Latest news with #Salford

New Premiership season to start with Thursday night match

Telegraph

4 hours ago

Sport
Telegraph

New Premiership season to start with Thursday night match

The 2025-26 Premiership season will begin on a Thursday night for the first time as Sale Sharks welcome Gloucester to Salford on September 25. Much later in the campaign, in March, Gloucester will take on Leicester Tigers for the Slater Cup at Villa Park on the same weekend that Bristol Bears take over Principality Stadium in Cardiff to host Harlequins and Saracens tussle with Northampton Saints at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. These games will take place a fortnight after the end of the Six Nations, which should ensure the availability of as many internationals as possible. Rebranded as Gallagher PREM, the English top tier will not feature Saturday matches in its opening round to avoid a clash with the final of the Women's World Cup on September 27 at Twickenham. As well as Sale facing Gloucester on the Thursday night, reigning champions Bath travel to Harlequins and Newcastle Falcons meet Saracens the following evening. Sunday will see Northampton take on Exeter Chiefs as Bristol bid to beat Leicester Tigers. Derby weekend is slated for round three between October 10-12 and Harlequins have the 17th iteration of their Christmas game at Twickenham, against Bristol, on December 20. The final round of the regular season is set for June 6, with the play-offs over the weekend of June 12-14 and the final on June 20. Three things to look out for Out of the blocks on a Thursday This is a far happier return to midweek matches than the attempt to mash two seasons into one during the Covid pandemic. It is understood that the Premiership will remain open-minded and could return to Thursday-night action if this first foray is successful, as difficult as that may prove with tight turnarounds and player-welfare commitments. The Women's Rugby World Cup is the main reason for an early start, but Sale Sharks are apt hosts. They enjoy the Friday-night lights and any curious locals may be used to rugby league games on a Thursday anyway. Mixing up the marquee games… Villa Park in Birmingham, with its capacity of just over 42,000, joins the Premiership's stable of marquee grounds to host the Slater Cup between Gloucester and Leicester next March. Interestingly, it is a home game for the Cherry and Whites, despite the venue being just over 20 miles closer to Welford Road than Kingsholm. This is partially explained by the fact that Birmingham now falls under the jurisdiction of Gloucester after the academy boundaries were redrawn, but the club is also eager to have as many eyeballs on the occasion as possible in order to maximise fundraising for motor-neurone-disease charity 4Ed in the name of Ed Slater. Elsewhere, Bristol are hosting Harlequins in Cardiff rather than Bath as they did last term and Saracens have switched up their showdown opponents from Harlequins to Northampton Saints. These decisions are ratified after discussions with the Premiership and it probably helps the league to keep local dust-ups separate to leverage those designated derby rounds. … with one happy coincidence Coaches, players and league executives will all tell you that there is no let-up in intensity over the course of a Premiership campaign, and that there are no easy matches. But despite the reduction to 10 clubs lessening fixture clashes, teams must still navigate the fall-out of the Six Nations and reintegrate their internationals. This coming season, there is a handy buffer – round 11 – between the end of the Six Nations and the weekend that will stage three marquee matches in Birmingham, London and Cardiff. That should mean that line-ups are loaded with the highest-profile players, which can only be a good thing. Telegraph Sport understands this is chiefly to do with the availability of Premier League venues, yet it has worked out well.

Embattled Salford players out to avoid tag of Super League's worst ever team

The Guardian

4 hours ago

Sport
The Guardian

Embattled Salford players out to avoid tag of Super League's worst ever team

For much of last Friday's game at Leeds, no one could possibly think they were watching one of the worst teams in rugby league history. Salford eventually sank to a 40-6 defeat, a harsh scoreline given they were the better side in the first half and conceded 18 points in the 10 minutes they had a man sin-binned. Despite a week of huge upheaval – players threatening a strike, crisis meetings with the Rugby Football League and a squad stripped by injuries of another three senior players – Salford competed heroically. It was another spirited display after their victory over Castleford – just their second win of the season – but coach Paul Rowley is not expecting things to keep getting better over the remaining eight rounds of the season. Wages are due next week, with some players extremely concerned that, once they play the final game of the campaign at home to Wakefield on 19 September, they may not receive the final two paychecks of their contracts. Threats of a strike were quashed after a meeting with the RFL, but the players know they face an uncertain future. 'Distractions are not good for any team but for this team in particular,' says Rowley. 'We're trying to squeeze every last drop out of them every week. To be at their best and compete, they need to be focused and it's been very hard to have a clear mind and true focus on the job in hand. I was nervous, knowing what Leeds can do, so I was pleasantly surprised, but not shocked. I knew they were capable of it but pleased they did themselves justice.' Things are improving on the pitch but are almost certainly about to get worse off it. Salford have picked up four points from their first 19 games of the season but that will become minus four if, as expected, they are docked eight points for fielding 13 reserves and only three subs at St Helens on the opening weekend. The Red Devils will need to win a few of their eight remaining fixtures to avoid the dreaded nul points. There are many metrics by which to judge the worst team ever: fewest points, fewest wins, lowest win percentage, greatest points average deficit. In the 57 seasons there has been more than one division in rugby league, only one club has finished a top-flight season with no points: Halifax in 2003. They only won one of their 28 games all season – their first of the campaign – but were docked those two points for breaking the salary cap the previous year. No top-flight club has gone all season without a win, but four clubs have only won once. Halifax were in financial meltdown before 2003 began; London Broncos only just made it to the start line in 2014 with a team of kids; and both Barrow in 1989-90 and Rochdale the following season were over-promoted, having finished fourth in Division Two. They were never going to cope. Salford are different. Their disintegration since finishing fourth in Super League last September is both remarkable and dire. Half of the players who helped them beat Huddersfield four months ago have left the club – including Kallum Watkins, who played against them for Leeds on Friday – or are injured. Week after week Rowley has turned to inexperienced youngsters and 14 loanees. The return from injury of senior players such as Chris Hill and Joe Mellor has added experience, but Rowley acknowledges his resources could be further weakened after the 1 August transfer deadline. 'Everybody's having a look and worrying about what's next,' he says. 'We wouldn't judge anyone if they took decisions on their own futures. I've learned over this period to expect nothing and take every day as it comes.' After a chaotic six months, Rowley admits his squad has struggled to remain 'obsessed with being a professional rugby player, as you need to be' with too much on their minds. Having just one fixture in the next three weeks – against leaders Hull KR next Thursday – Rowley has sent everyone home to reset. 'If we had a normal squad it would be a chance to work on combinations, but our priority is to get people fit: healthy bodies and healthy minds,' says the former England hooker. 'The best thing for us to do is to have a break and enjoy some time with their families without the stresses they've been under.' Salford's best chance to pick up their third win of the season will come in September, when they host Castleford and visit Huddersfield. If they don't win again, the Red Devils will become just the 10th top-flight team to win just two matches all season. Dewsbury were the first, in 1977-78, and three more did it in the following seven years, all newly promoted sides in the era of four-up, four-down. The full-time realities of Super League brought a further flurry of flops, from Workington and PSG managing just 12 points between them in Super League's first season, to London Broncos and Hull doing the same last year. And still some people want to promote three clubs to Super League this winter. Salford are aiming to better their previous nadir, when they finished bottom of the 25-team league 104 years ago with just 9.4% of their available points, which is how the table was calculated when not everyone played the same number of games. Getting less than 10% of the available points is rare. Leigh Centurions did it as recently as 2021, when they were hastily promoted during the pandemic to replace Toronto. Ranking the worst sides in history is a tricky task. Even though Halifax finished the season with zero points in 2003, they did so with a higher win percentage than London Broncos in 2014, Barrow in 1990 and Rochdale in 1991. When it comes to average scorelines over a season, Salford's is a 41-8 defeat, which is marginally better than Barrow's average of 44-8. The worst ever defence belongs to the London Broncos team of 2014, which leaked 46 points per game. But Salford are scoring fewer points than any top division team before them: just 7.6 per game. But even in the darkest days, some bright lights shine. Young talent emerged from the humiliated Rochdale Hornets in Neil Cowie, Darren Abram and Martin Hall. Paul Crarey survived playing nearly every game for Barrow in their horror season and is about to coach them for a record-breaking 350th match. Josh Drinkwater, George Griffin and Mike McMeeken were on the receiving end of weekly batterings with London Broncos in 2014 but went on to have stellar Super League careers. It's a similar scene at Salford this year. Several unknown kids thrown into the deep end have managed to swim. Some are having a whale of a time. Kai Morgan, signed from Leeds last summer to be a backup halfback, has played at pivot nearly every game. Nathan Connell has gone from a sixth form college in Eccles to facing Super League's record tryscorer Ryan Hall – and survived. Their standout player on Friday night, full-back Declan Murphy, was making his senior rugby league debut having arrived on trial from New Zealand via Hertfordshire. After a shaky opening, Murphy settled and soon shone, safe under Jake Connor's aerial bombardment, dazzling with his footwork and speed. Three years ago, Murphy left school in Auckland to join Wasps academy. When they folded, Saracens gave him a chance. His only experiences of senior rugby have been on loan spells at Reading, Harpenden, Ampthill and, earlier this year, Bishop's Stortford – all in union. 'Out of all this tough situation, the shining light is that we get to give people opportunities that they probably wouldn't get,' says Rowley. 'It's a source of pride. We're pretty good at unearthing some decent talent. Hopefully Declan joins that list, along with Sam Hill and others. He's got some raw attributes: he's brave, he's fast, skilful. There's always something good to look for.' Red Devils fans can hang on to that. Follow No Helmets Required on Facebook

Prem season to open with Thursday night game

BBC News

7 hours ago

Business
BBC News

Prem season to open with Thursday night game

The 2025-26 Prem rugby season will begin with a Thursday night fixture for the first time in its history when Sale Sharks take on match will kick-off at 19:45 BST on Thursday, 25 September at the Salford Stadium, opening the first of 18 champions Bath will travel to Harlequins for their first game of the campaign the following day, with runners-up Leicester Tigers playing Bristol Bears away on Sunday, 28 top flight of English domestic rugby union has been rebranded as the 'Prem' for the upcoming season with the aim of giving it a more informal, less corporate feel and also drawing in more younger fans. Newcastle host Saracens on Friday, 26 September and Exeter travel to Northampton on Sunday afternoon in the two other fixtures across the opening will be no Saturday match, to avoid a clash with the Women's Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham on 27 last of the 18 rounds will conclude on the weekend of 6 June, 2026, with the Prem final title decider at Twickenham on Saturday, 21 June move to a midweek night fixture follows news that the men's Six Nations will open with a Thursday night game for the first time in February 2026."Kicking off the campaign with a Thursday night opener brings a fresh twist to our traditional curtain-raiser, and we're looking forward to seeing Sale Sharks and Gloucester Rugby set the tone in style," said chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor. Marquee weekend at Villa, Spurs & Cardiff in March Three fixtures will be played at Premier League or international football stadiums on the final weekend of March (27-29).Gloucester face Leicester Tigers in The Slater Cup - named after Ed Slater, former captain of both teams, who retired in 2022 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease - at Aston Villa's Villa Park on Saturday, 28 Bears face Harlequins at Principality Stadium, while Saracens take on Northampton Saints at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium."Marquee fixtures remain a key pillar of our strategy to broaden rugby's reach," Massie-Taylor added."We're thrilled to see Villa Park host The Slater Cup for the first time and to witness the continued growth of Bristol Bears' Big Day Out in its second year." Premiership opening weekend fixtures Thursday, 25 SeptemberSale v Gloucester (19:45 BST)Friday, 26 SeptemberHarlequins v Bath (19:45 BST)Newcastle v Saracens (19:45 BST)Sunday, 28 SeptemberNorthampton v Exeter (13:00 BST)Bristol v Leicester (15:30 BST)

At the same bridge, it keeps happening again and again

Yahoo

21 hours ago

Automotive
Yahoo

At the same bridge, it keeps happening again and again

At the same bridge, it keeps happening again and again For the fourth time in just over five years, at least, the roof of a double-decker bus thrashed against the same Eccles bridge. Three people are in hospital for serious injuries after a Bee Network bus ploughed into a low bridge at Barton Lane on Monday (July 21). The roof of the vehicle, a number 100 bus which was not following its usual route, sliced off on impact with the Bridgewater Canal aqueduct. READ MORE: Boy, 15, dies after crash on Greater Manchester estate READ MORE: Man arrested on suspicion of murder after boy, 15, dies following e-bike crash Images of the aftermath resembled scenes that Barton Lane had already witnessed on three separate occasions over recent years - with neighbouring residents claiming the real number of buses colliding with the bridge is even higher. ADVERTISEMENT Never miss a story with the MEN's daily Catch Up newsletter - get it in your inbox by signing up here The Manchester Evening News has now reported on four double-decker buses smashing into the Bridgewater Canal aqueduct since 2020. Two collisions came before the Bee Network was rolled out across Salford, with the first involving a Go North West bus on June 12, 2020. The first bus involved in a crash in 2020 -Credit:ABNM Photography Three passengers suffered minor injuries following the collision, the company said at the time. Images showed the roof of the bus appeared to be bent backwards following impact with the structure. In 2023, two buses lost their roofs by ploughing into the same bridge in the space of eight months, with the first involving a Diamond bus on April 10. An eyewitness said: "It was around 9pm when the bus was approaching the bridge. A bus lost its roof on April 10, 2023 -Credit:Submitted "I thought it was going to stop when they (the driver) realised the height restriction but it just carried on. Luckily there were no passengers on board. ADVERTISEMENT "The bus drove all way under which peeled the top off with ease. Police responded and closed both sides." Almost eight months later on December 5, 2023, the roof of another bus was trashed at the same spot, this time involving a Bee Network bus three months into the new service's roll-out. Again, no passengers were involved. A bus crashed into the bridge on December 5, 2023 -Credit:Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News Monday's collision was the most severe to take place, with 20 people injured to some extent. Greater Manchester Police says a 19-year-old woman and two men, one in his 20s and one in his 40s, were seriously injured. They were taken to hospital, where they remain today (Tuesday) in a stable condition. Seventeen other people were treated at the scene for less severe injuries, GMP says. But those who live in the area claim there have been more than just four such crashes. And they are furious that more is not being done to prevent potentially catastrophic consequences. ADVERTISEMENT Local, Andrew Fisher, 44, told the M.E.N.: "I've been here 15 years and it's happened about six or seven times. "They used to have a wooden beam hanging at each end of the bridge that showed the depth of it. "That used to get hit first, now and then they might stop. But it's been been hit that many times that that's gone too. "If the wooden beam was there, or had been replaced, it would have hit that first. That's a major thing that could help. "But there's got to be a bit of human error too, driving up to that." Fellow resident Natalie, 28, agreed, saying: "I've lived here a year and a half and have seen at least two or three in that time. "But I don't think enough is being done. I think it's a lot of arrogance on the part of the driver. I don't know what goes through their mind or how it ends up happening - they think they can fit through it but they can't. ADVERTISEMENT "I don't think there's much being done and there needs to be. A lot of people were on that bus and there was a lot of people that went to hospital, something needs to be done, it could have been much worse." Emergency services in attendance on Monday -Credit:Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News In response, a Salford City Council spokesperson said of yesterday's crash: "We are unable to provide specific details at this time due to an ongoing police investigation. Salford City Council and TfGM are fully cooperating with the authorities. "Initial checks have been undertaken and confirmed that regulatory road signage is present in the area. "Further measures will be considered, in collaboration with our partners at GMP and TfGM, to enhance signage and improve warning systems to help prevent future accidents." Describing the circumstances of yesterday's crash, a GMP spokesperson explained: "It is believed that the bus had come off its normal expected route. "The driver fails to comply with height restriction warnings, including hanging chains and signage, and collides with a low-level aqueduct. "As a result, the top level of the bus is torn off and causes a member of the public to be ejected from the top deck of the bus." The bus driver, a man in his 50s, was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by careless driving and has since been bailed pending further investigations. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE Vernon Everitt, transport commissioner for Greater Manchester, said on Monday: 'First and foremost, our thoughts are with everyone on board the bus. "Our absolute focus has been on supporting emergency services in their response, with some people treated at the scene and some taken to hospital. "An immediate and urgent investigation into the circumstances is underway and we are working closely with the investigation team at Greater Manchester Police and the bus operator, Stagecoach. 'This is clearly a distressing situation for everyone involved and we'd like to thank emergency services for their swift response.' GMP's serious collision investigation unit is now appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward. Officers are also keen to speak to anyone who may have any footage, including dashcam, mobile phone or doorbell footage, from the area in the moments leading up to the collision. Anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 0161 856 4741, quoting log number 2226 of July 21, 2025. Alternatively, details can be shared on the LiveChat function on GMP's website or with the independent charity, Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Salford sign former Wrexham goalkeeper Howard