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| Lizzie Jones and twins. |
So, we are all looking forward to the day and are very
excited about seeing Rovers play on the biggest stage in the game in front of a
huge attendance.
What has made me look forward to this game even more was
this week’s announcement that Lizzie Jones, the widow of Keighley Cougars half
back Danny who tragically died after a match earlier this season, will be
singing ‘Abide with Me’ prior to the game.
The song has been a fixture at Challenge Cup Finals since
the first Wembley Cup final in 1929 and is very emotional – it was actually
written as a poem by Henry Francis Lyte in 1847 and is set to music by English
Composer William Henry Monk called ‘Eventide’.
The fact Lizzie is singing this song will make it even more
emotional and it is wonderful that she has been given this opportunity to thank
the Rugby League public for the amazing support that she and her family have
received.
Would this happen in any other sport?
Lizzie is a professional singer and I am sure will do a
brilliant job and will do Danny and her two young twins proud – I think the
welcome she will receive when she is announced will be as loud as when the two
teams walk out together.
All I need now to improve the day further is a fit Albert
Kelly in a Challenge Cup winning side – I never thought I would invoke the
Black Eyed Peas but ‘’I gotta feeling’’!!
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| Sam Burgess in action v. France. |
The presence of Sam Burgess in the England Rugby Union team
is one of only a few ways you would get me to watch a Union match on a Saturday
night (the missus didn’t seem to mind either for some reason) but I must admit
that I thoroughly enjoyed the match and the Sky coverage which was full of
insightful and informed commentary and analysis from intelligent and highly
respected former players and coaches who have achieved great successes (World
Cups, Heineken Cups etc).
I thought England played some exciting rugby and you could
see, on occasion, that some of their coaches and players are influenced by
rugby league.
The two tries scored by Anthony Watson were superb and the
kind of tries Jason Robinson would have been proud of whilst the try by his
opposite wingman, Johnny Mays, would not have looked out of place on a rugby
league field as England used block runners before the full back, Alex Goode,
put in a precise kick for Mays to charge on to unchallenged as the French
defence had been pulled in and left a huge overlap.
Anyway, I wasn’t intending to bang the drum for Union, just
Slammin’ Sam who I thought had an excellent debut. You can see some highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6oaZ6Qv3T4
He may have been overshadowed by his fellow centre Henry
Slade, who was outstanding and showed some wonderful skills, but Burgess
showcased all of the skills that every League fan knew he possessed.
He tackled strongly and fearlessly and some big French lumps
certainly knew who Sam Burgess was at the end of the match but he also showed
ability with the ball in hand and was involved in the move for England’s second
try although he blotted his copybook slightly by being sin-binned for 10
minutes for obstruction – a minor offence really that just deserved a penalty.
The big question now is whether he will be a part of the
final England squad of 31 for the upcoming World Cup.
England coach Stuart Lancaster see’s Burgess as a centre
whereas he plays in the back row for Bath and it is likely that England will
take 4 centres to the World Cup.
Better judges than me say that Jonathan Joseph, England’s
player of the year, and Brad Barritt are certainties to fill two of the centre
spots whilst Burgess, Slade, Luther Burrell and Billy Twelvetrees fight it out
for the final two spots.
After seeing Slade, also a debutante, play on Saturday night
and the fact that he can cover fly half it would be difficult to leave him out.
According to Jeremy Guscott, Twelvetrees will definitely not make the squad,
and with Burrell forming the centre partnership with Joseph throughout the 2015
Six Nations campaign, during which England scored 18 tries, then Sam will be
hard pushed to make the final 31.
His Bath coach, former Rugby League international Mike Ford,
believes Burgess has done enough to make the squad whilst World Cup winning
scrum half Matt Dawson was not impressed with Burgess’ performance and believes
he should not make the squad.
It would be an outstanding achievement if Burgess makes the World
Cup squad just 10 months after his Herculean performance in the NRL Grand Final
for South Sydney Rabbitohs.  |
| Jarryd Hayne. |
Hayne appeared as a running back and kick returner and made
an impact in both positions with a 53 yard rush on one carry alone and recorded
a total of 63 yards from 5 carries. He also had a 33 yard return from a kick
off and went a long way in showcasing his attributes and gave himself a huge
chance of earning a place in the 49ers final 53 man roster for the 2015/16 NFL
regular season.
If Hayne manages to pull this off and get on the final
roster I believe that this will be an even bigger achievement than if Burgess
makes the England Rugby Union World Cup squad.
Burgess is back in his home country with a huge reputation and
pay packet and is at least playing a sport that is similar in many ways to
rugby league whereas Hayne has totally left his comfort zone by moving to a new
country where he has next to no reputation apart from what people have seen on
YouTube and no contract offer whatsoever.
He has had to go through spring training camp and prove
himself over and over again before even being given the opportunity to suit up
and take the field in a proper game of American Football and even though he
impressed team mates and commentators alike in his debut outing he still has a
hell of a job to earn a place on the final roster.
It would be a huge achievement and already a number of NFL
scouts are making contact with Australian agent’s to talk about NRL stars who
could potentially be willing to take a punt on a career in the NFL.
NFL teams have player budgets well in excess of US$100
million and the salary’s of the best paid NRL stars will be seen as peanuts. |
| James Lowes. |
Wane has won the Super League title and Challenge Cup with
Wigan, Chester has taken Hull KR to their first Challenge Cup Final in 29 years
in his first full year in charge, Paul Anderson took Huddersfield to the League
Leaders Shield in his first season at the helm and has made them a top 4 team,
Daryl Powell is the reigning Coach of the Year, Lee Radford is working hard to
improve Hull FC and Denis Betts is overseeing a steady improvement at Widnes
Vikings.
Wouldn’t you think that if the Head Coach of your National
team, who is based in Australia, is looking for an assistant for an important
upcoming home Test Series against the number 1 ranked international side in the
world he would look at the men who are currently in charge of a Super League
side and will have all of the knowledge that he will need to help him have a
crack at New Zealand.
Steve McNamara is clearly his own man and instead has
appointed his old mate, Championship side Bradford Bulls Head Coach James Lowes.
I was full of admiration for Lowes as a player but just
remind me what Lowes has achieved in his coaching career to earn this
appointment?
I know a Head Coach needs to be comfortable with his
assistant and be confident in his abilities but I would much rather see an
experienced Super League Head Coach help with the preparation of the squad for
what could be McNamara’s last throw of the dice as National Head Coach with a
young up and coming coach or recent former player who has recently retired
working alongside them as well.
I personally do not see what James Lowes will bring to the
England squad and believe that, in particular, the likes of Powell and Anderson
would bring much more to the squad and give us a greater opportunity to win the
Test Series.
Maybe McNamara doesn’t want to give them on the job
interviews to take over his position!!
 |
| 'Frank the Tank' Pritchard |
Hull FC’s quality recruitment
As much as I hate to admit it I think that Hull FC have
recruited really well for 2016 and, in particular, their pack will be full of
monsters that will give many teams a nightmare.
FC already have a very good back row in which Mark
Minichello, signed from Gold Coast Titans last year, has been one of the stand
out performers in Super League this year alongside former England international
Gareth Ellis, when he’s fit, and the enigmatic Joe Westerman who, on his day, can
be devastating.
This season Liam Watts has really come to the fore in the
front row alongside Mickey Paea and the ever reliable Danny Houghton.
They are losing Paea to the Newcastle Knights and I’m not
too sure that Ellis will fully recover from the Achilles injury that he
suffered in the final Derby of the season at Hull KR on July 17th.
However, the players that they are bringing in will
strengthen their pack tremendously.
Former Hull KR prop Scott Taylor has signed from Salford Red
Devils and the majority of Salford fans will agree that he has been their form
forward this year and has got back to the form that persuaded Wigan Warriors to
sign him from Rovers 3 years ago and they have strengthened their back row even
more with the signings of former New Zealand internationals Frank Pritchard and
Sika Manu.
Frank the Tank is a beast and has 27 Test Caps for New
Zealand and nearly 250 NRL appearances for Penrith Panthers and Canterbury
Bulldogs over the last 12 years whilst Manu has 14 Test appearances for the
Kiwis and nearly 150 NRL appearances over the last 8 years for Melbourne Storm
and Penrith Panthers. Both of them will bring a great amount of physicality to
the Hull pack and make them an even more formidable proposition.
The main problem for Hull will be getting their backs to
fire off these forwards, in particularly their half backs.
This is where they have struggled for so many years and the
new pairing of Leon Pryce and Marc Sneyd, hailed as the clubs best half back
pairing since they won the Challenge Cup in 2005 with Richard Horne and Paul
Cooke, have not played as well or as consistently as the fans expected and only
Tom Lineham in the back line has proved a constant threat to opposition
defences scoring 21 tries in 20 Super League appearances this year. He will be
sorely missed when he leaves for Warrington Wolves at the end of the year but
his replacement, Mahe Fonua, looks exciting and could have a huge impact on
Super League.
Fonua has been signed from Melbourne Storm and was the first
Melbourne born player to represent the Storm in the NRL and has scored 24 tries
in 50 appearances since his debut in 2012. Despite not gaining a regular berth in
2015 after a successful 2014 season Fonua will be only 23 at the start of Super
League XXI and at over 6’ and nearly 16st he and Fetuli Talanoa could form a
destructive wing partnership next year.
Add in the versatility and professionalism of Danny
Washbrook, who has re-signed after 4 years at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, the
unknown quantity that is Carlos Tuimavave from Newcastle Knights and the
improving Steve Michaels and Curtis Naughton then you have a team that could
easily claim a top 6 finish - but things never seem to work out as they should
over in West Hull do they!! |
| Manu Vatuvei |
The Kiwis will also be without another experienced and long
serving wingman, Jason Nightingale, for the tour as he is out of the game indefinitely
with an ankle injury.
That’s a lot of fire power and experience to lose – Vatuvei
is the Kiwi’s record Test try scorer with 22 tries in 28 Tests and Nightingale
has 16 tries in 25 Tests and was the top tryscorer in last year’s Four Nations
tournament – add these to the loss of Johnson and experienced hooker / half
back Thomas Leuluai and you are removing a lot of the skill and talent that
would have excited the English crowds and made England’s life a lot more
difficult.
Penrith Panther’s young wingman Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who
was selected ahead of Vatuvei for the 2014 Four Nations opener and ahead of
Nightingale for this year’s ANZAC Test but unfortunately pulled out of both
games with injury, is also unlikely to make the tour as he suffered a collapsed
lung earlier in the year.
First choice centres Dean Whare and Shaun Kenny-Dowall are
also currently out of the game for different reasons so there could be a host
of places open to some young guns to come through and make an impact or for
some former Test players to reclaim a jersey.
The Kiwis have a host of young guns who would not look out
of place in the Test side.
Canterbury wide man Curtis Rona has run in 20 tries in 20
appearances in the NRL this year, Antonio Winterstein is a regular tryscorer
for North Queensland and has been for a few years now, Warriors three quarter
Solomone Kata has had a very good first year in the NRL with 11 tries in 21
appearances and the likes of Winterstein’s fellow wingman at the Cowboys Matthew
Wright, the Warriors Ken Maumolo, Jordan Rapana from the Raiders and Cronulla’s
Sosaia Feki mean that the Kiwi’s have plenty of youngsters that they can cast
an eye over.
Former Test players Gerard Beale, Bryson Goodwin, Sam
Perrett, Matt Duffie and Josh Hoffman will also be looked at as potential
replacements but none of them will have the impact of ‘The Beast’.
A bit of extra time
thinking……
 |
| Keegan Hirst |
One of my best memories from Hull KR’s Challenge Cup semi-final win over Warrington Wolves was our supporter’s rendition of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’ at the final hooter. What a great and totally unexpected song choice that was. Erasure front man Andy Bell has sent the team a good luck message and given them permission to record their own version of the song which is available to download from iTunes and Google Play. All money raised will be split between the charity’s Freddie’s Friends, Downright Special and the Terence Higgins Trust. You can see the video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzfqh6xQtuI .Check out the moves of Kevin Larroyer and Kieran Dixon – it’s great fun – my 6 year old just loves to watch it over and over again!!
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| Will Albert Kelly be fit? |
You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69
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