Gibbo was in camp with Wales, else he'd have been first in the dressing room. Les had indicated he would come and accommodation had been offered, but he didn't arrive. Don't blame Batley. What Ben did was what Ben wanted to do, we respect that.

I am not blaming Batley - like you say Ben perhaps could have played but if he had picked up an injury it wouldn't have been the best start to his time at Batley - I did however think both himself and Dave Larder spoke well when interviewed.

I think the danger in Ben playing in the main game was that it could have turned into a 'Farewell to Ben' do instead of a celebration of James' 10 years at Fax.

Thats a fair point that, perhaps if X-Blades want to do an "X-Blades Challenge" match again we could play Batley down at The Shay

Thought Goddard was excellent.

Their Fullback was very handy too. Someone to remember if injuries bite!

He was useful, but that was his last game. Now retired!

must say I enjoyed watching the smallest ever professional RL player playing on the shay turf.

I thought it was a great occassion, the match itself was a better contest than i was expecting, nobody held back.
Congratulations to James on his 10 years & testimonial, well done to everyone who's on his organising committee and just a note on the programme/brochure, it's an excellent production and for just a £5 !!!
The most important thing for me is the respect shown by so many people in a testimonial, ex-playing colleagues, sponsors, supporters, I don't think James could have wished for anything more from the night, almost a thousand on a cold friday night while there was a tv game, great effort for a great lad.
Nice touch from the visitors too, bringing Gary Widdop again ! He must spend more time here than he does at home nowadays, nice surprise to bump into you again mate.

He made Jermaine Wray look like a giant!

Who was our number 17?