London Harlequins

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All news related to London here.

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Heritage day to celebrate history of Rugby League in London

The rich history and development of Rugby League in London is to be celebrated by the inaugural London Rugby League Heritage Day, which is taking place in the capital on Sunday March 22nd.
The event – which is the first of its kind – is taking place at the White Hart Lane Community Sports Centre, the home of London Skolars RLFC, and is being staged in conjunction with London Rugby League - the umbrella body which is a partnership involving the RFL, clubs, volunteers ands other stakeholders and works collectively to develop the sport in the city and the wider region.
The day will include a host of activity including the launch of the new London Rugby League Museum, where memorabilia from clubs throughout London and the South East will be showcased.
On top of this, the Bob Evans Memorial Trophy for services to London Rugby League, will be re-established and will be presented at half time during the Co-operative Championship 1 game between London Skolars and Swinton Lions.
Also taking place on the day will be a ‘Masters’ game of Rugby League between London Skolars and Fulham/Crusaders/Broncos/QuinsRL past players.
Masters Rugby League is 13-a-side contact rugby with some rule modifications changes, including a 5m offside rule instead of 10m and different tackle rules depending on the age of the competitor.
Already confirmed for the game are former Fulham RLFC Superstar Hussein M’Barki, former Bronco Junior Paul, former Skolars and Broncos player Ady Spencer as well as one time London Crusaders stalwart Daryl Pitt.
Darryl Pitt said “We believe the London Rugby League Heritage Day will become an annual event celebrating the game’s history in the capital and is an acknowledgement of the efforts of everyone from loyal Rugby League supporters through to the professional players in every era.”
Also incorporated into the celebrations will be the Highgate Wood Family Rugby League Festival, featuring a boys and girls tournament highlighting the Rugby League activity in Haringey.
Refreshments will be available and that will ensure everyone involved has an opportunity to catch up with some old and familiar faces from years gone by.

For more information re tickets, memorabilia and participation, please contact Paul Thorman on 020 8888 8488 or [e-mail].

About LondonRL (www.londonrl.com)

LondonRL is the body that manages the development of Rugby League across London and the South East.
Rugby League across the region is in magnificent shape
In 2008 alone, more than 35,000 individuals participated in the sport
165 school teams played in the Carnegie Schools Championships
8 South East based Universities played in SRL competitions
From minis through to seniors, over 3,500 people played for 91 teams within 43 clubs
There are two professional clubs within the region, Harlequins RL & London Skolars
In 2008: 17 junior players were selected for national representative squads
Three Harlequins players were chosen to represent the full England Rugby League side.

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www.superleague.co.uk/report.php?id=3086278

Former Great Britain winger David Hodgson scored his first hat-trick of tries for Huddersfield as the Giants edged a thriller to bring Castleford Tigers’ winning run to an end.

The Tigers were on course to make it four engage Super League wins in a row for the first time for seven years when they led 12-6, but the visitors demonstrated superior finishing to nudge in front by the break.

And the Giants then defended superbly despite being reduced to 12 men through the sin-binning of Leroy Cudgoe to clinch a third away win of the season.

Huddersfield, who gave a debut to 20-year-old back row forward Larne Patrick in the absence of five regulars through injury, made a dream start with a try after just 23 seconds.

They collected the ball from their own kick-off thanks to a piece of opportunism by hooker Scott Moore and caught the Castleford defence unawares with Luke Robinson sending second rower Jamahl Lolesi through a yawning gap.

Unshaken, the Tigers attacked with confidence gained from consecutive wins against Wigan Warriors, Salford City Reds and Catalans Dragons and struck back with two tries in a four-minute spell.

A break down the left by winger Richard Owen set up the position for centre James Evans to cross on the right, courtesy of Brent Sherwin’s long pass, and then prop Craig Huby took Ryan Hudson’s pass from dummy half to crash over by the posts.

Kirk Dixon added both conversions to put the home side 12-6 up but Huddersfield scored a second try on 15 minutes when left winger Hodgson easily won the race to Kevin Brown’s kick to the corner.

Castleford dominated the rest of the half, with Sherwin pulling the strings to telling effect, but they failed to add to their score.

Centre Michael Shenton got to the line but was turned on his back by defender Cudjoe while second rower Brett Ferres suffered the misfortune of dropping the ball over the line.

The misses began to look costly when Brown and Brett Hodgson combined to get David Hodgson over for his second try five minutes before the break.

And the ex-Halifax, Wigan and Salford winger completed his hat-trick eight minutes into the second half following superb work from Cudjoe.

Brett Hodgson’s second conversion put his side 20-12 in front but they spent the next 10 minutes camped inside their own half and the pressure told when the Tigers touched down twice in four minutes.

Full-back Ryan McGoldrick got Huby over for his second try and three minutes later Ferres made up for his earlier blunder by crossing wide out to tie the scores.

Brett Hodgson then took a decisive hand to determine the outcome of the match, pulling off a last-ditch tackle to deny Owen before forcing his way over from dummy half for the Giants’ fifth try.

The drama continued when Cudjoe was sin-binned for holding Rangi Chase down in the tackle and Castleford immediately made their numerical advantage pay by working the ball out wide for Ferres to score his second try.

Dixon had a chance to tie the scores but his difficult conversion attempt drifted wide.

Brown fluffed a glorious chance to wrap up Huddersfield’s win when he raced 60 metres after intercepting Sione Faumuina’s kick but the visitors hung on for a fortuitious victory.