Crisis meeting takes place as RFL and Super League officials clash over England v All Stars

[josie andrews]

Exclusive: A meeting is taking place on Monday afternoon.

A crisis meeting between senior RFL officials and Super League clubs is taking place this afternoon to resolve the issue surrounding England's fixture with the All Stars.

Rugby League Live understands RFL CEO Ralph Rimmer and on-field officer Dave Rotheram are set for showdown discussions with club officials, with a number of Super League clubs refusing to release players to play for the All Stars.

It's believed the All Stars selectors spent Monday ringing around clubs pleading with Super League coaches to release players to ensure they had a full squad of players to select from on Friday for the fixture.

But clubs are reluctant, and others unwilling, due to having fixtures to fulfil this weekend. Some claim they will not be able to raise a team themselves if they release any further players.

As a consequence, there is a stalemate that leaves the England game clouded in uncertainty, just four days before it is due to be played. The RFL insist the game will go ahead.

It's thought that some clubs are considering lodging a request to have their games postponed. Rules state clubs can request to have their game called off if they have four or more international call-ups within their squads.

But other clubs are thought to be furious at the prospect of games being postponed, leaving the entire game at loggerheads.

It's hoped that this afternoon's meeting will resolve matters. Yet it's another sorry state of affairs for the sport as England try to prepare for the World Cup.

Head coach Shaun Wane has yet to take charge of his first game as England head coach and his preparations have been hampered due to Covid.


https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-20867633

[josie andrews]

England play waiting game as All Stars struggle to raise a squad

ENGLAND WERE last night still waiting to learn which players will line up against them in Friday’s World Cup warm-up game.

The Combined Nations All Stars squad was due to be revealed yesterday, but after a day of arguments, the announcement was delayed until this morning.

The game, Shaun Wane’s first in charge of England is set to take place at a time when fears are growing of a new wave of coronavirus disruption in Super League.

Leeds Rhinos, whose last two fixtures were postponed after eight players contracted the virus and others were forced to isolate as close contacts, resumed training yesterday after a 12-day break.

But Hull KR became the latest club to request a postponement following three positive tests over the weekend, adding to two last week.

Nine other players have been forced to isolate as close contacts.

The East Yorkshire club’s game at home to St Helens has been called off and training postponed until tomorrow, when a further round of PCR testing will be carried out.

Rovers are not represented in the England squad and their players who had been set for All Stars selection have been stood down.

Coaches, having seen their sides already weakened by injuries, Covid cases and England call-ups, are reluctant to release players to the All Stars squad for Friday, which would further limit their selection options for this week’s full round of Super League matches.

After talks yesterday between clubs and the governing body, an RFL spokesman said confirmation of the All Stars squad is “regrettably, but unavoidably, delayed until [this] morning”.

He added: “This is to allow team management additional time this evening to finalise arrangements.”

Friday’s game is one of only two warm-up fixtures before England begin their World Cup campaign against Samoa in Newcastle on October 23 and is regarded as crucial to Wane’s preparations.

The England coach yesterday reduced his squad from the 24 players named last week to 19, including Leeds’ Ash Handley, Luke Gale and Mikolaj Oledzki, Wakefield Trinity duo Reece Lyne and Joe Westerman and Paul McShane of Castleford Tigers.

Leeds are due to return to action on Friday at Salford Red Devils, but coach Richard Agar has admitted he is unsure how, with injuries and Covid having already decimated his squad, he will be able to raise a team

One possible option is for Rhinos’ game at Salford to be moved back two days to Sunday, allowing players to back-up from the mid-season Test.

Trinity are at home to Wigan Warriors on Thursday, when Castleford face visitors Catalans Dragons.

Neither Hull nor Huddersfield Giants, who meet on Friday, are represented in the England squad, but both are believed to be concerned about the possibility of being weakened by players being called up for the All Stars.

Handley, Oledzki and McShane are among six uncapped players in England’s squad.

The others are Catalans’ Tom Davies, Morgan Knowles of St Helens and Warrington Wolves’ Joe Philbin.

Players dropped from the 24-man squad named last week are free-agent George Williams, Warrington’s Toby King, Jermaine McGillvary and Jake Wardle of Huddersfield Giants and Salford’s Dan Sarginson.

Sarginson has been suspended for three matches after the RFL’s match review panel charged him with a grade C high tackle in last Friday’s win at Huddersfield.

Teammate James Greenwood was mistakenly sent-off for the incident, but the review panel rescinded his red card.

Salford’s Greg Burke received a one-game penalty notice for a grade B high tackle in the same game, also ruling him out of the meeting with Rhinos.

Wigan’s former Leeds forward Brad Singleton will miss two games, including this week’s trip to Wakefield, after being charged with a grade C butt against Hull KR last weekend.

Two Leeds Rhinos players, two from York City Knights and five from Castleford Tigers have been named in a 19-strong squad for England Women’s Test against Wales at Warrington on Friday, played as a curtain-raiser to the men’s match.

Leeds wing Fran Goldthorp, who scored two tries in the 2019 Grand Final win over Castleford, is set for her first cap.

Rhinos full-back Caitlin Beevers is also included and Castleford’s Emma Lumley and Hollie Dodd – who made history featuring in the 2019 Challenge Cup final at just 16 - are in contention to make their international debut.

Shona Hoyle, Georgia Roche and Tara Stanley are Tigers’ other representatives.

The squad also features Grace Field and Kelsey Gentles, who both joined York from Castleford earlier this year.

England men’s 19-man squad is: John Bateman (Wigan Warriors), Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie (all Warrington Wolves), Tom Davies (Catalans Dragons), Liam Farrell (Wigan), Luke Gale, Ash Handley (both Leeds Rhinos) Morgan Knowles (St Helens), Reece Lyne (Wakefield Trinity), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Paul McShane (Castleford Tigers), Tommy Makinson (St Helens), Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds), Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford (both Warrington), Sam Tomkins (Catalans), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Joe Westerman (Wakefield).

The England women’s squad is: Emily Rudge (St Helens, captain), Caitlin Beevers (Leeds Rhinos), Chantelle Crowl, Jodie Cunningham (both St Helens), Hollie Dodd (Castleford Tigers), Grace Field, Kelsey Gentles (both York City Knights), Fran Goldthorp (Leeds), Amy Hardcastle (St Helens), Shona Hoyle (Castleford), Tara Jones (St Helens), Emma Lumley (Castleford), Vicky Molyneux (Wigan), Carrie Roberts (St Helens), Georgia Roche (Castleford), Beth Stott (St Helens), Tara Stanley (Castleford), Paige Travis (St Helens), Georgia Wilson (Wigan Warriors).

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/r ... ad-3281636

[josie andrews]

What a joke?

These lot at the RFL couldn’t run the proverbial p**s up

Even without Covid, this should have been a SL free week to allow for this international game!

[Mike]

I wondered why no squad had been announced.

[southportcdm]

Saints don't have a game now so they could supply as many players as the 'all stars' team needs. We shouldn't be expected to supply more than three layers overall given our injury/suspension situation.

[josie andrews]

Super League shoots itself in the foot as shambolic fixture scheduling leaves England game in farce

This weekend's action has descended into chaos as England's mid-season warm-up clashes with Super League games.

Four days out from England's clash with the All Stars and the fixture has descended into farce.

Clubs are sulking, whinging and bickering about the number of players they are having to lose for this weekend's round of fixtures.

Well, colour me shocked.

Who could have possibly seen that there could be an issue here? Who could have had the foresight to think that playing Super League games the same weekend as an international fixture might be a terrible idea?

Everyone, actually. Everyone except Super League itself, that is.

Almost four months ago, I wrote this column calling Super League's support of the fixture and England's pursuit of World Cup glory cheap lip service. That when it came to the time, that support from clubs would drift. That really, they do not give a damn.

And here we are, the least surprising, most painfully obvious development of the entire season.

The clubs, or most of them, do not give a damn. Who'd have thought it!?

Let's get the narrative right here. An England fixture had been pencilled in for this weekend long before Super League finalised their schedule for the season. The competition hadn't even decided how many rounds would be played by the time this fixture was arranged.

At that point, they had what appeared to be a very simple decision to make. Have a 23-round Super League competition which would allow for a week off when England played the All Stars. It got rid of loop fixtures and an additional midweek fixture in the process.

Instead, they went for 25 rounds and, incomprehensibly, decided to play the same weekend as England.

That was a shambolic decision at the time and, to the surprise of nobody at all, has proven completely farcical now. Everyone knew this was going to happen.

It was Super League's call to play this weekend. It was their decision to try and play too many games in a condensed season. They should reap what they sow.

Not that the coaches deserve that, given their jobs depend on results at a weekend. Sympathy goes to the players expected to play an obscene amount of games and then succeed at a World Cup at the end of the year.

Fair play to the clubs, Wigan, Warrington and St Helens among them, who have supported the fixture to this point.

But to the people making these decisions, well, don't say you weren't warned. Shame on you for leaving the sport facing yet another farcical week by making a completely unnecessary decision and then not backing something you said you would.

People will argue Covid hasn't helped. But let's be right about it, Hull KR are the only team unable to provide players as a result. That said, you do have to question whether it's sensible to mix numerous club bubbles together at a time when Covid cases are wreaking havoc. The RFL insist strict protocols are in place but you then have to question how worthwhile training will be if that's the case.

Promotion for the game has been weak. The fact we don't even officially know who is playing for the All Stars yet is a major hindrance and given clubs have their own games to promote this weekend, they're hardly going to tell punters to head across to Warrington. The attendance on Friday is going to be very, very low.

From a Super League perspective, clubs are being given the opportunity to apply for postponements. Any club with four or more call-ups can request their game is called off.

But they should never have been playing in the first place.

People don't like the concept of England playing an 'All Stars' team. I get that. But Shaun Wane needs time with his squad. He's already missed a three-match Test series. International travel is a no-go. What was the alternative?

As a sport, we're not aiding England's chances of winning the World Cup. We're damaging them.

What does that say?

As ever, short-sightedness rules.

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[fozzieskem]

This is the reason rugby league can’t break the shackles of being “small time”,here and let’s be fair down under they ignore the international game and this shambles just underlines how poor it all is,and in a World Cup year to boot

[Mike]

Someone should come in and buy all the clubs and run everything for the good of the game.