INS
Gil Dudson (Salford)
David Fifita (Rumoured) - no update on story since September
Mike McMeeken (Castleford Tigers)
OUTS
David Mead (No club yet)
Mika Simon (Carcassonne)
Sam Moa (Lezignan)
Eamon O'Carroll (Coach, Newcastle Thunder)
Lucas Albert (Lezignan)
Remi Casty (Retired)
Lewis Tierney (Leigh)
RETAINED
Israel Folau
Paul Seguier
Arthur Romano
Matt Whitley
Lambert Belmas
Arthur Morgue
We have been following the coaching career of ex-Dragon Olivia Elima working with limited resources at Palau Broncos.
This season however the budget has increased along with expectations.
The St Esteve defeat was one too many for the board of Palau who have replaced Elima with ex-St Esteve coach Benoit Albert replacing him soon after the match.
It could have been so different with his side heading into the break ahead and with one sin binned Catalan and one red carded after a bad looking challenge saw a massive bout of scrappy dappy do.
The shorthanded home side turned on the style second half and it took a late Broncos try to make the scoreline look as close as it does.
Its a shame as we felt a job well done with Broncos might have seen Elima in the frame for a role at Stade Gilbert Brutus down the track.
That looks a lot less likely now.
St Estève XIII Catalan (6) 30
T : Mathieu Laguerre 2, César Rougé, Alan Baby, Lambert Belmas
G : Robin Brochon 2, Alan Baby 3
Palau (10) 22
T : Amine Miloudi, Hadrien Domergue, Hakim Miloudi
G : Bruno Castany 5
Another of our Challenge Cup winning heroes has left the club with Lewis Tierney leaving to join newly promoted Leigh.
We would like to thank him for his contributions and wish him well.
...Benjamin Garcia.
Well done to Ben on winning the vote on our forum in association with RLFans.com
After painting a horror story of the cost of travelling to the UK weekly with no income and an initial surge of player releases, Bernard Guasch is happier about the future for the club.
Treize Mondial and the local paper L'Independant report that financial aid and prize money from the play off run has provided a welcome boost to finances.
We are certainly portraying a lot more of a positive outlook after some commentary that we would be having a proper scale back for 2021 and beyond.
https://treizemondial.fr/les-dragons-catalans-renflouent-les-caisses-avant-noel/
You can read the full piece above (in French).
There are further stories that we are now looking to raid the NRL for 2 players but with a March 2021 opening to the campaign there is no hurry to fill the spots.
Arthur Morgue was a real positive of the Dragons 2020 campaign and despite lots of interest from other Super League clubs he has put pen to paper on a new deal.
If he wins as many trophies for the club as our last back from Avignon I will be happy.
Well done Arthur and good luck.
http://www.catalansdragons.com/en/articles-9/220-8254-arthur-mourgue-signs-contract-extension/
Welshman Gil Dudson has signed a 2 year contract with the Dragons arriving from Salford.
We would like to welcome him and wish him well.
We would like to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Oh and don't forget the big derby game with Palau on the clubs Youtube this weekend...
Treize Mondial have secured the picture that all of us wanted from this weekends Elite 1 action.
Lezignan met Carcassonne and we saw Sam Moa tackle Mike Simon. Both barely out of the Catalans Dragons set up but keen to put a marker down in the French league.
Brilliant picture!
You can read the article about the match on Treize Mondial here.
Lezignan 20-16 Carcassonne was the final score.
Catalans have had a busy couple of days with lots going on at the club.
First off, as we have known for months now, Mike McMeeken has signed for us from Castleford Tigers. You can read the confirmaiton of that deal by clicking here.
We definitely welcome the addition of a forward, we just hoped he would be in addition to the likes of Remy Casty and Jason Baitieri as opposed to instead of.
Regardless he is a good addition.
Despite some of the recent frustration locally at the number of English players Steve McNamara has been signing, the news that Matt Whitley has extended his deal in Perpignan will be positive news.
He has probably, along with Sam Tomkins, been the best English signing we've had since Elliot Whitehead, which is some accoldade. Read about his new deal here.
Meanwhile. If you were planning to settle down and watch live coverage of our weekend Elite 1 match with Albi tomorrow, don't bother as its off.
Covid is digging its claws in our enjoyment of rugby league one more time in 2020.
Let's hope for better in 2021.
The reserves side finally got going in the domestic league putting a half century on St Gaudens over the weekend.
St Estève XIII Catalan (28) 50
T : Le Cam, Laguerre 2, Rougé 3, Flovie, Franco, Ribas
G : Brochon 7
St Gaudens (4) 14
T : Delage, Wall 2
G : Dumas
Nice to see our favourite player Romain Franco back on the try trail !!! :)
The match was live on the internet and you can watch the highlights here.
Our friends at Catalan Media have penned an excellent review of the 2020 campaign for the Catalans Dragons and we would advise all of our readers to click this link and enjoy the article as we did.
Despite some high profile moments which didn't go down too well this side of Le Manche, there is plenty to be proud of from our clubs efforts this season.
The great Catalans fire sale of 2020 carries on with Remi Casty the latest to depart.
https://www.totalrl.com/casty-quits-catalans/
We knew the club had put it all in to make sure the fixtures were fulfilled, but didn't expect this...
Good luck Papa.
With the potential cash flow issues from finishing this season, costs look like they will need to be cut.
INS
Gil Dudson (Salford)
David Fifita (Rumoured) (Wakefield)
Mike Mc Meeken (Castleford)
OUTS
David Mead (Rumoured)
Mika Simon (Carcassonne)
Sam Moa (Lezignan)
Eamon O'Carroll (Coach)
Lucas Albert (Lezignan)
RETAINED
Israel Folau
Mika Simon and coach Eamon O'Carroll have both left the club.
Simon has been a successful player in 2 spells and joins Carcassonne to play in Elite 1.
With Lucas Albert also joining this will add to the depth of quality in the domestic competition and we wish them both luck (apart from when they play us!).
The second new name clearing their locker is coach Eamon O'Carroll who leaves to head back to the UK.
We would like to thank all of the departing players and staff for their work with the club.
boom boom.
Sam Moa, the man from Samoa has left the club to join Lezignan in Elite 1.
We wish the great man well and thank him for his service at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Thanks for all the praise but it’s no consolation right now.
Dragons folded when they needed to show a backbone the most.
It was one of those performances that we have consistently shown on the road throughout our history.
Nothing in attack, ill disciplined and weak at the back.
The coach, who has been much criticised on this page over the years looked hurt. Not upset, not angry but hurt.
He had put a team of players many of whom are equal or better than those of St Helens out on the field and they didn’t perform.
We can point to the travel and the rapidly emerging stories about financial issues as potentially mitigating factors, but the cold hard truth is that you can keep replacing the players every year as much as you want but there is something inherent in the clubs DNA that means they don’t consistently have the mental toughness to win matches of this nature.
The odd win here or there is now no longer enough for this team.
It’s not fair on Bernard Guasch who continues to invest money in the team and in managing the logistical challenge of getting to England and back all the time.
And, despite my reservations about his style of play, its not fair on Steve McNamara.
He looks like he has no idea how to solve this issue and my level of respect for the guy rocketed after he refused to bow to the Sky interviewer’s desperation for him to blame the RFL suspension panel for the loss.
My understanding is that in not taking the Toronto route out of the season and trying to keep Superleague honest we might have to try and offload some of the bigger earners at the club to try and make it through 2021 in whatever format the season happens.
It was interesting to see the pundits on TV Friday saying that there should be some form of compensation coming our way to offset a lot of the cost of private jets. I agree that there should be a plan to help Dragons over the winter and I look forward to seeing what Robert Elstone has to offer.
In the meantime, let’s head to the beach and see what happens over the next few weeks. It’s a well-deserved break after this most unusual of seasons.
If you are reading here look for some controversial defence of Joel Tomkins and Micky McIlorum's actions from last week, best click elsewhere.
For me the punishment's fit the crime and these two have let their team mates and coaching staff down with a lack of discipline.
If these were isolated incidents within the clubs playing staff you could move on and put it down to the excitement of having a play off chance.
But it isn't so you cant.
Its a constant thorn in our side and something that can ultimately have an impact on the clubs ability to compete for honours.
I am all for not taking a step back and for being their for your mates. They are core elements of the game of rugby.
But picking up a player whose nose you just smeared over his face to try and make it look like he is play acting is wrong.
This would blow over so much more quickly if the club or the coaches faced the press and said "yeah we crossed a line". But Joel Tomkins defence using his brothers Twitter feed makes me think that they are all taking that "its not our fault" line.
The owner is also said to be furious over the punishments handed down. But you can be sure that if the boot had been on the other foot he would have been advocating the degree of sentence handed down.
Play off time should be exciting and wonderful and we should look forward to the occasions. However we continue our journey from being everyone's 2nd favourite team to one of their most hated.
I don't like that path and want us to show more discipline and control on the pitch whilst not actively recruiting bad boys who can do you no good sat at home because they are banned.
The tough start to the season for Justin Murphy and his Catalan reserve side continues after a narrow defeat to a strong Carcassonne side.
Dragons Catalans (18) 26
T : Tom Davies, Samisoni Langi, Israel Folau, David Mead
G : James Maloney 5
Leeds Rhinos (6) 14
T : Alex Sutcliffe 2, Konrad Hurrell
G : Rhyse Martin
Hooray !!! Catalans have beaten Leeds and managed to find a way to win in the Super League playoffs.
There was plenty to admire in the Dragons performance on Friday night, but this being Catalans we must deal with some other stuff as well.
Micky McIlorum and JoelKins showed a lack of discipline at key points in the match with a high shot followed by lifting the player off the worst offence.
That is on McIlorum's rap sheet, Tomkins was more for a poke (shall we say) at Richie Myler as a tackle was completed.
I didn't mind Myler when he played for us but as the season has gone on he seems to be getting more and more of a moany arse (hahaha see what I did there?!).
Back to the match and we came out of the traps super fast getting 12-0 ahead before Rhinos had really go started.
Of course we switched off and let them in with tries on either side of the half time hooter before Rob Lui gifted a try to David Mead which saw us breath a collective sigh of relief.
The players did too and let Konrad Hurrell score more of less from the restart.
It kept it interesting until Jimmy Maloney walloped a penalty from close to half way which finally put the Yorkshiremen back in their box.
So it's on to St Helens next week and a match we have a better than average record in. So you never know.
A virtually full strength Catalans Dragons side takes on Leeds tomorrow at the HJ Stadium in Warrington.
On paper this will be a good clash but as Sam Williams doesn't play for us anymore (remember him and that game!!) we might need a bit more fortune to get the "W".
Both sides have been up and down this season with consistent performances and results hard to come by.
This could be a cracker or it could be a dud. Expect anything!
The squad
1. David MEAD
3. Samisoni LANGI
4. Israel FOLAU
5. Fouad YAHA
6. James MALONEY
7. Josh DRINKWATER
8. Rémi CASTY
9. Micky McILORUM
10. Sam MOA
11. Matt WHITLEY
12. Joel TOMKINS
13. Benjamin GARCIA
14. Julian BOUSQUET
15. Mickael SIMON
16. Tom DAVIES
19. Mickael GOUDEMAND
21. Paul SEGUIER
24. Jason BAITIERI
25. Arthur MOURGUE
28. Sam KASIANO
29. Sam TOMKINS
Please forgive me the indulgence of featuring the new shirt of my local team Boston Buccaneers from Lincolnshire, England.
However the club has had a tough year with no community rugby to get income and matches for their players.
Rather than mope, the club has been busily working on a charity and 9s shirt which will be raising money for military charities.
This is particularly close to the heart of all at the Buccs after the tragic death of serviceman Scott Stevenson who was a player for the club.
I think you will agree it captures the colours of the club along with the military connections to Lincolnshire, most notably the Lancaster bomber.
I cannot wait to get mine and go to training in it.. Well done BBRLFC.
Its a win in round 2 for Justin and the team.
Toulouse were beaten despite a resilient effort in Perpignan.
Relive the best moments below...
The 2020 Betfred Super League season will be reshaped through November in response to the impact of Covid-19 cases at two clubs.
After Wigan Warriors’ shot at the League Leaders’ Shield on Friday evening, four elimination Play-Offs will determine the make-up of the Grand Final on Friday 27 November.
Following the confirmation yesterday (Monday) that Castleford Tigers are unable to play for at least another week after further positive tests, fixture planning for the remaining three rounds of the regular season was further complicated by news of a number of positive tests at Hull KR who this morning advised that they would not be able to fulfil the remaining three matches.
The Super League and RFL Boards have agreed on a revised format and Operational Rules (respectively), which will see the regular season wrapped up within the next four days, after which the top six teams in the table will qualify for the Play-Offs. The club that finishes seventh – either Salford Red Devils or Huddersfield Giants – will remain on standby.
As a consequence of the change in the Regular Season structure, the previous requirement for a Club to complete a minimum number of games (15) has been removed.
The two remaining Super League fixtures, both Round 20 matches to be played at Emerald Headingley on Friday 6 November, will see Wakefield Trinity and the Red Devils conclude their campaigns at 5.30pm on Sky Sports, which will be followed by the Warriors v Giants at 745pm, a fixture which will determine who wins the League Leaders’ Shield.
The St Helens and Catalans Dragons fixture, scheduled for Thursday 5 November in Perpignan, will be cancelled, with both teams having already qualified for the top six, and due to the imminent national lockdown and heightened concerns over international travel.
The Warriors hold top spot with a winning percentage of 75% after last Friday’s compelling derby victory at St Helens – but will face Giants knowing that defeat would hand the League Leaders’ Shield to Saints for a third consecutive season (on points difference percentage).
The top two teams will sit out the first round of the Play-Offs, while those finishing third to sixth in the table on win percentage move into the elimination matches. Those games will be played on November 12 and 13.
The winners will then face first and second in the semi-finals on November 19 and 20, at home venues, to determine who plays in the Betfred Super League Grand Final at the KCOM Stadium on Friday 27 November.
Super League Head of Commercial Rhodri Jones said: “The revised format to the play-off schedule provides fans and Sky Sports with an extended series of exciting knockout matches to finish the season.
“Nothing has been predictable in this 2020 season and we hope players, supporters and the media will appreciate why we have made this change.
“We believe this revised structure provides the best and fairest way to ensure the two most deserving teams reach the Grand Final.
“I’m sure everyone will be excited about five huge games, set to deliver an even more exciting climax to the 2020 season.”
The five clubs at the bottom of the table after this week’s fixtures will stay on their current win percentages with the remaining fixtures struck out.
Remaining fixtures – all live on Sky Sports and available by the Our League app.
Friday 6 November (Emerald Headingley Stadium).
Wakefield Trinity v Salford Red Devils - 6:30pm CET
Wigan Warriors v Huddersfield Giants - 8:45pm CET
November 12 (Venue TBC) - Play-Offs Round 1 - 8:45pm CET
3rd v 6th
November 13 (Venue TBC) – Play-Offs Round 1 - 8:45pm CET
4th v 5th
November 19 – Semi-Finals (Venue of 1st)
1st v lowest-placed Play-Off winner
November 20 – Semi-Finals (Venue of 2nd)
2nd v highest-placed Play-Off winner
Friday 27 November
Betfred Super League Grand Final (KCOM Stadium, Hull)
Elite 1 Championship Results (October 31/November 1)
Limoux 22-12 St Esteve
Carcassonne 37-4 Albi
Villeneuve P-P Palau
Toulouse 26-24 St Gaudens
Avignon P-P Lezignan
Find out all you need to know at Love Rugby League by clicking here for this weeks round up.
Limoux (12) 22
T : Torres, A. Bourrel, M. Peault, P.L. Bourrel
G : Torreilles 3
St-Estève XIII Catalan (12) 12
T : R. Khedimi, Zafra
G : Brochon 2
With a number of clubs having strengthened, Elite 1 is poised to be a great competition this season.
St Esteve lost their opening match against the Grizzlies despite having been level at half time.
Salford Red Devils (6) 42
T : Krisnan Inu 3, Rhys Williams, Tui Lolohea 2, Kallum Watkins
G : Krisnan Inu 7
Catalans Dragons (18) 24
T : Paul Séguier, Tom Davies, Sam Kasiano, David Mead
G : James Maloney 3, Arthur Mourgue
A strong first half performance was followed by a tailing off in the second half as Salford came back to give us a bit of a chasing.
Look, we are so over this season and the challenges in getting the games done that we wont be moaning about the coach or the players.
It's a miracle we are where we are and let's leave it at that.
With two more positive tests in our camp over the weekend, Catalans match against Warrington tonight has also been postponed.
This leaves our chances of getting to the minimum match number fo qualify for the play offs virtually over.
After all the effort and expense of trying to get matches on and fans in the ground, this is a massive blow to the club.
It looks like we will be finishing the season (if at all) behind closed doors in Perpignan after the latest upgrade in Covid restrictions in France.
With both the Giro and Vuelta having trips into le hexagon cancelled this weekend it was inevitable I suppose that an uptick in cases would lead to restrictions.
There is now a 10pm curfew and no gatherings of over 1000.
Elite 2 Championship Results – Round 1
Carpentras 28-14 Lyon
Pia 34-10 Lescure
Entraigues 20-18 Baho
Toulon 56-4 Salon
Villegailhenc 38-20 Villefranche
For all of the news, views and round up click here to visit Love Rugby League's coverage.
The playoffs that seemed within our reach a couple of weeks ago now look most unlikely as we will struggle to get to the minimum number of completed matches required to take part.
Tonight's match with Hull FC has been postponed due to an outbreak in the Catalans camp.
We hope all of our affected personnel recover quickly and the effects of Covid aren't serious.
With the cancellation of the Wigan match, this one is important on 2 levels.
Firstly, the game needs to take place so we can get closer to the minimum number of matches played to qualify for the play offs and secondly we need to win it!
We have mixed form at home against Hull so fingers crossed we will be able to get the win and keep the pressure on the other clubs around us.
More discussion on the match is on our forum here... https://forums.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=630817
Wigan have had positive tests and our match with them tomorrow is now off.
We have to play 15 matches to "complete" the season. We have played 12 and will be keeping everything crossed we can play our remaining matches to get to that number.
I fear Bernard might go on the rampage if not.
Hooray... covid permitting we will have some rugby league action to sustain us over the cold winter months.
Elite 1 and Elite 2 are going to be up and running soon.
Here is a link to treize mondial which has the best coverage of the season.
Its defaulted to the Catalans dashboard but you can support other teams (if you want!)
https://treizemondial.fr/equipe/st-esteve-xiii-catalan/
Let's hope for a good uninterupted season and a Catalans vs Palau grand final to keep all of us happy.
...ok, ok I know we play Wigan next and we always get hammered by them, but let's just pretend that we don't have to travel and play them.
Catalans Dragons (22) 34
T : Joel Tomkins 2, Tom Davies 2, Israel Folau, Benjamin Garcia
G : James Maloney 5
Hull KR (0) 4
T : Harvey Livett
G :
Catalans showed no mercy to struggling Hull KR as the momentum of a potential play off push continues to build at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
With a first half performance that blew the visitors away the Dracs continued to score points in the second half and go into their tough trip to Wigan in high spirits.
Catalans put 40 on Wakefield as their season hit its stride at just the right time.
The Dragons recently completed a league and cup double over Trinity before this encounter in the covid hit season.
We have a key few weeks coming up now where it will be important to keep this momentum going to be in with a chance of making the top 4.
I know its not ideal to have ppg as the format for ending the season but in this odd campaign we have to work to the rules and despite forum people saying otherwise, we certainly aren''t getting preferential treatment.
It's the sort of match that doesn't usually happen to Catalans.
Under strength after a rapid run of games, Leeds made a large number of changes. In previous campaigns though I would have expected their fringe players to step up and batter us.
Thankfully this time we had enough to give them a good hiding and raise spirits and morale for what is going to be a busy and important run in.
Our last league match saw us go into it top of the league before Wigan beat us (as usual).
It's not all over by any means but a second consecutive league defeat, this time at the hands of Warrington Wolves wont be helping morale or the quest for post season football.
To be fair, the home side were the better side so we need to improve and soon...
after cup exit to Salford.
This one started so well and I hoped that we would have enough to blow them away in the first half.
It didn't work out like that and its safe to say that Salford have the sort of spirit and stickability in matches that we sorely lack.
Well done to them, I hope they go on and achieve more in the competition.
I will resist the temptation to be critical of the coaching team !
When a match goes to golden point, you are in the mad house and it's impossible to be critical of the team.
Let's try and move forward now in the Super league.
Just when things started to look all shiny and rosy...
Wigan rocked up in Perpignan and despite it not being the usual level of beating for us, were still good enough to get home and dry without too many issues.
Sigh.
We were lucky enough to bag Trinity twice in consecutive weeks back in August.
I was in Cornwall on the phone continually to job agencies stressing about how Covid had robbed me of a livelihood, but it was a nice boost for me to see Dracs get a couple of wins.
The league match was really one sided with us outclassing Trinity...
The cup match was a lot closer, but we were still good enough to get over the line.
What a good couple of weeks for us. Could this be the start of a decent run?
I would love to say this one will be an away win but I think that results and performances are fast becoming an afterthought and we should just focus on fulfilling the fixtures we have to avoid some of the people on the internet moaning and demanding we are chucked out.
The spotlight seems to be moving back on to the coach and how a team crammed with such talent can contrive to find ways of losing matches so this could be an interesting watch to see how that plays out.
Prediction Wire 38-4 Dragons
Morning UK based Dracs fans.
I just wanted to update the website with a post apologising for the month of inactivity on the website.
As with a large amount of the population I have some personal challenged caused by the Corona Virus pandemic and need to prioritise finding a solution to them before concentrating on the website.
We aren't gone or going away, and there will be a bumper update of the Wakey matches, Wigan and Salford coming soon.
In the meantime thanks for your patience, please stay safe.
Where to start with this one eh?
I was about ready to take my foamy cool beer and head out into the garden to take in some rays rather than watch this match.
Castleford were hitting us at over a point a minute until the quarter hour mark before we managed to battle our way back into it.
The performance of Israel Folau on the left edge and his desire to include Tom Davies outside him was key to the swinging of momentum.
The Cas sin bin before half time also helped leaving them short handed in the boiling heat of Leeds.
The second half was more of the same and as terrible as we were against St Helens last week, we were awesome against Cas this.
So what can we take from this performance?
Not a lot really, I think that we are in for a roller coaster ride (as usual!!) for the rest of the year.
Following postive Covid 19 tests post Salford's win over Hull we will now be playing Wakefield Trinity on Saturday.
Its Tony Gigot derby time !!!!
Monday.
A neighbour comes round and asks to borrow a cup of sugar. I inform him that in Alan chapter 17, it says sugar cannot be traded on a Monday and then I insinuate that he has no right to exist as a human and is lower than vermin. Nice chap.
Tuesday.
Shocking scenes in Beirut with that enormous explosion. It's probably because they claim to have recorded civilisation there going back 7000 years which is impossible as the earth could only plausibly be 4000 years old. It says so in this book, probably. Anyway, I'm hoping there will be some sort of show of solidarity with the Lebanese at the game this weekend that I can make all about me.
Wednesday.
Day of rest due to a misprint in the bible.
Thursday.
Golf on the telly. This is outrageous and ungodly. If god had meant for us to play golf, he would have given us putters for fingers. I throw my TV out of the window and send the PGA the bill.
Pacifique Treize Rugby League is an Intrust Super Cup expansion bid for a team representing the French speaking Pacific Island territories of New Caledonia, Vanuatu, French Polynesia (Tahiti) and Wallis and Futuna that will be based in Noumea, New Caledonia.
To say I was looking forward to this season of Rugby League would be an understatement.
It had only been a house move across Peterborough to the Deepings but suddenly I lived in a county where rugby league was being played close by. Last year the family and I got to all but one Buccaneers match despite a combination of unseasonably cold weather laced with gales on occasion.
To tempt them out of the house was a challenge and cost me a fish and chip supper on the way home from each match but they love the game and having been to the likes of Stade Gilbert Brutus and the Mend-a-Hose Jungle it was nice for them to watch a match where they could run about and not get told to keep still every five minutes.
The matches were of a really good standard, despite Boston struggling against the Wolf Hunter they put in a really good show against the Outlaws.
Despite being away on holiday for the London 9s I invested in a jersey (with my own squad number from playing for Yaxley Yaks touch team “7” on the back).
2020 arrived and once the fixtures were on the website I updated the family calendar with all home matches for Boston with strict instructions not to fill the days with other ‘stuff’… like anniversaries, birthdays and so on.
As a Catalans Dragons fan, I was also planning Boston matches around trips to see my other team, but once they made the decision to sign Israel Folau I chose not to buy merchandise or go to matches whilst he was at the club. Enough said.
And then along came this coronavirus and spoiled all of our plans. At the top level the game is struggling to decide what to do with regards to the season and I suppose all clubs at our level are at the behest of local union clubs who will dictate our player availability should the season still be unresolved by the autumn.
Naturally the issue of public health and the wellbeing of loved ones is absolutely paramount in all of this, but as a football pundit said on the news the other day “it’s ok to miss sport without being disrespectful”.
I agree with that wholeheartedly and it may just be 6 a side touch rugby I play, but last Friday night when we should have been playing league matches I was moping around the house lost.
Fingers crossed this will all be over soon and we can get some sense of normality back. In the meantime supporters can get behind their club by buying a shirt or training top to hopefully earn them a few quid and get the sponsors names back out there when we can go out.
Stay safe.
