McRae Blasts Underperforming Reds

Reds Head Coach Shaun McRae minced no words in the post match press conference after the Reds heavy defeat in Wales against the Crusaders.

He blasted: “I am not sure what words would sum that performance up. Publicly, it is very hard to speak how I feel. I have had a private conversation with the group in there and let them know what I think of that performance. I won’t argue with any words anyone uses to describe that display but we are a funny side in that when we start well, we are generally in the game for the whole of it.

“We don’t sometimes win those games but when we start poorly and we are passive, we struggle to recover from that. This was the case today.”

McRae will wait for referee Ben Thaler’s report on the Smith dismissal, adding: “It is a referee’s word against a player’s word.

Smith Sees Red As Salford Struggle In Wales

The Reds came well and truly unstuck in Wrexham and had a man sent off to boot to round-off a miserable afternoon against the Crusaders. After several good performances the wheels came off and the Welshmen put Salford to the Sword to rack up their highest ever Super League score.

Match Report

Crusaders celebrated their highest ever victory as an engage Super League club with a comprehensive defeat of Salford City Reds at the Racecourse Ground.

And to add to Salford’s problems, they had Jeremy Smith sent off in the second-half for dissent.

Wing Nick Youngquest grabbed a hat-trick of tries, while full-back Clinton Schifcofske scored 24 points with two tries and eight goals.

Crusaders head coach Brian Noble made just one adjustment to the side which scored a crucial victory over Castleford Tigers at Neath last week that continued their hopes of a play-off place.

Leading try scorer Vince Mellars, who has a groin injury, was absent from the 17-man side and was replaced by Frank Winterstein. Welsh rugby union legend Gareth Thomas was still not fit from his groin injury but Noble expects him to play against Harlequins on Friday night.

Salford needed to win all three of their remaining fixtures to have a mathematical prospect of the play-offs but have been hit by the loss of key playmaker Daniel Holdsworth, who is having shoulder surgery.

Coach Shaun McRae made three changes from the side that lost to Leeds Rhinos the previous weekend, with Adam Sidlow dropping to the bench and Steve Tyrer, who was with the Crusaders last year, and Marc Sneyd absent from the squad.

And, by half-time, McRae must have had a few choice words with his side despite more injury woe when centre Mark Henry was carried off after just 11 minutes.

Salford were actually in the lead for all of four minutes after Youngquest’s opening try was cancelled out by Stefan Ratchford and Matty Smith landed a simple conversion.

But, after Youngquest got his second touchdown on ten minutes, it was all Crusaders.

Half-back Rhys Hanbury burst through on the left and, with two attackers covered, he went inside to fly over unopposed.

Schifcofske converted and then goaled a try of his own with a dash through the Salford midfield on the right.

Ashley Gibson almost brought some light to the City Reds’ gloom when he was just in touch diving over in the right corner, however that was their last chance of the half as the Welshmen struck twice more.

First, Tony Martin ran through a gap and scored on 34 minutes, then Ryan O’Hara drove under the posts from two yards.

After a quiet ten minutes, the Crusaders continued the onslaught with Weller Hauraki and Winterstein crossing either side of additional tries for Youngquest, Schifcofske and Martin.

Smith’s frustration boiled over on 72 minutes but  Salford responded with tries from Ray Cashmere and Karl Fitzpatrick but it was far, far too late in the match.

Match Facts

Crusaders (32) 60
Tries: Youngquest 3, Hanbury, Schifcofske 2, Martin 2, O’Hara, Hauraki, WintersteinGoals: Schifcofske 8

Salford (6) 16
Tries: Ratchford, Cashmere Goals: Smith 2

Crusaders RL: Schifcofske, Dyer, Martin, Chan, Youngquest, Sammut, Hanbury, Bryant, Withers, Peek, Winternstein, Hauraki, Lupton.
Replacements: James, Lee, O’Hara, Trimarchi.

Salford: Fitzpatrick, Broughton, Henry, Talau, Gibson, Ratchford, M. Smith, Cashmere, Alker, Boyle, Littler, Adamson, Swain.
Replacements: Sidlow, Neal, J. Smith, Parker.

Sent Off: J. Smith (72).

Attendance: 2,412

Referee: Ben Thaler (Wakefield).

They Graced The Willows : Jack Gore

In the first of a new series to celebrate  our famous old Stadium, we look back at some of the great names and characters of rugby league who have turned out in the famous red shirt here at The Willows. Here we head back to the 1920s and the time of a famous Welsh forward..

Jack Gore

John Henry Gore was born at Blaina on 16 June 1899 and his first experience of rugby came at Blaina Central School, where he captained the side at the age of 13.

He played for local side Blaina when he left school and also assisted Abertillery, Ebbw Vale and Redegar when his own team had no game. He represented Monmouthshire on several occasions and quickly caught the eye of the Welsh RU selectors.

Twice chosen as reserve in the games against England and Scotland he eventually gained the first of his four caps against Ireland at Cardiff Arms Park on March 8 1924.

He later played in the Internationals against France, NZ and England, his last cap being being at Twickenham on January 17 1925.

Exactly a fortnight later he was making his debut for Salford having moved North for a £450 fee. His inaugural game for Salford saw him at loose forward in a fixture at St Helens on January 31 1925.

He was installed as captain at the start of the 1925-26 season but it was a hard slog for the Reds who won 11 matches out of the 34 fixtures, leaving them in 21st position at the end of the campaign.

Jack was the backbone of the side though and he rarely missed a game.

During the 1926-27 season he led the side against the NZ Tourists and was a try scorer in the 18 points to 10 defeat. A month later he was selected for Wales against the NZ Tourists at Pontypridd and he capped a fine performances by scoring two tries in the Welsh side’s tremendous 34-8 victory, played out in front of 18000 rapturous fans.

That display earned him a call up for GB against the NZ side in the 3rd Test at Leeds and he helped them gain a 32-17 success.

In April 1927 he was in the Welsh team that lost to England b y11 points to 8 at The Cliff and at the end of that month he and Salford team mate Llew Williams were selected for Monmouthshire against Glamorgan.

In 1927-28 he played for the combined Glamorgan . Monmouthshire side twice and also was a try scorer for the Welsh side that lost to England by 20 points to 12.

Salford continued to struggle though and Jack Gore asked to be placed on the transfer list.
After playing 125 games for Salford he returned to South Wales during the 1928 close-season and later became a licensee.

During his playing career the South Wales News referred to him as one of the greatest forwards Wales had ever produced.

A great compliment indeed.

19 – Ryan Boyle

Ryan BOYLE
Position: prop
DOB: 17.10.1987

Joined Salford from Castleford Tigers prior to the 2010 campaign and made 23 appearances for the Reds last term.
He graduated through the ranks at Castleford, playing for them in the Clubs Academy grand final winning side.
He made his debut for the Tigers against Batley Bulldogs in June 2005, when he was a try scorer in their 60 point to 12 victory.
Represented Ireland in 2009 in their European Cup ranking games against Serbia, Wales and Lebanon. Now in the second of his 2 year contract at the Willows.

Wolves At The Door For Myler

Salford City Reds can confirm that England scrum-half Richard Myler will leave the club at the end of the season to join Warrington Wolves, after the clubs agreed a transfer fee to take the 19-year-old to the Halliwell Jones.

Myler signed for the Reds in 2008 from Widnes Vikings and played a part in the successful campaign that saw Salford sweep the National League board and return to the engage Super League.

He capped his rookie season as a professional with a try-scoring debut for England against Wales at Doncaster. He then started the 2009 Super League campaign like a house on fire and was again selected for International duty by England and the new Wolves coach Tony Smith.

Warrington were able to offer the player a startling contract and transfer fee for somebody who has only played a handful of games at this level. From the Club’s point of view it made both good football and business sense to let Richie go as it is pointless to keep a player against his wishes.

After just half of the Super League season and a hat-trick for England against France Richard had become the hottest property in the game and was one of the latest young stars to benefit from the Reds policy of blooding young, English talent.

Director of Football Steve Simms said: “Warrington offered a significant amount of money for his services; however we have always maintained that we wanted to keep Richie and build our future team around him and other homegrown players. This was reflected in the substantial offer we made for Myler’s future services, however Warrington were able to offer the player a startling contract and transfer fee for somebody who has only played a handful of games at this level.

From the Club’s point of view it made both good football and business sense to let Richie go as it is pointless to keep a player against his wishes, and we can now invest the finance back into the squad to strengthen in all areas.”

Simms continued, “Salford City Reds are proud of the opportunity it gave to Richie and will continue to give young talent the chance to flourish and accelerate their development into future stars of the game, rather than finding their first team opportunities limited at other Super League clubs.

Richard is a good young player who has a great future ahead of him. We wish him all the very best for his future career and I’m sure everybody connected to Salford will thank him for a remarkable two seasons in our colours.”

UK to host 2013 World Cup

The Rugby League International Federation announced today that the next Rugby League World Cup will be held in the United Kingdom in 2013.

The decision was one of many major issues discussed by the International Federation at a two day meeting scheduled to determine the future of the International calendar and to discuss the allocation of funding to develop the International game.

The 2008 Rugby League World Cup, run by the Rugby League International Federation, was an outstanding success by any measure, attracting more than 290,000 fans, 6791 tickets sold through official travel agents and attracting a global television audience of 19.2m people. Importantly the event was a commercial success, raising revenue that will be reinvested by the International Federation to strengthen development and grow participation at all levels.

Event research showed that 85% of respondents watched the Rugby League World Cup on television with 98% of respondents who watched enjoying the matches. 88% of fans identified as passionate supporters believed the Rugby League World Cup was a great competition.

The decision to play the next World Cup in the northern hemisphere was based on a comprehensive business plan, submitted by the Rugby Football League (RFL), detailing plans to host the tournament in the United Kingdom, as part of the UK’s ‘Golden Decade of Sport’. The decision to play the tournament in 2013 as opposed to 2012 was made to ensure the tournament is played outside an Olympic year in the future.

Deputy Chairman of the International Federation & RFL Chairman, Richard Lewis said, ‘It is a great boost for Rugby League in the Northern Hemisphere to secure the World Cup in 2013. I thought that the 2008 tournament was an outstanding success and our goal is to deliver a successful and profitable tournament that further enhances the International prestige of Rugby League.’

Developing more elite International Test matches and growing Rugby League in nations who could deliver World Cup teams into the future was agreed as the basis for future funding grants in order to ensure continued growth for the RLIF’s premier event.

Chairman of the RLIF, Colin Love, said ‘The RLIF is determined to build a stronger International calendar of matches and the recent announcement of the Pacific Cup is a perfect example of this.

The Pacific Cup will see the Pacific nations; Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Island and Papua New Guinea compete in a two week tournament in Port Moresby in October – November with the winner given the chance to play in the 2010 Four Nations in Australia and New Zealand. It is an exciting and credible concept that will deliver entertaining Rugby League for fans at the ground and on television.’

The on-going development of the European Nations Cup and the need to ensure consistent matches for France, Wales, Scotland & Ireland was also discussed.

When these events are combined with the Four Nations event being held in 2009, 2010 and 2011 it is clear that there is a strong calendar of International Rugby League that will build excitement for the 2013 World Cup.

The RLIF considered the issue of player workload and it was agreed that in every four year cycle, there will be no Four Nations staged in the year prior to a Rugby League World Cup. In these years, a Test match schedule among nations will be developed.

The calendar will see Four Nations played in England in 2009, Australia and New Zealand in 2010, England in 2011 and then in Australia post the 2013 World Cup.

Elite competitions will be complimented with a range of funding grants that were agreed to fund a wide range of projects including grassroots development, elite youth academies, support for administrative staff, coaching accreditation and training courses.

‘The RLIF provides funding to more than 30 Rugby League nations and I am excited about the potential for funds raised by last year’s tournament to be carefully allocated to achieve genuine growth in Rugby League participation at all levels from elite to grassroots globally’, Love said.

Other issues discussed included player eligibility, international judiciary, maximising international commercial rights (broadcast & sponsorship) and the development of a long term strategic plan for International Rugby League.

Half-back Dilemma For McRae In Tigers Challenge

Shaun McRae takes charge of his 400th game as Head Coach at The Willows this Friday (8pm) where he faces a tricky selection issue -  whether to play prodigy Stefan Ratchford in his preferred position in the halves at the expense of Richie Myler or Jeremy Smith or keep him in the centres.

Ratchford was played in the centres last weekend due to an injury crisis in the back-line, but McRae is acutely aware he is more dangerous at 6 or 7. With Jordan Turner potentially returning it gives him more options in the centre but then he must decide who may miss out.

The only change to the 19-man squad sees Steve Nash return to replace Andrew Thornley.

Reds’ star youngster Luke Adamson, who celebrated his new three-year contract with the first try in last weekend’s game in Bridgend is looking forward to returning to winning ways and said:

“Everybody was frustrated with how things went in Wales. We weren’t clinical enough with our execution of skill. We should not have gone from beating Saints to losing against Celtic and we have to bounce back this Friday.

“Castleford are a good role model for us as a club. They have come back into Super League and have progressed. We have to look to kicking on as they have done. I am sure we will because eventually we have to look at being up there challenging the best.

Reds 19 Man Squad to face Castleford Tigers:
Wilshere, Henry, Smith, Turner, McGilvray, Cashmere, Alker, Stapleton, Swain, Littler, Leuluai, Paul, Ratchford, Adamson, Jewitt, Walton, Sidlow, Nash, Myler

Celtic Crusaders 25-12 Salford City Reds (eSL R20)

Salford City Reds put in an ‘After the Lord Mayor’s Parade’ type performance after last week’s stunnning victory over St Helens as they crashed 25-12 at bottom club Celtic Crusaders having thrown away a 0-12 start gained in the first 10 minutes, including a try from Luke Adamson celebrating his new three-year contract.

Match Report (courtesy of PA)

Celtic Crusaders gave themselves the slightest chance of finishing off the bottom rung of the Super League ladder with a superb victory over Salford at Brewery Field.

On the day former Salford and Wales legend David Watkins was made president of the Crusaders, this was a day the Welshmen had waited for since February.

However, it looked to be going the same way as the other games when Luke Adamson grabbed a try after two minutes before centre Stuart Littler made it 12-0, with full-back John Wilshere converting both touchdowns.

From somewhere, though, the Crusaders found some inner strength and began an outstanding comeback on 20 minutes when centre Marshall Chalk took a high ball on the sixth tackle on the Salford 25-yard line and raced over in the corner.

Wing Anthony Blackwood grabbed a try in the corner nine minutes later after a pass on the left in the Salford danger zone which full-back Damien Quinn, who had landed Chalk’s conversion, booted as well.

That levelled matters and the Crusaders were soon in the lead. A drive upfield saw hooker Lincoln Withers dive in under some bodies from a few yards with Quinn’s conversion simple.

The crowd, who have had little to cheer all season, were profoundly vocal and Salford looked decidedly unsettled for the rest of the game.

Shaun McRae’s men had a number of chances to score but dropped the ball and made numerous errors as the pressure to score mounted.

Stand-off Matt Smith grabbed a fourth touchdown of the match which Quinn converted to give the Crusaders a 10-point lead.

And, from there, Salford lost control of the ball, gave away lots of penalties and were not really at the races.

A final Smith drop-goal in the 80th minute was just the finishing touch.

Match Facts

Celtic Crusaders (18) 25	Salford (12) 12
Tries: Smith, Chalk, Withers, Blackwood	Adamson, Littler
Goals: Quinn 4	Wilshere 2
Drop Goals: Smith
Attend: 3,009

Celtic Crusaders: Quinn, Dyer, Chalk, Dalle Cort, Van Dijk, Blackwood, Smith, O’Hara, Withers, Bryant, J. James, Chan, Lupton.

Replacements: Budworth, Peek, Beasley, Lennon.

Salford: Wilshere, McGilvray, Littler, Ratchford, Henry, Smith, Myler, Swain, Cashmere, Alker, Stapleton, Adamson, Sidlow.

Replacements: Paul, Walton, Leuluai, Jewitt.

Crusaders	Match Stats	City Reds
4	Tries	2
2	Goals	2
1	Drop Goals
305	Tackles	338
28	Misses	29
92%	% Tackle Made	92%
26	Kicks	18
9	Retained Kicks	2
	40/20′s
47	Number of sets	42
152	Number PTB	131
1	Quick PTB	6
190	Carries	181
1117	Metres	979
4	Breaks	2
9	Offloads	11
16	Errors	14
8	Pens Con	9

Mancunian Magic

International rugby will come to Manchester this weekend when England Lionhearts take on Ireland Wolfhounds and Mancunians RL take on Chester Gladiators in Read more

Myler Set For Starring England Role

Salford City Reds’ Richie Myler has been named in Tony Smith’s England squad to face France on 13 June. Myler is set to win his second cap after starring against Wales before the World Cup.

Three uncapped players – Huddersfield’s Scott Moore, Leeds’ Ryan Hall and Wigan’s Sam Tomkins – have been named in Tony Smith’s 19 man England squad to face France in Paris on Saturday 13 June in the Gillette Fusion International.

The squad, which will be captained by Leeds Rhinos forward Jamie Peacock, features players from 11 different clubs and is a youthful looking one featuring 12 players who are aged 25 or under.

It also includes 12 players who were not involved in last year’s World Cup in Australia including Huddersfield’s Eorl Crabtree, Wakefield’s Ryan Atkins and the Hull KR duo of Peter Fox and Shaun Briscoe.

Three players who made their debuts in last year’s Gillette Fusion International against Wales – Tony Clubb, Richard Myler and Michael Shenton – also make the squad.

Tony Smith, England head coach, said: “This is a squad featuring a lot of new and exciting faces as well as seasoned campaigners and gives a good blend of youth and experience.  It’s a big team that is full of speed and skill and people who can score tries.

“The players are chosen from a number of Super League clubs.  This I believe is a reflection of the form of some of the players and clubs at the moment and also underlines just how competitive Super League is this season.

“This game against France will also be about looking at a number of new faces to see how they perform on the international stage with one eye on this autumn’s Four Nations.”

As well as playing France in Paris on 13 June, England will also face Bobbie Goulding’s men in this autumn Four Nations tournament which also features Australia and World Champions New Zealand.  England will play France on 23 October at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium.

Tickets for the Gillette Fusion International between France and England on 13 June at the Jean Bouin stadium, Paris are now available and are priced €5, €10, €15 and €20.  They can be purchased from http://www.ticketnet.fr/shop/en/manif.asp?idmanif=176001&idtier=78768

The game is also live on Sky Sports 2, kick off 8pm (BST) and 9pm (CET).

Next Page »