The Kippax side that played in the challenge cup was the summer team, not the pennine league team, who for the record got relegated last season.

Sorry should have checked that, my bad.

Well done Chris Thorman anyway.

It's the same team, no matter what Kippax tell the RFL.

So just a bit better than Leigh East Ladies then

amatuer side from Leeds. Pennine League i think - there is RL outside of super dooper league you know!

Yes that was established a page ago

my bad!

tbh, i'm not too happy with the CC format either. should be equal chnace for NCL sides (prem or 1 and 2) to get this far as others. can imagine its a huge revenue loss for the like of Eccles etc. who have had more ofx a chnace in the past...

[size=50now I need a drink after kinda agreeing with Starbug[/size

For all those rubbishing the quality of the opposition in Thorman's record breaking effort, have they considered that the original record was hardly set against one of the game's powerhouses?

So while Thorman obviously benefitted from being in a horrendous mismatch - the record he broke was set in similar circumstances. Lets not get sentimental and at least give Thorman the credit for making the most of the opportunity he took.

I must admit though that if anyone had told me before he achieved this, that one day Thorman would hold the record, I would have wondered what they were on.

Is there anybody ' rubbishing ' the individual achievement ? , certainly not myself , you can only play what is in front of you , my concern is the massive blow out score between what is essentially an u 21 s team playing a semi pro team

Perhaps it should be structured so lower quality and university teams will never get far enough to face higher quality sides?

That normally happens when clubs play each other in an open draw , without any seeding , maybe just have an open draw before you bring in the Championship clubs

What, competitions are structured to guarantee lower quality and university teams will NEVER reach higher quality opposition?

Wouldn't be much Challenge Cup 'magic', would there? Any point participating? While we're at it, may as well not bother with amateur teams at all.

I bet the Northumbria lads, while battered, bruised and feeling a little humiliated, are damn proud to have got as far as they did.

If they play in an unseeded draw and then lose , they have played higher quality opposition , it's called sport

There is no more ' magic ' , it went in 95 when SL started

How far did they get ? , they were the best of the Uni teams basically , but also the worst of the amateurs

Wigan put 106 past Whitehaven 3 years ago.

Should we not bother with anyone outside Super League in order to avoid any potential landslide scorelines?

oh he knows that. He just doesn't think there's any RL - or none worth paying attention to - outside the mediocre championships

I went to this game today.
Must give real credit to the Northumbria Uni side for never giving up and always playing the game with the correct spirit.
We have all watched games where one side is getting a pasteing, then they start the rough stuff, but it was great to see that they did not lower themselves to this.
Well done bet theres some sore bodies at uni tomorrow.

you could be referring to the Gateshead game from what I have heard...

How Rude!!!

A couple of years ago, Leeds Met lost only 34-18 to Rochdale Hornets. The student sides have both taken a pasting in this round, but it could have more to do with the 'made up' tv playoff competition for Premier Sports, which has run as well as the real student championship. Leeds Met have been playing sudden death knockout matches every Wednesday and Sunday for the last three weeks, and have the SRL Semi Final coming up in two days.

At least he’ll be remembered for something.

Time to change the format me thinks.

Am I the only one thinking that in a certain other sport somewhat similar to ours the University teams would be heralded for their great courage in the face of adversity and how the plucky David’s took on the Goliath’s of professional teams and how this demonstrates the unity and nobleness of the sport

In our sport, the fans say – kick them out of the competition

Says it all really

is it even safe to have amateur under 21's playing against semi-professional athletes? if they had drawn Widnes, they would have effectively been playing against professional athletes, which could have been pretty dangerous IMO.

Okay they got a right hammering as it turned out but this tie to the Northumbria University lads would have been just as big a deal as it was for Gateshead playing St Helens a couple of years back and Blackpool playing Leeds last year. The memory of 132-0 will fade but having had the opportunity to earn and then earning the right to have a shot at a team that gets paid to play RL and plays just 1 level below the elite competition and having played against them in a famous old competition like the Challenge Cup will not fade so easily.

Getting such chances will appeal to young lads at university and should encourage more to try and stick with RL. If we stopped clubs being able to have a shot against a bigger club we may avoid blowout scores but we would also lose the opportunity for results like Siddal beating Doncaster or Barrow beating Castleford. These types of score are very rare and altering the structure because of one or two games in one season would have 'knee-jerk reaction' written all over it.

The only semi-serious injury incurred by Leeds Met players yesterday against Sheffield was when two of them ran into each other

The top Uni sides train 3 times a week and have additional gym and weight sessions, making them pretty similar to most semi-pro sides. Some of them are also over 21, being post-grads or going on scholarships after having done other courses or having worked in the interim.

Leed Met did lose heavily but last year the Eagles beat Thatto Heath 56-0. Thatto are now top of the NCL Premier with pretty much the same squad.

Why?

This is RL, not boxing.