Rugby league news - Strong Hull FC reserve team named, Wakefield new stadium latest, Danny Brough apologises, previews

That's all from us

We’re done for the day, but the live blogging continues it you want coverage of Hull KR’s game at Huddersfield Giants.

Predictions

Here’s how our writers and pundits see tonight’s Cas v Saints game

Paul Cooke (ex-FC and KR player, Doncaster Knights coach)

Castleford v St Helens: The game of the round. Two of the top three head to head. Can anyone stop the Saints, they cannot win every game surely?! But Justin Holbrook’s men look so strong, slick and quick. If anyone can Castleford can. Saints edge it for me, in a very tight and tense game. St Helens

Richard Stead (BBC Radio Humberside commentator)

Castleford v St Helens: Another tight game. Home advantage for the Tigers will see Saints unbeaten start to the year come to an end. Castleford

Craig Murdock (Ex-FC and KR, rugby league agent)

Castleford v St Helens. Cas getting players back but still can’t see past Saints another great game but an away win. St Helens

Kirk Dixon (Ex-FC and Castleford player)

Castleford v St Helens: Two of the form teams this year and it is tough to pick a winner. The Tigers are in good form and are at home and this is I think will be the difference. Cas will have to be very good defensively to slow the game down, if not it will be a tough day at the office. Castleford

Nick Pinkney (Ex-KR and Challenge Cup winner)

Castleford v St Helens: The Tigers’ injury problems have to take affect sooner or later. Still a tough one to call but Saints have to be favourites for the win. St Helens

Will Jackson (Hull FC reporter)

Castleford vs St Helens: The standout tie of the round and it will no doubt be a tasty encounter. However, I think Saints are just hitting their stride and they have more than enough about them to see off Castleford. St Helens

Gareth Westmorland (Ex-Hull KR reporter)

Castleford v St Helens: It’s a tasty one at the Jungle – however, as Castleford haven’t quite hit their heights yet, I can’t see them stopping the juggernaut that is St Helens at the moment. St Helens

James Smailes (Hull Live sports editor)

Castleford v St Helens: The game of the round between two teams who fancy their Grand Final chances. This is a great chance to assess where each is at and I expect a tight one, but I fancy the Tigers to win. Saints have to lose at some stage, don’t they? Castleford

Full predictions of all this week’s games below.

London v Hull FC preview

London Broncos (9) v Hull (6)
London coach Danny Ward recalls scrum-half Morgan Smith alongside former Hull player Jordan Abdull after losing James Cunningham with an ankle injury in the win at Leeds.
Hull have prop Mickey Paea back from a rib injury but loose forward Joe Westerman is out with a collarbone and sternum injury and second-rower Mark Minichiello will miss the trip to London for family reasons. There are call-ups for England academy centre Cameron Scott and utility forward Danny Washbrook.

Last season: No corresponding fixture.
Last six league matches: London Broncos L L L W L W Hull L L W W W L.
Top try scorers: Eddie Battye & Rhys Williams (London Broncos) 3; Ratu Naulago & Joe Westerman (Hull) 4.
Top goal scorers: Kieran Dixon (London Broncos) 13; Marc Sneyd (Hull) 20.
Salford (4) v Wigan (10)

Wakefield redevelopment

Wakefield will carry out a phased redevelopment of the club’s ageing Belle Vue ground after buying back the freehold.
Trinity used a £3.15million loan facilitated by Wakefield Council to purchase the freehold of both the stadium and adjoining land which once housed the Wakefield Theatre Club.
The purchase was completed on Thursday and chairman John Minards says he hopes work on redeveloping the ground, which has been the club’s home since the late 1870s, will begin “in months rather than years”.
“This is the end of the beginning,” said Minards, who says the original plan to move into a purpose-built stadium at Newmarket has not yet been consigned to history but says the preferred option is to remain at Belle Vue.
“We are talking to a number of parties and the developer is one of them,” he added.
“We are absolutely committed to providing community facilities and we’re looking at a number options. Nothing is off the table.
“Our aim is to provide a viable and sustainable Super League team that is in the heart of the community.”

Ben Barba makes appearance in court

Former St Helens player Ben Barba made a brief appearance in Townsville Magistrates’ Court today charged with public nuisance offences.

His lawyer Campbell MacCallum expects the player to plead guilty to the charges and confirmed his appearance in court was to request the matters be switched to Mackay Magistrates’ Court on April 16 for a plea date.

Hull FC name their reserve side for this weekend

Richard Tate has named his reserve squad to take on Wakefiewld Trinity this weekend and it features a few first teamers.

Fetuli Talanoa, Danny Langtree, Hakim Miloudi and Lewis Bienek all look set to feature at Hullensians RUFC in Anlaby.

Squad: Lewis Bienek, Jack Brown, Kieran Buchanan, Bobby Downs, Lochlan Fitzgerald, Harvey Gotts, Charlie Graham, Jack Howdle, Robert Howdle, Ryan Langton, Danny Langtree, Hakim Miloudi, Levy Nzoungou, Charlie Patterson-Lund, Ryan Price, Cameron Scott, Kieran Smith, Fetuli Talanoa, Elliot Townsend

London Broncos have named their squad

FC team news

Two worthy additions

Stephen Ball and Clare Morrow have been added to the Rugby Football League’s Roll of Honour in recognition of their outstanding service to the game.

The Roll of Honour was introduced in 2003, to recognise exceptional off-field contributions and complement the Hall of Fame for on-field performance, and these additions take the membership of this esteemed club to 37.

Stephen Ball has had a lifelong involvement in the game, which included spells as chairman of Hunslet, chief executive of Hull FC, and as a director of both the RFL and Leeds Rhinos, although the club with which he is most strongly associated is probably Batley, after a long spell as their chief executive.

But since 2006 he has been a driving force behind the development of the Rugby League Benevolent Fund – which has offered such invaluable support to so many players and their families when affected by tragedy.

He took over as General Manager within a year. Since then he has directed the Benevolent Fund’s response to such tragedies as the double loss which hit the Wakefield Trinity club in 2008, with the deaths of Adam Watene and Liam Walker; Rugby League’s tragic link to the Cumbrian shootings in 2010, in which Garry Purdham was one of the victims; and in 2015, the loss of Danny Jones.

Clare Morrow was a trail-blazer when she joined the RFL Board in October 2008 – the first woman to be appointed to the Board of any of the major football codes in this country.

She was superbly qualified, having spent 15 years working for ITV and subsequently heading up the Welcome to Yorkshire Board, therefore bringing a wealth of media experience and expertise.

Congrats to both.

What a comeback last night

Wakefield coach Chris Chester was proud of his team’s fightback even though they came up agonisingly short against Warrington.
Trinity made a poor start, conceding three tries in the first 12 minutes, and trailed 34-12 after an hour before scoring four tries in the last 16 minutes to set up a nerve-jangling finish.
Danny Brough had a chance to tie the scores with an attempt to convert Joe Arundel’s 78th-minute try but his kick went narrowly wide and the Wolves were able to hang on for a 34-32 victory that enabled them to draw level with Betfed Super League leaders St Helens.
“To come up short like that is a tough one to take,” Chester said. “It was a tale of two halves.
“They were far superior in the first half when everything seemed to happen too quick for us but that second half is what we’re all about and I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“The character and desire was there for all to see tonight.
“It comes down to one kick and I thought we were going to nick it at the end. The talk was all about going for a drop goal before Broughy took the kick, we were that confident he was going to get it.
“But Broughy is going to win us more than we lose and we shouldn’t have been in that position.
“I know we lost the game but, with that kind of effort and commitment, we will win more than we lose. I’m proud and pleased we found a way to get back in. It felt like a bit of a win.
“We scored some nice tries but that first 40 killed us.”

Dragons will unleash new signing

Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara insists there is still a place for the big men in Super League as he gets poised to unleash man mountain Sam Kasiano on Leeds.
The lowering of the number of interchanges in 2019 from 10 to eight was expected to play into the hands of the leaner, fitter forwards capable of playing long minutes and reduce the effectiveness of the heavyweight props.
At 6ft 5in and 19st 10lb, Kasiano will be arguably the biggest player in Super League when he makes his debut for the Dragons against the Rhinos in Perpignan on Saturday and McNamara is excited by that prospect.
“I think Sam is going to be a great addition,” the former England coach said. “He’s played under the eight interchange rule in the NRL for the past few seasons it’s been in place, it’s not a concern or an issue for me.
“There’s still room for the big men in the game without doubt. We’ve seen that in the Super League competition so far with David Fifita, Pauli Pauli, Alex Walmsley, big men who have an impact on the game.”

Hull FC reserves are in action this weekend

The Black and Whites reserve side take on Wakefield this Saturday and they will be looking for their third straight win of the season.

The game will take place at Hullensians RUFC in Anlaby and it is likely to feature a number of first-teamers who won’t be involved in the first-team this weekend.

Kick off is at 2pm and prices start at £3.

Danny Brough apologies for missed kick

Danny Brough has apologised to Wakefield fans for missing a conversion at the death against Warrington last night.

After staging a late comeback, Wakefield touched down with three minutes to got through Joe Arundel, giving Brough the opportunity to level the scores with the boot.

But the kick drifted narrowly wide of the posts, meaning Warrington clung on for the points.

“When it left the boot, I thought it was over. I’m gutted it didn’t go in,” Brough told Sky Sports.

“But it shouldn’t have come down to a goal kick. We give them too big a start. When we started believing we could really challenge them, we looked the better side.

“They ran a lot harder than us first half, they’re good at slowing down the play the ball.

“Stef (Ratchford) kicked them all and I missed two, so that’s the difference. It’s something I’ll work hard on this week, and I can only apologise to the team and try and work harder this week.”

A reminder of the Huddersfield squad

Shaun Lunt 'feels like a new player' as he admits nerves ahead of Hull KR comeback

Shaun Lunt admits he feels like a ‘new player’ ahead of his long-awaited Hull KR comeback tonight.

The hooker will take to the field for the first time in almost six months, after suffering an abscess on his spine in September last year.

Hospitalised for a sustained period, Lunt finally returned to full training in the New Year and over the last four weeks has ramped up his progress to be ahead of schedule and in line to face his former Huddersfield Giants side this evening.

Grateful for the time he’s been given by Rovers to fully recover, Lunt is now hell-bent on making up for lost time and making an impact to help KR return to
winning ways.

“I didn’t think I’d be in contention this early. I thought maybe the back end of April, May time but in the last four to six weeks I’ve really come a long way.

Weller Hauraki '250 not out' as Hull KR back-rower proves doubters wrong says Tim Sheens

Amidst the chaos that has been Hull KR’s treatment room this week, one model of consistency so far in 2019 has been the performances of new recruit, Weller Hauraki.

The back-rower clocks up his 250th career appearance at the John Smith’s Stadium when taking on Huddersfield Giants.

Well into his tenth season of English football, Hauraki’s career has seen him play for five different sides since arriving at the now-defunct Crusaders RL in 2010.

On top of his seven Rovers outings, the New Zealand native clocked up 13 appearances for Widnes Vikings, 73 for Salford Red Devils, 56 for Castleford Tigers, 39 for Leeds Rhinos and 28 in his debut Super League term with the short-lived Welsh outfit.

Rovers play this evening

Here’s a look at the fixtures tonight and the rest of the round:

Tonight

Huddersfield vs Hull KR 7.45pm

Castleford vs St Helens 7.45pm

Saturday

Catalans vs Leeds 5:00pm

Sunday

London vs Hull FC 3.00pm

Salford vs Wigan 3.00pm

Lee Radford drops London Broncos selection hint with Hull FC desperate to 'right their wrongs'

Warrington picked up two points last night

Steve Price’s Warrington clung onto victory at Wakefield Trinity last night, holding off a late fightback to win 34-32.

Good morning!

Welcome along to today’s LIVE rugby league blog. We’ll be here all day to bring you all the news and rumours from the world of rugby league.