2019 Rugby Super League thread

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2019 Rugby Super League thread

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Beyond delighted to see London back in the Super League. And not just win, but win strongly over Wakefield. A very important win with a handy addition to points differential. London 42-24. https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/47045310

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Super League underdogs London Broncos return to the top flight hoping to lift the sport in the South
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-league/2019/02/01/super-league-underdogs-london-broncos-return-top-flight-hoping/

When London Broncos stunned Toronto Wolfpack to nab a coveted promotion spot to the Super League last season, they had defied the odds – and ruined the party somewhat. A Toronto win would have taken the Super League across the pond for the first time, establishing rugby league’s grip on North America with a team that had competed professionally only since 2017.

But the Broncos would argue that their surprise return to the top flight after a five-year hiatus offers a renewed chance to tap into a pool of potential in another market – England’s neglected South. In a sport predominantly played in the North, the Broncos are the only British team competing in England’s two top leagues that heralds from south of Sheffield.

Head coach Danny Ward says a Super League presence in London offers an opportunity to grow the sport’s profile in the South.

“It’s great for the club to be back and for the game as a whole down in London, for the junior game,” he says. “Fifty per cent of the [Broncos] squad last year came from junior clubs in London and you can’t forget that, the grass roots. We need to work on it and make it strong because it’s just such a big area to cover, it’s not like up North where you’re just covering a city. The amount of travelling these junior clubs take to play games and get to training, it’s a different gravy here, and that’s where the next generation of rugby league players are coming from, so we’ve got a duty as coaches and players to help promote and support it.”

Ward speaks with the passion of a local, but he is, in fact, of traditional rugby league pedigree. Born in West Yorkshire, the son of the first Man of Steel award winner, David Ward, Danny followed in his father’s footsteps to play for Leeds Rhinos. However, 12 years at the Broncos, first in the twilight of his playing career and then as academy, assistant and now head coach, means Ward feels an affinity to the southern cause more than most.

But perhaps not more than the club’s owner, David Hughes. A Salford native and the former Charlton Athletic director, Hughes, 73, has pumped £20 million into the club since he joined the board of directors in 1996. The Broncos have had one different name and five different homes before settling in Ealing in 2016, but the constant has remained Hughes’s commitment to the London game.

“Because we played at Charlton, Brentford, the Stoop, Barnet, in those areas now quite a lot of the schools play rugby league where they didn’t before through the Broncos’ initiative,” he says. “I’m quite proud of that, we’ve left a legacy of rugby league.”

This club-wide commitment to grass roots is echoed in the “developing our own” philosophy.

“You can the see the amount of London lads now scattered around the Championship and Super League – they are out there, we’ve been developing players for a number of years in London,” says Ward. “In the Million Pound Game [promotion play-off against Toronto], we had six or seven lads who had come through the junior ranks who I’d worked with since under-16 level, so it was a proud moment. We obviously bring players in from elsewhere, but we’re going down the route of developing our own and building a team around London lads – we see that as the future.”

Danny Ward speaks to the press - Danny Ward is the Super League's youngest coach at 38
Danny Ward is the Super League's youngest coach at 38 CREDIT: LONDON BRONCOS
What they lack in marquee signings, the Broncos make up for in assessing the type of personalities that will fit their ethos best. At 38, Ward is the Super League’s youngest head coach, but experienced enough to know not to let egos intrude on the environment he has helped to cultivate.

“We’ve been looking at young boys with a bit of a point to prove that might have not got the chance from another club and we can give them that. They’re the target – we’re always looking for character first, rather than a rugby league player. If you get the right person in the right environment, they’re good blokes, humble and hungry, you can mould them into the players we want.”

His methods worked last season, beating promotion odds of around 100/1 in his first season as a head coach. But the top flight is a different beast. The team will be facing sides with more than ten times the average attendances to their modest 1,000.

Wakefield is their first test on Sunday, but Ward seems unfazed. When I tell him that the Super League’s sponsor Betfred has written them off at 500/1 to win the Grand Final, he laughs out loud. “Worth a pound that, isn’t it?”

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Just signed up as a London Broncos member for 2019. Expensive as hell and I hope I can talk them into providing a cheaper and more accessible membership for 2020. But for now I'm delighted they have fought back into Super League.

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Super League Round 2 results

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzElv0xUUAAGQgy.jpg:large

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Happy to see my London Broncos membership kit show up today.

Also happy to receive 3 Toronto Wolfpack jerseys today too from Mascord Brownz (https://mascordbrownz.com/). They did crazy deals, 8 pound each and another for 10. Keep an eye on this site.

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Delighted to see London roll Leeds. Who are woeful this season.

Alarmed at Les Catalans form though. But Toulouse are gunning it in Championship.

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If anyone wants some free Rugby League, you can download and sign up for the OurLeague app which is from the RFL.

Tomorrow Toulouse Olympique will be playing Batley Bulldogs.

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Our League Fixtures to be shown:

Betfred Championship | Batley Bulldogs v Toulouse Olympique XIII (March 23 - KO 3pm)
Coral Challenge Cup Round 4 (March 31)
Women's Super League | Wigan Warriors Women v St Helens Women (April 7 - KO 1pm)
Betfred Championship | Bradford Bulls v Dewsbury Rams (April 7 - KO 3pm)
Coral Challenge Cup Round 5 (April 14)
Betfred Championship | Featherstone Rovers v York (April 19 - KO 6pm)

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Hoping the London Broncos can continue winning a few games and stay up next season.

Last few weeks...

London Broncos 23 - 22 St Helens
Catalan Dragons 12 - 30 London Broncos
London Broncos 26 - 24 Hull KR

[Mexican titan]

Hoping the London Broncos can continue winning a few games and stay up next season.

Last few weeks...

London Broncos 23 - 22 St Helens
Catalan Dragons 12 - 30 London Broncos
London Broncos 26 - 24 Hull KR

Is it auto relegation DH? It would be a disaster for the game if Leeds get relegated as their crowds are among the best.

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Is it auto relegation DH? It would be a disaster for the game if Leeds get relegated as their crowds are among the best.

Yea they got rid of the million pound game.

Losing Leeds would be a disaster. As was losing Bradford.