I'm sorry that Lawrence at Huddersfield didn't get to face a full strength Bradford on Sunday as it would have swelled the gate for his testimonial. These lads put their body on the line for our entertainment so anyone getting to a testimonial stage has my respect. As it was we split the first team roughly in half to play Saturday night in the pre-season Yorkshire cup semi, and Sunday against Huddersfield.

We beat Dewsbury 20-18 and lost to Huddersfield 56-12. Given the way we had to split the team, it's hard to draw many conclusions other than Dewsbury are solid, Huddersfield look pretty good, and Bradford will probably go ok.

5th for Trinity, with their meagre budget is one hell of an achievement and it was in the super 8's which was supposed to mean something. After all 4th was a semi final spot ??

And yes, a 5th place finish should mean that Leeds get some stick, they are supposed to be one of the top 2 clubs in the country, therefore, finishing 3rd (or worse) is an under achievement for Leeds.

As for "boasting", my post was in reply to a Huddersfield fan asking why Trinity should be "expecting" a higher place finish than them (Huddersfield).

It's quite hilarious when people like you dismiss clubs like Trinity, when they are doing prett well (for their size and income), after all we are a long way behind the spending power of most SL clubs and can only dream of spending the full cap with a couple of marque players thrown in as well.

With your current obsession for all things Trinity, perhaps you should come down to Bell Vue, instead of Headingley.

Trial game fixtures :

Friday 18th January Coventry v Leeds (7.30pm) London Skolars v Wigan (2pm)

Saturday 19th January St Helens v Hull FC (2pm) Hull KR v Toronto (2pm)

Sunday 20 January Workington v Huddersfield Leeds v Castleford (3pm) Barrow v Whitehaven (3pm) Salford v Wigan (2pm) Warrington v Widnes (3pm) Doncaster v London Broncos (3pm) Swinton v North Wales (3pm) Oldham v Rochdale (3pm) Batley v Bradford (2pm)

Tuesday 22 January Wakefield v Huddersfield (7.30pm)

Friday 25th January London Skolars v London Broncos (7pm) Catalans v Toulouse (7.30pm) Bradford v Toronto (7.30pm)

Saturday 26th January Barrow v Wigan (3pm) Rochdale v Warrington (3pm)

Sunday 27th January Featherstone v Leeds (3pm) Swinton v Oldham (3pm) Widnes v North Wales (3pm) Leigh v London Broncos (3pm)

Saturday 2nd February West Wales v Wigan (2pm)

Sunday 3rd February Hunslet v Leeds (3pm) Oldham v Newcastle (3pm)

Quote: My Mate Ronnie "Trial game fixtures Finished 16-20 to Leeds. Tries are here: https://www.therhinos.co.uk/video/coven ... ch-action/

Quote: My Mate Ronnie "Trial game fixtures Finished 16-20 to Leeds. Tries are here: https://www.therhinos.co.uk/video/coven ... ch-action/

St Helens 28-18 Hull FC

Jake Connor caused controversy at Saints when he was sin-binned for dissent. He also ended up on the floor following a second-half scuffle.
It takes some doing to earn a yellow card in the pre-season but the Hull FC player managed it after Zeb Taia’s first-half try.

Coach Lee Radford wasn’t happy post-match “whilst it’s good to see Connor get under the skin of the opposition, he needs to tread the line carefully and not end up costing Hull when the real season kicks off “

Hull KR 24 - Toronto Wolfpack 14

Hull KR coach Tim Sheens was satisfied with his side’s pre-season victory against Toronto Wolfpack – with the match’s intensity particularly pleasing ahead of what’s to come.

“ I was very happy with the two wins but also with the standard of the game from both teams. A lot of set-for-set, tough tough football that first 20 minutes,".

“We struggled a bit with Toronto’s offloading but we threw it back at them in the second half. The players maybe got a bit confused with me wanting completions, holding onto the ball more rather than playing a bit more open football with our attack but I was pleased with our defence”

I see that Saints named 15 subs today, that’s even more ridiculous than the 13 Wakefield named last weekend....(see it’s not just you)

Newcastle 16 Wakey 6. No idea how many subs got used though I guess it was a young side

Enjoyed the game today. Welsby showed why he’s the most highly rated youngster in England. Another from The Saints production line. If only it wasn’t us Leeds and Wigan who could produce quality players. The Connor incident was nothing. Good news for England in that in his first game back Walmsley was immense as was another product of the world famous St. Helens academy Jack Ashworth. He mullered the hull football club forwards.

Friendly or not, Hull were dreadful and only looked interested when Saints brought on the reserves and youngsters. They’re in for a long season I think. Coote looked very good as did Naiqama and Paulo. Walmsley really good on his return as well.