Get ready for an action-packed episode of our live rugby league news show, where we dive deep into the heart of rugby league’s most thrilling developments. This week, we’re covering a range of exciting topics:
✅ North vs South Origin Rivalry
✅ Worcester Rebels stirring up the competition.
✅ Latest Challenge Cup fixtures, focusing on the clash between Hammersmith and Wests
✅ Scotland Trials
✅ USA Wheelchair
Join us for “expert” analysis, interviews, and previews as we bring you all the latest from the rugby league world outside the heartlands. Whether you’re a seasoned fan or just getting into the game, this episode is packed with insights and stories you won’t want to miss!
[Applause] Hey up uh Hey up and welcome back to another episode of our set of six where we share the good the new and the noteworthy of rubber League outside the heartlands my name’s Craig and my name’s KL and this week we’ve got some great stories including origin rugby league in
The UK yes Craig it’s right University rugby league the North First South match has taking place so we’ll be giving you all the information on that plus the challenge Cup fixtures and a few other stories mixed in I I don’t want to suggest that you might be over egging
This um anyway okay welcome to the live stream for this week as always Kyle has been out on the interwebs and he’s found six interesting news stories that we’re going to talk about today every week we share these new stories and remember that you can get involved by commenting
H and we can bring some of those comments up onto the screen so um we’ve got a prize of 10 uh rubby League Outsiders points right which you can not redeem anywhere or anything like that okay for the first person that comments this week just to get a bit of
Interaction going um so thanks a lot for that we’re going to dive straight in car with our with our first story um and just to set the context I I kind of disappeared abroad and you head up and uh and faced the elements
Yeah I had to I had to take me big coat with me it with that Bloody cold yes I headed up to South Yorkshire this week to Sheffield Hallam University to watch the the big origin match the north versus South origin match which was a university rugby league it was
Essentially a trial game for the England rugby league university side and I’ve got to tell you Craig it was an absolute belter yes so I mean you say Bel to I mean are we talking like high impact high speed you know High skill you know what what made it such a good fixture
Everything you just mentioned high impact high speed high quality great players um inexperienced players that are are learning their trade high quality Rugby Union players that have come into a university rugby league environment who are absolutely quality you’ve got um championship and League one players mixed in there that are at
Universes because obviously the the part-time um yeah it it was a great game um and an absolute spectacle really good game yeah I mean just thinking about it obviously you’ve got you’ve got players pretty much at the prime of their their life almost you know what I mean
Depending on you know kind of uh the AG and all that kind of stuff and I assume that the facilities are pretty good as well being you know being like a major university so where was the game played and it Sheffield hallem University yeah the the the facilities were good but
This game deserves a bigger stage um you’ll see what I mean when we we play a few of the interviews and there’s no game in the UK I don’t think that has such a diverse range of players taking part so you’ve got literally like like like I’ve just said to you we got
Players who um seasoned Pros who’ve been sort of playing from a very young age mixed in with really highly talented individuals who’ve only just come to rugby league um just all mixed together from all over the country that that that’s what would say people from all over the country just playing this
Really high quality version of rugby league it it was an absolute cracking fixture so I mean obviously you’re going to talk a little bit about standout players and and actually the result of the game and all that kind of stuff but before we get into some of them Clips
Like you know what what was your what were the stand standout moments for you um there was a there was a few the basically the first five minutes was massive like you you watched the tackles that went in the the first five minutes you could see how much it meant to all
Of these players you’re playing for an England badge it don’t matter what sort of level it’s at does if you’re playing for an England badge you want to win don’t you so these players just went at each other hard um I did catch up with the England uh University’s head coach
Kevin Deon just um at the start of the fixture just to sort of get my eye in and you know see what we coming at witness and we’ve got that sort of interview here um KD talk to me about about how University rubber league has
Gone so far this year uh this year it’s been a bit of a stop Start program and because of the English weather bless us uh we lost the regional program but what we decided to do was include all those who had applied for it to come and have
An opportunity to train with the North and South program in the origin area yeah so we had that and then we’ve actually trimmed the squads to 2 26 today and what we’re going to do is get our eyes on them for the first time um what’s exciting about this and I really
Love this program is that there’s a lot a lot of fresh faces this year because the university program is three years they graduate they go off and go elsewhere so this is like a new cycle of absolutely yeah we’ve only got um I think there’s five lads who have
Actually played um in the England side last year so we’re going to have to look for 21 new Fresh Faces which is a great opportunity for them all we’ve also got 21 universities represented today which is f we’ve got 11 from the uh South and
10 from the north so so it’s a really good program we’ve got one lad who’s going to come from uh Newcastle today and another L’s come from exito yeah know the rugby league program does this um I’m very passionate about it I’m in my seventh season doing this now um and
It’s all about them Lads getting an opportunity and going to represent the country So for anybody that’s not seen sort of University of rugby and sort of seen this program before uh obviously the lads are all studying universities up and down the country uh do we have a
Mixture of sort of Community Players ex Semi-Pro is there in there yeah we have a a full diverse um set of players um we’ve had um kids who have registered with semipro clubs yeah we’ve had kids who come from Rugby Union Talent transfer people some lads who were
Excited me who came from Rugby Union last year um and we’ve also got kids who play in the community game which is fantastic and I’m not just in the north which you call the Heartland I like I love I love your podcast mate I really
Do it really does um and we um we just Tred to give everybody an opportunity um to play our great game I’m really passionate about our game um what we’ve got is that Lads from the north go down to universities in the South yeah and then start Ruby League teams up and when
We get people like I think you interviewed him last year on your program Luke Phoenix yeah yeah yeah Luke wow Phoenix I call him because he’s got so much talent wouldn’t come to our game if it want for the opportunity of University rugby league
Yeah uh okay so car just uh a couple of things so first of all when did did did they ask where I was no mate completely ignored well they didn’t okay um all right so only only right that we talk about the game and and the outcome of the game um what
What was the final score you know tell us a little bit about it I can’t remember the final score although the I know the South uncomfortably in the end it was a really close game uh South started ear early doors with u a couple of early tries
There was a real standout try actually um Nathan Redmond who ended up getting the man of match did a little Alfie Langer esque chip kick over the defense caught his own kick passed it onto a back row and went crashing through under the post that was probably the standout
Try for me that was uh the South scored two TR tries early on um and then the north really came sort of back into it um second half it was there was quite a few errors uh early doors um and then the North had a sort of sustained period
Of about 15 minutes where they were sort of camped in the red zone of the South um they just couldn’t break them down though they couldn’t they couldn’t really get over that line um to to get close to him and then and the South pulled away at the end um yeah great
Game I’m getting the feeling it was 3212 was it the the final score no thanks Chris for for chipping in and sharing that score yeah that was score 3512 was a yeah I met Chris there he’s um he was the team manager of the North car just talk to me a little bit
About how this kind of separate like North and South was it just people that born in the South playing for the South people born in the north playing for the north how how did no it’s basically whichever University you’re going to so if you’re a northerner but you’re going
To University in London you you’ll be representing the South um but that didn’t matter the the the the players were proud to represent their institutions that they were playing for like for example Nathan Redmond that got man a match he’s from wh winess um but he was representing the South and he was
Proud to represent the South go to lury university um and and that’s I think that’s why this game was so strong because you’ve got a mix of players from all over the country mixing with each other that I think that’s why it’s such a strong strong competition little comment there
It was the hook and Earth who passed on to Noah Tyson um so uh brilliant these comments really working just help us get the the facts right and yeah I clearly watching eyes closed okay so um from north south Origins and we’re going to move on no
We’ve got a couple of interviews um from post game interviews that we’ll we’ll play now tough game today um South come out on top but your boys certainly were in were in the contest for sort of 60 70 minutes weren’t they yeah and it’s credit to the South and I think the
Game’s building down there nicely and I think that through the the means of the university the showcasing that you know it’s a strong area and I think that’s the second win on the Trot now yeah for the South so congratulations to them and you know we we looked about and talked
About doing the little things right and the big things will come and unfortunately we’ you know we kind of made a few too many errors in that in that department um but you know no excuses the best side one on that day uh I thought it was quite close for about
60 minutes and then I think they got their uh fourth try and it kind of just seen us off and I think we tried to get back in the game but um like we camped on their line for a while but I think we just struggled to get back in and then
They scored and it kind of killed the game off with the drop kick so feel like we had we got the field position position for that like for that threat and for the like key areas but physically we matched them physically I think we dominated at times throughout
The game but then towards the end I think it was sort of a little bit you know a few few few too many errors on their line knock on penalties and happens yeah Tom assistant coach to the sou yes um how did the how do you think
The the the camp went leading up to the game and more importantly how do you think the the game went today I think to be honest the first couple weeks we got together we were like we knew we had a good squad especially middle and I think
In the game say you could tell they sort the way the game went how physical it was that they all dug in and our backs as well they thre some good shape and I think probably the better team when we had dig game but I think we deserve the win to be
Honest okay so um yeah really interesting comments there Kyle you know what else stood out from you for you on the uh on the day uh just the passion The Lads played with to be honest um and one thing I would say there needs to be more eyes on this on this
Fixture it needs to be in a bigger Stadium we need to get fans there there needs to be more promotion on this this event because it is a big game and to be honest with you there needs to be more um Scouts League one championship coaches need to be at this game because
The talent on show is absolutely quality and it’s untapped Talent as well you know it’s Lads some Lads are new to rugby league um but the quality that they’re playing with it deserves a bigger stage well that was a great first story there now I’ve got to say that
Every year obviously you want to progress okay so you want to progress now last year um Carl had a total of seven haircuts different hairstyles right okay he’s already had three already so he’s going to Blitz that for this year this year so uh if anyone’s got any comments about car’s haircuts
Then then send them through all right so from that we’re going to move straight into our next story and a few fixtures for us to look at uh yeah challenge Cup fixtures then so the um the Saturday fixtures then Craig first to start off we saw bar Alm Cornwall with versus York
Acon that could be a really good game York Aon very good uh pedigree amateur rugby league club um but the standout fixture for me on the Saturday is Sidle vers Wakefield yeah that’s one that’s standed out for me I’ve got a lot of friends and family involved in the Sidle
Club up there in alifax uh that’s that’s uh that’s kind of that’s a a massive game for for um for Sidle yeah and I mean uh the one thing we will say about that fixture is we we’re going to get a full fixture out because the flood
Lights aren’t going to go out so we’re gonna we’re it’s uh it’s been played at Sidle it’s gonna be interesting to see how the how they deal with the crowd actually because I think weight field will take quite a few people over that yeah definitely and and it’s quite
Interesting what you’re saying um I thought the weight field flood lights if people haven’t seen that obviously the game had to get called off at Midway through because the lights failed and uh what was interesting the follow-up story to that the context around it was that
It happened to W field at a cast match last year or a season before whatever and they were kick off they were trying to get the cast kicked out or points deducted but you know people in glass hour and all that kind of stuff so yeah massive
Um massive uh fixture there so the uh the new stand looked good anyway looked it looked great for the uh the 40 minutes that you could see it okay they’ve got a new electrician in place anyway fixtures then um standout ones I think well I I’ll be keeping an
Eye on the Bradford uh North Wales Crusaders game um Darren morson he was uh the Crusaders team manager he was with the Hurricanes at Bradford last year in the challenge cup and he’s been been drawing them again this year with the Crusaders um Huns Keely should be a
Good in uh Rochdale and the Midlands that should be interesting see where both of those teams are at um and for me the big game um of the challenge cup is without doubt Triple H versus the West Warriors yeah Triple H I mean well both these teams I think we’ve mentioned
Every every episode that we’ve done so far so um yeah this is definitely the correct me if I’m wrong people that are watching these have got to be the two lowest ranking teams in the competition give a give a take depending on what you know yeah I suppose it depends how you
Rate the the Southern Conference League we we know it’s a quality division but suppose people would say that yeah um so it be interesting to see how they kind of how they kind of get on have you got a prediction for it car uh no I think
It’ be depends who’s playing for each team this year I mean both sides performed remarkably well in the last round of the challenge cup so the wests beat uh Rochdale Mayfield didn’t they um Rochdale arguably one of the the top ntl teams um the wests knock them off the
Podium um and then Triple H went and beat uh West bow in their own backyard in a a very fiery encounter I think there was a couple of red cards a couple of yellow cards and yeah kitchen sink thrown out and everything else two questions Carl right first of all if ask
You for a prediction you just pick a team that’s what you do that’s what you used to do yeah yeah yeah I just pick a team I’m not picking I it’s that’s going to be a Mega Match that you know one of these teams are going to be in the next
Round of the challenge cup uh they the draw they will actually play the winner of Halifax and white wow so yeah massive yeah M just great story for this is a huge game in southern rugby league yeah and and it it deserves a big crowd as well little bit disappointed it haven’t
Been picked for Te to be televised this one but I do think the working on putting a live stream out uh brilliant okay and the other thing I was going to say I’ve completely oh you had an interesting sort of question or something to pose to the the uh the
People watching about about the logo for for Triple H yeah so there’s a I mean I I noticed this a couple of weeks ago but I don’t know the story behind this so if there’s anyone watching that can fill us in why is there a washing line on the
Logo of Hammer Smith Hills hoists I believe I believe it’s some sort of story to do with invented in Australia or something I don’t know um but if someone can fill me in um who wants to ring in the show and we’ll have them on next week week or
Whatever and get some information on that would be that’d be great because it’s uh certainly unique okay moving on to um the next story then we’re going north of the Border up in Scotland so uh yeah this is really just a bit of a an update so the
Scotland under 19’s trials continue this week um Saturday 17th of February they’re going to be held in Edinburgh peer Mill playing fields in Edinburgh uh the under 19s Trials of Scotland I think they’ve been moving these around the country I think there was one in uh St
Ellens or somewhere the other week um yeah so if you’re interested in representing Scotland and you’re eligible um get in touch with Scotland rubby league on their on their Facebook page Ireland are also um their Pathways program has also just opened at the minute um there is again expressions of
Interest are open on their Facebook page you can go on there fill out form you know put your eligibility in um and take it from there really car we’ve had a couple of comments one from Nathan Parker saying that you’re going to go for a mullet this year is that is that
Right any truth in that no not a mly never said never um and then Tom Coy friend of the show he’s saying big up the southeast yeah absolutely great stuff down there hello Tom how you doing um I wish I could get to that fixture actually uh unfortunately we’re both
Working out with next week this weekend um however if anybody does go to that fixture and they want to come on next week and and give us an update on how that fixture went please get in touch that’ be that’d be a great thing to do okay so from well Scottish sometimes you
Know deemed as Rebels and moving on to the next set of rebels which is the Worcester Rebels seamless link that absolutely seamless link um breaking news Craig yellow banners back uh what the rebels are the latest team to be announced in the Midlands knes competition um look we can’t wait to
Have them there team that formed last year been doing some great things in the community uh yeah great to have them in they’re going to be taking part in the social competition along with Stafford quantums we announced a couple of weeks ago uh we did Miss because we didn’t
Record last week Telford Raiders 2023 Midlands Champions have also entered into the men’s competition so it’s hotting up now the um the the the competitions are filling up the men’s especially we don’t have many places left so if you do want to enter the men’s competition you’re going to need
To get your entry in very soon yeah it’s definitely definitely hitting up did you mention the new horn for 2024 you mention I didn’t know so the what’s the rebels yeah they’re going to be playing at drit witch Rugby Club this year um they they continue to move
Around just to expand their RIS and um just bringing more players um great ground Detroit witch Rugby Club um and they’ve also got their new kit out which you can see on screen which is is a bit of a Bel is it what are you going to rate it Craig
Seven I really like it I’d give that I’d get that a nine you know anything with some light blue on I absolutely love it so uh yeah love it yes great k um also added to the Midlands nines Festival the the music Alexander Norris uh musician from centry he’s going to be playing
Hometown gig he’s been added to the music lineup so I’m a really big fan of his listening to some of Music quality yeah and I see he’s he is he has he come on speak he’s he’s watching on Instagram as it’s as we speak so go go
And check him out check out his music really really quality I think it’s going to complement the other live acts that we’ve got for the Midlands nines we’re gonna have some belt in night if nothing else I’m sure the Ruby is going to be great but we’re gonna have one L of a
Piss up as well yeah um he’s he’s also going to come on this show and do a bit of a a live song for us at the end of one of the podcasts so I’m looking forward to that that’ll be that be a first would it you like the Jonathan Ross show W
It um well great I’m not on you but uh no so uh that’s really good news and from one set of really good news to another set of really good news I’ll give you seven out of 10 for that transition um USA their first ever game of wheelchair rugby league took place uh
Ju just gone um the the Wales side took um a squad over there to play two games um yeah great to see USA Rugby League wheelchair rugby league getting off the ground um the you know they didn’t get the result obviously I you know Wales
Are a season team now out the uh 78 points to 24 was the score um but you know just great to see the such a great spot just spreading its Horizons yeah what an opportunity to go and play you know in the US it’s it’s incredible now
What stands out for there me we we’ve we would we’ve spoke to a few wheelchair athletes and it wasn’t too long ago that England were having similar scores against the likes of France you know and you know I remember them sort of saying that one of their kpis was to you know
Don’t let them score more than 50 points and all that and then it it crept down crept down before you know you’ve won a World Cup so who knows where either of these teams are going to be you know in a couple of years so really exciting
Stuff just be a great experience for the uh the Welsh players as well that went over there you know playing a fixture in Myrtle Beach I you probably didn’t expect that when they set up a wheelchair Ruby League side um the second fixture was a lot closer actually
Um Wales took the series two-nil um but yeah the the USA definitely crept up special mention to Scot trig Turner who scored four tries in the first game yeah nice one H we have got a little bit of an exclusive here we got a comment saying uh Hills hoist is an Australian
Rotary cloth line that were founded by Aussie xats and that’s that’s where the name come from so thanks Phil Rogers for um class for letting us know that’s quality uh it’s little nuggets like that that just sets every day is a school day a it that’s it that’s it um car anything
Else to to say for the uh the wheelchair game no I think we’ll move on to tackle six mate you supposed to buy me a bit of time yeah I know I was but I thought you’ve dropped me in it enough times tonight I’m going to drop you back in it
Fair enough fair enough uh okay so from there we’ve got a little bit of news coming out of the the Rhinos Camp yeah so Ron Smith uh wasn’t happy with the um the video referee or the are we calling it The Bunker these this year um all all
Matches this year gonna have a central sort of Bunker system like they do in the NRL um criticized it quite heavily after the uh I think it was James Donaldson testimonial um said it was very stop start now that’s the last thing I want to see if we bringing more
Technology into the game I don’t know what your thoughts on that are yeah I think part of me I think there’s so many little rule changes and and the game is developing you know so much that I think any assistance the referees can have to to make the correct decision is
A good thing however like you yeah but how far back do you go well this this is what becomes like feasible non-feasible and what what I tell you what I don’t want to say is I don’t watch any football right at all doesn’t entertain me it’s dog my
Opinion sorry if it offends anybody but um when when there’s a game on the tell you want you go on social media and all you can see is football fans just slagging off their game because it’s been slowed down by this bunker system V whatever they call it you know and quite
Often quite often I don’t know but you know it seems that they they get the de they still get the decision wrong and if that’s going to be the case why not just let the game play at normal speed and rely on the referee to make a call and
The referee is the man in charge so so that’s that so the video referee’s always worked on in Super League I the video referee’s always been good I’ve always liked it I just don’t want to see us where we we we’re making changes to live calls on the pitch if there’s a
Breaking play I get it you can look at something at you and you know if there an injury a late tackle or something like but I do not want to see the game where we we’re having decisions go back two or three tackles before because Something’s Happened if it’s gone it’s
Gone you’ve got to you’ve got to let the game Flow but on the same just got Playing devil’s advocate there you know there were I always remember right was it Le’s playing Bradford magic weekend and it was a dying seconds of the game right and it was it was like penalty or
Conversion something penalty that yeah and then they were all offside all massively offside that’s my point massively onside Jordan tany was it collected the ball over the over the TR line scored they won the game right I’m a leads fan I loved it okay however you look back they were miles offside should
Never have stood you know and yeah but he could have gone to the video ref for that yeah he could have no he could he could have gone to the video ref for that he just decided not to yeah because he’d made a shocker of a call anyway
Over to you guys what what do you think um be really interested in your comments on that one um you know lots of talk about about uh recommendations made because of head injuries and all this kind of stuff we’re actually putting together a little um uh a little side
Project if you like of a mini documentary looking at the concussion and that kind of stuff um which will come out soon hopefully when you so really interesting you know this is a line to that because ultimately we’re talking about player safety we’re talking about getting the the calls
Right on the pitch really interested to hear what you say I agree I agree but I just don’t want to see The Game Stop start like have you watched the game Rugby Union these days with a TMO I try not to it’s so it’s the the the onfield
Decisions now with the video referee and that absolutely kill it mate absolutely kill it that is the last thing we need to turn into yeah okay so we got a comment here from Phil Rogers again thanks Phil for your comment uh you just need to look at some of the NRL games
Last season they were going for 90 minutes sometimes because of the bunker interference um yeah Phil agrees with me yeah uh as suppos I think Rowan Smith’s main gripe was that they were they were out there as a preseason game and they didn’t get any kind of conditioning effect because you know the
Video referee was breaking up the game slowing down momentum and nobody really improved their Fitness or got a game Fitness yeah conditioning because of you know it constantly disrupted disrupted what they were doing so um yeah yeah lots I suppose only only time will tell and and and all that so uh
Uh car where do we uh where do we go from here well I look forward to what we’ve got coming this week then so we’ve um we’ve just recorded an episode an hour or so ago aren’t we the the Dublin Exile so um yeah can’t wait to get that
One out um really interesting chat all about isand rugby league what’s been going on over there what’s to come in the future um yeah a couple of things stood out for me from that interview first of all Ireland rub league is in good hands you know what I mean there’s
Very passionate people out there that are driving this game forward a game that is relatively new I was surprised at how long it had been around I won’t spoil it you know you have to listen to the episode to hear a little bit about the history and all that kind of stuff
But people really really back it and you know there’s a lot of carryover from GIC football and that kind of stuff just it suits rubby League you know those players suit rubby league and you know really interesting uh really interesting episode um with with Richard Eagan and
Alex Duff who uh yeah great great to talk to um as well as that was a loot of little short clips dropping as well Cal yeah so I I was kept busy at the weekend while you was uh sunning yourself mate I was um collecting all the interviews
There’s I think six or seven short interviews to U well they’re just dropping onto our YouTube channel now so if you want to go watch any of the interviews from the North South University origin game they’re all on there now um yeah plenty more to come okay okay so that’s uh pretty much
The end of this episode now hope you like the news as you can see the as the weeks go we’re getting more and more fluent and but what we do need is more and more guests more and more stories so please keep reaching out to caral or the
Rubble League Outsiders um social media platforms just let us know what you got going on uh and you know we can quite obviously uh feature it on the show um if it’s new noteworthy and what’s the other thing I say good that’s it good um
All right uh I want to kind of wrap up with uh with showing a video of the Midlands nines trophy reveal okay one because we’re quite proud of the video Carl and I had an absolute laugh um putting this together with smoke and bloody all sorts going on and we work
Really hard but also I really just want to um want to encourage people to to get involved in this Festival because all right this first year this year and it’s coming up quick and we’ve got we’ve got you know big expectations for this uh for this tournament over the next few
Years um so what’s this um ms78 not sure that is thanks for coming on Saturday mate appreciate the eyes on the student game so you might know that is car I don’t know and all right so thanks everyone that’s watched and for those that have commented and uh and here’s that [Applause] video show me the stay home All show me the all damn day in show me the all damn day stay it home all damn Day