TV ties announced: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 422384.stm Leeds v Crusaders Halifax v Bradford

TV ties announced: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 422384.stm Leeds v Crusaders Halifax v Bradford

Nice to see that even thought the BBC say when we play this. They still can't fit us in.

Leeds v Crus First half on BBC 1, 2nd Half on BBC2.

I wonder what is on at 4pm on BBC1?

Probably Darts.

Pathetic , time it went to ITV

ITV would help promote the game No end

The ad breaks would do my crunch in.

Like they do on SKY you mean ?

Exactly!!!

Because of the unique way the BBC is funded at least we don't have to endure adverts all the time

No we don't , instead we get people talking bollox for ten minutes

Adverts at half time are when you make brew or get a beer

Whatever happened to Tanya Arnold?



Does she still do RL links/presenting??

I'd sooner look at her for 10 minutes than go into the kitchen at half time and make a cup of Darjeeling.



As long as I had a fully functional mute button on my telly

She does have a bit of a man's voice...

Ah, but so does Harry Gration, who would you rather look at?

Its still Balding who will do the live games. Harry and Tanya do the half d Super League show.

Myself

Probably a good time for Fev to be playing them, though. Lost their last 2 games and Duggan can't enter UK.

Why's that then ?

I think they have done the draw like this because:

1. The clubs will lose less money than they would if big teams came across as in previous years ala, Leeds vs Hull, Leeds vs Saints.
2. Gaurenteed harder cup games in the next round with only two none Superleague clubs gaurenteed to get through, therefore, more revenue in the next round from people paying in.

edited for accuracy etc

Makes the home/away thing more important, though. Halifax had to leave a couple of their players at home when they played Toulouse due to lack of Schengen visas.

The game won't be played for another 7 weeks. Current form is largely irrelevant.



Tony Duggan was IIRC one of the players involved with the visa problems at Celtic Crusaders. I believe they were all deported and thus he cannot return to the UK for 10 years from that point so would have 8 or 9 years left before he can enter the UK.

Does he need a visa to enter the UK if he's not intending to stay in the UK or work for a UK employer?

He will be shot on site

Context being that they've lost 2 games in 2 weeks having gone through the season previously unbeaten - their last loss was the challenge cup game at Widnes, this time last year. Also, the rd4 challenge cup game is scheduled for the same weekend as a round of the french play-offs, so if they don't finish top of the league they might be sending a weakened team anyway (the french use the old Aussie top-5 style play-off).

The issue wouldn't be lack of a visa at the time of the cup game this year. Having been deported from the UK and barred entry for 10 years he is not allowed to enter the UK for any reason. It does not matter who employs him he cannot enter the country.

It isn't like the Greg Bird situation where he was allowed to play for Catalans in away games. Bird was denied a UK work visa, Duggan was deported.

They may have just lost their last two after not losing for a year but by the time of the cup tie they may have convincingly won all of their intervening games and have got over any loss of form or confidence. Either team can suffer a big change in form over the next few weeks or be hit by injuries. Ties that look close on paper today may not look so close in the week before the matches take place.

I do expect Fev to win as they are IMO more battle hardened (I think it will be close fought) due to regularly playing in close games against opponents that are capable of beating them. Lezignan dominate the Elite 1 and do not face tough games as often as Fev do. Current form however is not really applicable. If the tie was being played this saturday it would be but it isn't.