Rugby League: It makes for a strange atmosphere when the crowd’s not sure who to support

The Exiles take on England at Headingley

Apologies for late blogging, but I’ve had three big games to digest.

Number one was the first Exiles game at Headingley, which I have down as a qualified success.

It was a proper game and a real test, which was the object of the exercise. Unfortunate that the England team available wasn’t good enough to win it. They were second-best throughout and, had they pinched it on the strength of Joel Tomkins’s intercept, it would have been grand larceny.

A crowd of 14,000 wasn’t at all bad, but there was a strange atmosphere of them not quite knowing who to support.

Instructive then to turn to the real thing, the second State of Origin on Wednesday morning. No doubts about anybody’s loyalties there and a salutary reminder of the level of intensity we still have to aim for.

If there is one moment I will take away from it, it would be Luke Lewis roaring in from way off-screen to make a try-saving tackle on Greg Inglis.

In between those two little events, somehow managed to squeeze in a 60th birthday cricket match, mainly contested by people with rugby league connections.

Suffice it to say that my brave band of over-50s didn’t quite get enough runs on the board, despite a valiant knock by former BARLA international John Roberts.

The other mob, steadied by a good partnership by the Huddersfield duo, Richard Thewlis and Jamahl Lolesi, sneaked home.

The worst news was that the winning runs were scored by my son Sam and we’ve heard plenty about them.

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• pedrowe

  happy 60th birthday Dave. regards. Pete Rowe