not happen in any other major sport and cannot be allowed to happen again – any momentum gained from the World  Cup in 2013 has probably been lost and it is vitally important that all 3 Tests, including the Second being held at the iconic Olympic Stadium, are sold out and that England have the opportunity to play regular top quality international Rugby League in their home country every year. The Pacific Island nations, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji plus Papau New Guinea are getting stronger and we need to start looking at the possibility of bringing these Nations into the international cycle so we don’t have to rely on the Australian’s deciding if they want to play international rugby league or not. I started this piece by referencing the State of Origin and I think it would be a great piece of PR to bring the opening match of a series to the UK sometime in the near future – if that could be in London at Wembley or the Olympic Stadium all the better if not, Old Trafford would be a great option – I am sure it would draw a massive crowd and get plenty of column inches and television viewers.

 

5.     GO BARMY IN BLACKPOOL.        

Blackpool at night.

The second tier Championship sides head to Blackpool this weekend for the inaugural Big Bash weekend – the lower leagues version of Super League’s Magic Weekend which started back in 2007. All 12 Championship clubs will head to Bloomfield Road – home of Blackpool FC - for a full round of fixtures over 1 weekend in the seaside resort on a Bank Holiday weekend. If the weather is good then it will be a fantastic weekend mixed in with all of the entertainment that is on hand in the popular seaside resort. The weekend is kicked off by the Championship 1 IPRO Sport Cup final between North Wales Crusaders and Swinton Lions at 12pm before the Cumbrian derby between Workington Town and Whitehaven kicks off at 230pm followed by London Broncos v. Sheffield Eagles (445pm) before the 1^st day is closed off with the West Yorkshire derby between Halifax and Bradford Bulls (7pm). Day 2 kicks off at 1245pm with the Heavy Woollen derby between Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams with coachless Doncaster then taking on Hunslet Hawks (3pm) before a replay of last years Grand Final between all conquering Leigh Centurions and Featherstone Rovers (515pm) finishes off what promises to be a fantastic weekend of rugby league. Thankfully, Sky have got off their backsides and will be televising the weekend’s games in full and I am hoping that we are lucky and that Eddie and Stevo have been given the weekend off because I certainly don’t want to be listening to their drivel for the full weekend. I have been to Blackpool many times and it is certainly a place to have fun with family and friends and whilst it cannot be called a high class holiday resort there is lots to do from the Blackpool Pleasure Beach to the many many pubs and nightclubs that will make a fortune this weekend. I am sure there are going to be some sore heads over this weekend – and not just from the rugby being played!!!

 

6.    SUNNY SKEGGY.        

With Alex Simmons.

I spent the weekend with my family at Butlins in ‘sunny’ Skegness as my eldest son took part in the Leeds Rhinos Challenge 2015. This is the 3^rd year the Rhinos Foundation has held this event which is a rugby league tournament held over two days for boys teams from u7s to u14s and also girls teams from u13s to u15s. My son plays for Skirlaugh Bull’s U12s who came 3^rd in their age group this year after winning it the two previous years at u10s and u11s and they came up against a very talented West Bowling team spearheaded by the son of Leon Pryce who was on hand on the second day to see his team win the u12s tournament. This year there were over 70 teams and over 2500 players taking part in a very special event which needs to be supported by rugby league clubs around the country. The playing venue is just a couple of miles from Butlins and has food and drink stalls, ice cream vans and stalls selling quality rugby league gear at a decent price. This year the weather wasn’t as superb as it was in 2014 but the rain held off and when the sun came out it was nice and pleasant despite the consistent blustery conditions and I even managed to meet the Rugby AM guru Alex Simmons as I walked around the site. He was on hand filming some of the teams involved and had Jamie Jones Buchannan with him who carried out an interview with Leon Pryce in front of some excited kids of all ages. Some of the rugby league played was outstanding and congratulations to every player, coach and administrator who managed to get their teams to this event and make it such a great weekend. The facilities at Butlin’s are top notch and it’s a great weekend to have with your whole family and I would highly recommend it. The weekend is finished off on the Sunday night with a superbly organised presentation with medals for every player involved and a Trophy for each age group winner which are presented by a star player from the Rhinos – this year it was the turn of JJB and Tom Briscoe who followed on from Rob Burrow and Keith Senior last year (basically look at the Rhinos injury list the week before going and you will have an idea of who will be there!!). Professional photographs are taken of the players individually and as a team before the tournament starts on the Saturday morning and every teams has a photograph taken on stage with the Rhinos stars with their medals / trophies at the Sunday night presentation. It really is a fitting conclusion to the weekend and it is an event that I am hoping to get my u7s team to in 2016. The one thing that needs improving is professional player engagement which was noted by Alex Simmons on his radio show on Monday night. Only three professional players JJB, Tom Briscoe and Leon Pryce (basically because his son was playing) where available to the fans so you can imagine they were inundated with autograph and photograph requests which they handled superbly. The Rhinos played on the Saturday so they couldn’t make players available that day and I know Sunday would probably have been a recovery day for them after their Cup win against Huddersfield but it would be great if they could make more players available for this event over the weekend – the kids would love it and I am sure the players would get something out of it too personally. It really is a fantastic event. Check the website out  http://rhinoschallenge.co.uk/ for more information as the 2016 dates will be coming out very soon and take note – it sells out really quickly – it’s a fantastic event and hopefully the organisers will be able to make it even bigger next year and have more rugby league teams involved. 

 

A bit of extra time thinking this week: 

There’s been a fair bit of news and rumours flying about the world this week:

It has finally been confirmed that former Hull KR and Wigan Warriors prop Scott Taylor will be leaving Salford Red Devils at the end of the year to join Hull FC on a 4 year contract. Mickey Paea is on his way out of Hull FC after turning down a contract extension and looks set to return to the NRL with Newcastle Knights.

The marquee player rule is still hotly tipped to be approved in the not too distant future but with the first £100,000 of the marquee player’s salary only being counted on the cap. If it is approved Warrington are still being hotly tipped to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Cooper Cronk.

State of Origin and Australia international forwards Dave Taylor (Gold Coast Titans) and Keith Galloway (Wests Tigers) are interested in joining Super League in 2016 – especially if the marquee player rules comes in.

Leeds Rhinos have missed out on New Zealand Warriors forward Sam Rapira who looks like joining Huddersfield Giants whilst the Rhinos have gone left field and signed Ireland international prop Anthony Mullally from Huddersfield Giants (which has pissed the Giants off as they had offered him an improved contract and he did not tell them he was joining Leeds). The best signing of the week was the Rhinos extending Rob Burrow’s contract by 2 years to the end of 2017. There was a lot of speculation that Burrow was on his way to Hull KR or Castleford Tigers – but the Rhinos have done the right thing and it looks like Burrow will end up as a one club man. It was a no brainer really as the little man is still playing some superb rugby league.

Former Warrington Wolves forward Mike Cooper has signed a 2 year contract extension at St. George Illawarra Dragons until the end of 2017 and will be joined next season and beyond by St. Helens giant forward Mose Masoe.

Good luck to Sam Burgess who has been named in the 50 man England RU training squad for the forthcoming World Cup later in the year. He has been playing back row, pretty successfully, for Bath in the last few weeks but England coach Stuart Lancaster still sees him as an outside centre. I still think it is pretty long odds on him making the final cut for the World Cup squad but it would be great if he did.

England coach Steve McNamara has revealed that he has approached Leeds Rhinos Australian forward Adam Cuthbertson about aligning himself to England and making himself available for selection for the New Zealand Test series at the end of the year. Cuthbertson has been outstanding for Leeds this year and qualifies for England through his English father. Do England need him??

 

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69 .

SIX TO GO - RIP Danny Jones

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, normally this column would look at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days in the world of rugby league. There were two great Pacific Island Tests on the Gold Coast at the weekend, New Zealand defeated Australia for the third time in a row, Kurt Gidley signed for Warrington, Greg Bird will miss Origin after copping an 8 game ban for an illegal throw in the Test Match and it seems like the New Zealand Warriors are looking to remove the ‘Warriors’ from their name and just become New Zealand as they look to bring Test hooker Isaac Luke home from the Raabbitohs in addition to the already signed Roger Tuivasa-Scheck. But all of this pales into insignificance when the Rugby League family loses one of it’s own in tragic circumstances and comes together to show it’s support like it has in the last week.

Danny Jones - Halifax, Keighley & Wales.

1.      

Danny Jones was a 29 year old part time rugby league player with Championship 1 side Keighley Cougars. On a normal Sunday afternoon last weekend he went out to play half back for the Cougars in a league game against London Skolars down in the capital. Danny did not feel 100% in the warm up but, like the vast majority of rugby players throughout the world at every level of the game, he thought he would shake it off and just get on and play the game in the same way he had since starting out as a professional with Halifax Blue Sox, as they were then known, back in Super League in 2003. But something wasn’t right and he knew it and did a rare thing for a rugby player – he asked to be substituted because he didn’t feel well. Unfortunately Danny collapsed at the side of the pitch and despite the best efforts of paramedics and treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in London Danny died from a cardiac arrest. HE WAS JUST 29 YEARS OLD.

2.      

Danny in action for Keighley.

Danny was known as a skilful and hard working half back and represented Wales 12 times and was a member of their 2013 World Cup squad. According to team mates and friends he was a larger than life personality and loved a laugh and a joke and winding up his team mates. Warrington Wolves legend Lee Briers, assistant Wales coach at the aforementioned World Cup, said Jones was instrumental in keeping the squad morale at a high during a tough World Cup for the Welshmen. Danny scored in every Cougars match in the 2009 season and was the only player in British Rugby League to achieve that feat that year.

3.      



Danny and his twins

Even more heart breaking and relevant than the fact that a 29 year old fit young man has died of a cardiac arrest is that he was married and is the father of 5 month old twins who will now never get to know their father. As a father of 4 young(ish) children myself I cannot comprehend going out to work and then never coming home again. How do your family cope with this? The fact that his wife did not get to even see her husband again after he left for his rugby match as he would do every week of the season – that she has young twins to look after by herself now – that she has no one to share the wonderful experience of young family life with. I hope she has a strong family that helps them through this but the fact is that it will never be the same.

Danny and his wife

 

4.      
This brings us to the question about whether this could have been prevented. There is no black and white answer to this. All Super League clubs have heart screening in place as standard for their players but Championship clubs do not. Probably because of costs but it is not guaranteed that Danny’s death could have been prevented even with heart screening but there is a much higher probability that it would have been. A post-mortem has now revealed that Danny was suffering from hereditary heart disease and this could not even be picked up by an ECG that he had late last year. Even so, an annual ECG (electrocardiography) should be mandatory at every level of professional sport to ensure that everything possible is being done to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

 

5.      


Cougar Park Tribute

Keighley Cougars opened their ground for supporters to pay tribute to Danny and have been overwhelmed with the show of support from around the sporting world and by the fans of the club who have attended the ground and left shirts, scarves and flowers amongst other things. The club are going to re-name one of their stands at Cougar Park ’The Danny Jones Stand’ and have retired the no. 6 jersey which Danny was wearing last Sunday. A minutes silence will be held for Danny at every Rugby League match this weekend.

 

6.      


Kyle Amor - after.

The RFL Benevolent fund set up a ‘Just Giving’ page in response to Danny’s death with all funds raised going to Danny’s wife and young children to help them cope with this tragic loss. It must be remembered that Danny was probably the main source of income for his family and, as a part time player, had a full time job as well to hold down in addition to training 4 nights a week. The money he earned will have paid the mortgage, paid the utility bills, the car and for food and clothes and everyday items we all take for granted – that is now gone in an instant. The original target for this fund was a mere £1,000 – that was eclipsed very quickly and as of 9 a.m. Friday morning (UK time) the fund stood at £80,847.15 from nearly 4,929 donations from people from every walk of life and around the world who have been touched by this. Super League players such as Tyrone McCarthy, Kyle Amor, Adam Cuthbertson, Craig Huby, Grant Millington and Oliver Holmes have been on social media urging fans to give money and promising to shave their beards and hair off if particular targets are met. The public have done their job and met the targets and the players have lost their hair and beards.

I urge everyone who reads this, if you haven’t already, to give whatever you can to the fund. This is the link you need: https://www.justgiving.com/dannyjones29

Below is a video tribute to Danny Jones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2OcbOIs98E

  
 

35 years ago today - 1980 Challenge Cup Final - Hull KR v. Hull FC

35 years ago today over 90,000 fans attended the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

Nothing unusual about that you might think but on this day, May 3^rd 1980,  for the first, and so far only time in the history of the game, the final was between two teams from the same city – Hull FC would play Hull Kingston Rovers and the winners would have a lifetime of bragging rights.

I was 11 years old at the time and a mad keen Hull KR fan – I had been supporting the team for 3 years and attended home games with a couple of my friends and their families.

I played rugby league for my school, Ferens Juniors, and they always ran a trip to the Challenge Cup final and fortunately I was booked on this year’s trip. It wouldn’t be my first Challenge Cup Final – I went with school to the 1979 final between Widnes and Wakefield Trinity – but obviously this one was special and we realised that even at such a young age.

Hull KR had qualified for the final with a defeat of Second Division Halifax to qualify for their first Wembley final since 1964 whilst Hull FC had seen off self-proclaimed cup kings Widnes to get to Wembley for the first time since 1960.

Hull FC fans ready for Wembley 1980

The excitement within the city had not been seen before for a rugby league match and the rush for tickets for the final was amazing. Rovers were the reigning League Champions and Hull FC had defeated Rovers in the Floodlit Trophy final in front of 18,000 fans at the Boulevard back in December and were the best supported team in the league having won promotion from the Second Division by winning all of their league games the previous season.

On the morning of the match people travelled down to the match in car, on coaches from local pubs and social clubs or on train – the BBC were at Paragon Train station in Hull as our school boarded the train down to London. My dad travelled with me along with my school friends and Rovers and Hull fans from different schools and areas of the city were all mixed in together – it was a new experience for me and the atmosphere was raucous and exciting with everyone decked out in club colours wearing team jerseys, scarves and hats and carrying flags and wearing rosettes.

The city was left nearly empty and the local businesses would have suffered that day – there was a sign painted on a white sheet that could be seen as people travelled out of the city that read ‘’Last one out turn out the lights’’ such was the exodus expected.

We arrived at Kings Cross Station and I don’t think they knew what had it them in the capital – why where all these people dressed in red and white and black and white singing about ‘Red Red Robins’ and ‘Old Faithful’ and talking in a strange northern accent descending upon their town? It seemed even stranger because people wearing red and white and black and white were holding hands and seemed to be friends and members of the same family – what was going on?

Cleopatra's Needle - impressed!

I remember we got to London quite a few hours before the match so the school had laid on a little bit of sight-seeing before we headed to Wembley – I recall being impressed by Cleopatra’s Needle on Victoria Embankment!!

I don’t recall travelling to Wembley itself but what I do remember is the walk up Wembley Way towards the famous Twin Towers. It was a mass of red and white and black and white and the noise from the fans singing the club songs was deafening at times – you could tell a few people had been in the pubs and had a few beers but the atmosphere was fun and there was no hint of any trouble – people had known each other for years and had waited a lifetime for this game in some instances and they certainly weren’t going to spoil what was a great day for the city of Kingston upon Hull.

We got into the stadium about an hour before the match and at the old Wembley you used to climb up a few steps from the gangways that held the bars and food outlets and over used tilets and as you ascended you could feel the atmosphere build and hit you in the face as you found your seat.  Even at that time there was hundreds of flags and banners flying around this iconic stadium and the quantity only increased as we got closer to kick off and sang the traditional ‘’Abide with Me’’.

As the two teams walked out of that famous tunnel side by side across the pitch to be presented to the Queen Mother before the match the atmosphere grew to fever pitch and ‘Red Red Robin’ and ‘Old Faithful’ battled each other for supremacy just as the two sides would in just a few minutes. There were so many flags flying I couldn’t understand how anyone could see.

Hull KR were led by the legendary Roger Millward, who was playing in his first Challenge Cup Final, and who was also our player coach whilst Hull FC were captained by the outstanding loose forward Steve ‘Knocker’ Norton – two international players who had started their careers at their hometown club Castleford.

Rovers had another legend of the game who was playing in his first Challenge Cup Final. World Cup winning captain Clive Sullivan, a former Hull FC star, was now 37 years old and would line up on the left wing for Rovers – what no one knew at the time is that both Millward and Sullivan would be playing their last game for Rovers in this match.

Hull FC had much more Challenge Cup final experience with 5 players,  Graham Bray, John Newlove, Charlie Stone, Steve Norton and Keith Boxall who had tread the hallowed turf previously against just one for Hull KR – Brian Lockwood.

This was a historic occasion but the game will not be remembered as a classic – as an 11 year old at the time I didn’t think about that kind of thing but was just in awe of the sights and sounds of the day.

The game had the typical start of a local Derby with aggression and errors the order of the day but it was my side, Rovers, that started the stronger and opened the scoring after just 7 minutes.

Steve Hubbard - scored 9 of 10 HKR points

Wingman Steve Hubbard had been a revelation in his first full season in the team and had broken the club record points in a season total that was held by the legendary Neil Fox and it was Hubbard who got the first try on the board off the back of a move that had failed all week in training.

Rovers were 40 yards out from the Hull line and a move set in motion by Roy Holdstock and Allan Agar resulted in Brian Lockwood releasing a wonderful pass for Hubbard, a big man for a winger, to charge onto the ball and score. In the process referee Fred Lindop judged that Hubbard had been fouled in the act of scoring and a penalty try was awarded. Unfortunately, Hubbard missed the conversion but did kick the penalty from in front of the posts and Rovers led 5-0.

Almost immediately Rovers were attacking the FC line again and just as Millward released the ball to Phil Lowe, Hull hooker Ronnie Wileman flew at Millward and hit him with a high shot which was penalised. Hubbard converted to give Rovers a 7-0 lead and it was not known until after the match that the challenge had broken Millwards jaw – the injury that would end his career.

Hull FC winger Tim Wilby got his team back into the game with a try from close range but Sammy Lloyd could not convert and it was the injured Millward who had the last word of the half with a drop goal to give Rovers an 8-3 lead.

The Rovers fans sent our heroes back to the changing rooms with huge cheers and the smiles on our faces were full of relief as we were all very nervous as this was one final we did not want to lose.

The second half was even tighter than the first and was very nerve wracking as Hull pounded the Rovers line for long periods but Rovers defence stood firm.

Lloyd slotted over an early penalty in the half to get the score back to 8-5 but the only other score of the game was a Hubbard penalty with just 5 minutes left which gave Rovers a 10-5 victory – a score line that will never be forgotten by either side – simply because us Rovers fans won’t let FC fans forget about it and we have named a bar at our ground the 10-5 club.

Roger Millward lifts the Challenge Cup

Brian Lockwood won the coveted Lance Todd Trophy and our part of the stadium went delirious as Millward climbed the 39 steps to collect the Challenge Cup Trophy from the Queen Mother along with his team mates.

I remember the team walking around the pitch and I was determined to wait for them even though our teachers had told us to get ready to leave. I was waving my flag and turned round to realise that I had been left by everyone – fortunately I saw my dad coming back down the steps to collect me but I made sure I waved the team passed me.

It was manic leaving the ground to get back into London and I remember a skinhead in FC colours heading towards me – I was a bit concerned but all he wanted to do was shake my hand and say well done – that’s the kind of day it was.

All of us got back into London and actually had time to go to the cinema before we had to get back to King Cross for our late train home. It was a long and tiring day and the atmosphere on the train home was a little subdued as everyone was very tired but it didn’t stop a few renditions of ‘Red Red Robin’ and some FC fans managed to raise themselves to sing ‘Old Faithful’

We got back into Hull late and my friends dad picked us up as we did not have a car and they lived in the next street to us anyway.

The homecoming took place the next day and thousands of fans swarmed into the Hull City Centre outside the town hall to receive the team and see them raise the Challenge cup once more.

Hull KR at the Town Hall

I didn’t make it into town – instead I stood along part of the route and took some photo’s as the open top bus paraded by – it was the perfect end to a perfect weekend.