WAN Papua Warriors were supposed to be the first sporting team from the marginalised Asia-Pacific state of West Papua to cross the equator. In the end, their fundraising efforts only managed to send four players to the London Nines last Saturday – but they won it anyway! By combining with European Nines specialists, the similarly-named Wests Warriors, the four New…
IN an otherwise contentious statement, Australasia’s National Rugby League has pledged its support for next year’s Nines World Cup. The Antipodean authority released a proposal for the next four years of international fixtures, which contradicted a number of events which seemed to have been already locked in: the 2019 Great Britain tour of Australia and the next two years of…
By STEVE MASCORD I CAN already see Herr ‘head ‘itter scratching at his eyeballs as he reads this column. “Graham Clay, Richard Shaw-Wright and now … Gavin Willacy?? That pillock Mascord will be interviewing his sister next week!” So to assuage the fear that I’m no longer willing to go past my letter box in search of a subject for…
SATURDAY’S State of Mind Nines in Yorkshire have been called off. Twelve teams were to complete in the tournament at Shaw Cross Sharks to promote the mental health charity but promoter Brett Turner says the withdrawal of a couple of teams convinced him that perhaps he should have waited until 2019 to launch the concept. “We had some drop outs…
By STEVE MASCORD YOUR correspondent has learned in recent times that it’s very hard – probably impossible – to conduct business in the same industry as you are operating as a journalist. Being a reporter is like being in a bike gang; it’s harder to get out of than get into. It’s self-evident that if you have a commercial interest…
NORTH Brussels Gorillas scored an overtime try to take out a dramatic and at times controversial Rotterdam Nines tournament at the Sparta Rugby Club. The scores between the Belgian side and England’s Eastern Rhinos were 14-14 at end of regulation time in the final on Saturday, with a runaway try securing a famous win. But earlier rounds had been marred…
SWEDEN Roosters have taken out the Oslo Open Nines, beating rugby union team Sagene in the final; now it’s onto Rotterdam. Wearing Sydney Roosters jerseys, the Swedish Nines squad had a few close calls on the way to the decider at Sandvolleyballanlegget. They played Porsgrunn twice during the day’s play, edging past the Pirates 6-4 and 12-6. Sagene made the…
By STEVE MASCORD PERHAPS it’s just because I’m looking at it somewhat from a distance but the scene around the NRL seems to have changed more over one off-season than at any time since 1998, when the two warring comps came together. I say from a distance because, while I have pretty much split the last three years between Sydney…
By STEVE MASCORD ISN’T it funny how different people can be from correspondence to meeting them in person? From communicating with Colin Kleyweg on Facebook, I imagined the man who is attempting to pilot Red Star Belgrade into Super League to be a quiet, studious, slight, blond-headed Australian of Scandinavian extraction. The impression comes from his surname and the way…
By TERRY PASCOE A DOMINANT performance by the Souths-Logan Magpies has seen them defeat the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls 40 – 6 at Davies Park, West End. After two straight losses in the Intrust Super Cup, the Souths-Logan halves pairing of Guy Hamilton and Sam Scarlett looked too much for an error riddled Wynnum-Manly. Wynnum-Manly’s defensive line looked unbreakable in the first…
