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timesonline.typepad.com/rugby_le ... try-2.html

David Bishop's debut for Hull Kingston Rovers was a fairly brutal affair from what I remember.
It was more of a 'Bash the Bish'.

The game has moved on since then , and hopefully all that Thomas will face is hard but fair tackles.

yawn... yawn..!!

Dont people get it.?
Hes seen it all and bought the t-shirt.

tribal welsh derbies bridgend v cardiff, cardiff v ponty, cardiff v newport, bridgend v measteg.

played in the brutal french league.
been on welsh tours all over world including argentina, NZ and SA.
Lions tour to NZ.

he has seen it all and bought the t-shirt.
nothing will faze him.!

He'll be targeted but I look forward to seeing how an athlete of his calibre copes with the challenge.

I certainly don't dispute he can look after himself on the pitch but the illegal targetting and high shots given to RU converts especially , has frequently been written about in various RU autobiographies. Perhaps such stories are over stated and just an attempt to dismiss our game as allowing thuggary , however the game is a lot cleaner at the elite level in particular now.

And he lasted 20 minutes before getting KO'ed.

Like I said in another thread, there's a difference between niggly RU play and RL intensity. He's probably never met anyone like Ferriol before.

Agreed the guy knocked on for his first ever tackle the shame of it seen it done it got the tshirt yup he has now! Nothing will faze him? But the first hit dazed him welcome to the big league boyo

welcome to rugby league....

if he keeps running the ball in like a union player (head down ready to hit the deck) he will get murdered.

He'll definitely have a few more headaches if he carries on like that , but it must be difficult to adjust your style of play after such a long time.

Noble protected him with some of the defensive tactics from the bit of the game I saw , which of course is good coaching.

He was put in the jersey before he'd picked up the skills he needed. He was a big name convert so it was the right thing to do though. He's big enough and hard enough to take it.

Much is made of the fact he came off concussed. YAAAAAWN so what? He's been concussed bafore and will be again. He's been tackled harder and faster by bigger men than were on that field. League has nothing like Jonah Lomu in his prime and Gareth had that experience. Brought him down a few times too if my ropey memory can be relied on.

Gareth was injured because of Gareth's inexperience not because he had the temerity to wander into a game played by superhumans.

He needs to learn League quickly and unlearn bits of Union. Only because his age is against him and he has little time left.

There'd be no point in sending him to SWS to ply his trade, because half our team are union converts on their first year of League too.


From what I've seen, if he can CONVERT his existing skills to this code (and I've no doubt he can) League holds nothing for him to fear.

Unfortunately for Thomas though he's joined RL in the twighlight of his career so i'll be amazed if he makes a name for himself in this sport.

hhmmm....rugby union tackles are hardly the above, maybe by bigger men but not by more atheltic fitter men

Size isn't anything when compared to fitness, athleticism and general hardness.

I have nothing against the bloke and good luck to him but I'll be surprised if he actually achieves a great deal in RL. Regardless of talent, age is against him along with getting his Body and mind up to speed with RL, Recovery times and time is generally against him full stop.

A nice bit of publicity for The Crusaders though, and good on you for doing so.

agreed he got injured through his own stupidity nothing else however a lomu at his peak was nothing compared to a Morley special.

Took a heavy knock out of habit really. Awful (dangerous) body positioning. I suppose when you've played the "other" code for so long it's conditioned into you. A whole two weeks of RL training in his life probably isn't enough to be running into SL forwards, no matter how athletic he may be. As Grendel says, if he can convert the skills he does have, then he'll be an asset.

Beats Dwayne Chambers.