Unpredictable
Super League XV is now well and truly underway and how refreshing it is to see such an unpredictable set of results. After just 3 Rounds, only Wigan and Wakefield can currently boast a 100% record, whilst Les Catalans and Salford are the only two teams who have yet to get off the mark. There have already been some cracking games and some quite magnificent football on display.
It is so difficult to decide who has had the better of the starts as it is still difficult to judge the relative strengths and weaknesses of each team. Saints are a pressing example of this. Last time we were at Knowsley Road, three weeks ago, Hull defeated St. Helens by 32 points to 12. The weather was abysmal, Hull were very good and Saints were rather ordinary. Hence some of Saints’ speccies were booing their team off at the end and there were doom merchants predicting a long, hard campaign for St. Helens. The following week, Hull beat Huddersfield by 14 points to 6 to maintain their 100% but suffered a surprise 16-18 reversal at Crusaders last Sunday.
A fortnight ago at Bradford, Saints were outstanding. They played some magnificent football and comprehensively defeated the Bulls 38-6. Leon Pryce was outstanding as was James Roby, yet Wello stole the show with 4 great tries. St. Helens, on the day, looked to be in a different league than Bradford. The Saints fans sang and applauded, whilst some of the Bulls’ supporters booed their team. Bradford (who had been beaten at Huddersfield in their opening Super League fixture) had lost both of their matches and there were calls on the radio for their Head Coach, Steve McNamara to be sacked. Last Friday, Bradford hammered Castleford by 41 points to 22 and left the field to cheers and chants. What a difference in a week!
Last Saturday, St. Helens visited the South of France and defeated Les Catalans by 42 points to 12. The Saints again played very well whilst the Dragons were hindered by the 1st half dismissal of Olivier Elima, and this defeat, following earlier losses at Wakefield and Harlequins sees the Catalans currently at the foot of the Super League XV ladder with three defeats.
For the record, at present Saints are lying in 4th place, Hull are 6th and Bradford 10th. Looking round the rest of the teams, Champions, Leeds have suffered two defeats in their opening four matches at the hands of Castleford and Wakefield and they have an identical record to Crusaders who, having beaten Salford and Hull have lost against Leeds and Wigan. They lie in 7th and 8th position respectively and are both likely to fall this weekend as neither side has a match due to their Round 4 clash being brought forward due to the World Club Challenge.
It looks like it will be a few more weeks before the competition settles down and until then, my advice is to expect the unexpected. I will however attempt to stick my neck out and predict how the Super League XV table will look at the end of the 27 Rounds. In my opinion, Leeds will again be Minor Premiers. Warrington, St. Helens, Hull, Wigan, Huddersfield, Bradford and Wakefield make up the remainder of the Top 8 in that order, whilst they will be followed by, Castleford, Hull KR, Les Catalans, Harlequins, Salford and Crusaders.
Rules
The game in Australia has once again been experimenting with its rules. At one time when the NRL approved a new rule it appeared that we in Britain simply followed suit. Then last season they brought in two referees. A good move? Well I’m a tad unsure; as I found it very distracting whilst following a passage of play to see two referees out of the corner of my eye. I am yet unconvinced that it has improved the game and I am glad we haven’t adopted this practice in our competition.
Now this season, I see our Antipodean cousins have trialled another new rule in a pre season Exhibition game between the Indigenous All Stars versus the NRL All Stars at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast. During this match, veteran Indigenous All Star winger, Wendell Sailor, who was playing in his last match before his retirement, scored a try in the corner and his team elected to use the new experimental ‘double try’ rule. Instead of lining up the conversion, the Indigenous All Stars took one tackle from 15 metres out to attempt to score a further try, whilst the NRL All Stars full back was forced to sit the play out on the side line. Thankfully the gamble failed but I cannot believe that this rule has been trialled. I just don’t know what they’re thinking because, although I am not sure which pre planned set play, the Indigenous All Stars used, I am pretty certain that if it was universally accepted in all matches, we would finish all too regularly with a play the ball and one or two passes before a huge ‘up and under’ would ensure that it rapidly turned into a ‘percentage’ play.
If the Aussies are to be taken seriously upon the introduction of rules which enhance our game, why don’t they look at increasing the gap between the respective attacking and defensive lines at scummages, award a handover at the point a ball is punted down the field should it eventually run ‘dead’ or reduce the reward for a try scored from a kick to three points? Surely issues such as these deserve visiting before we look at bringing in rules as daft as having two referees and the scoring of a ‘double try’.
