Well, this turned out to be a high scoring round for The Fellowship (we seem to have lost JD so now we are the nine walkers against the nine riders).

No exact scores, no correct margins.

Bit of a mixed bag on the resuscitated Dewsbury vs Halifax result: six of the original posters went for Fax (and were proven correct), three went for Dewsbury, and Bongser sat on the fence with an 18 all draw.

No bonus points for this but here’s a question: if a peacock sits on a fence and lays an egg, does the egg fall to the peacock’s left or right side (or, indeed, balance perfectly on the fence)?



As it happens, all six of the abovementioned correct posters then went on to collect a Pokemon.

Bongser got the other four, but Atomic and Pubbers plumped erroneously for ‘Dale. Jack’s sole prediction earned him just that (again).

On to the bonus ->

Cokey chose it. Cokey nailed it! 30 + 22 + 20 + 11 = 83. Bang on bonus of 10.

Furthermore both his post and his edit were before the 19s and so that will be BANZAI-ED to 30!!!



Within 5 pts each way were Zulu, Charlie, Atomic (getting 5, BANZAI-ED to 15) and VL (Bongsered to 10 – after the 19s).

It all depended on whether Nº30 started ahead of Nº14 (as Bongser thinks he recalls him doing against the same oppos on Easter Monday) – that would have sent the total down into the sixties.

Speaking of retrospect, Bongser recalls, many years ago, reading on the reverse of an England’s Glory matchbox, a quotation from Bernards Bingo that defined the word “repartee” as “what you wish you’d said.” Bongser wishes he’d set all the CCup games as puntables as he posted the result of the Wire vs Bulls game spot on (54-6) on the Warrington forum where a bob-on is worth much less, and also the corresponding margin on the Bulls forum where it is worth less still. He didn’t and is therefore second bottom (ignoring the waggers) on this week’s showings.

Cokey gets his first WWB, soars up the table and will never be allowed to set a BBQ again!



TABLE:

Still in

1. Atomic – 346


2. Charlie – 291 (pulling back ground - still a good few furlongs left)
3. Wanderer – 255 (had big hopes for an upset from your boys at HT – alas not to be)
4. Cokey! – 252 (he knows sammut, Charlie, don’t let the Bailey scrabble replay happen this week)
5. Publican – 246
6. Bongser – 233
7. Zulu – 230
8. Vancouver – 173
9. WLJ – 163
10. Jack – 110
11. LeytherX111 – 94
12. SBS – 16

Nearly half the regular season gone and Bongser is reminded of the words (sort of) of Paul Simon:

The nearer his destination, the more Bongser’s slip-slidin’ away!!! Down to sixth (alongside Leythe) but still big hopes of making the top four.

Bailey is shirt number 29.

Defo added the bonus up incorrectly, 30-Higham, 20-Richards, 29-Bailey & 11-Larroyer giving a total of 90,dont know if anyone guessed 90 but will need amending, sorry Cokey

In fact I now see how the error occurred Ricky Bailey is 22 but it was Ryan Bailey 29 on the bench.

Ha ha, No probs mate.

Flamin' BBC website!! Will repost (though maybe not this evening). Apologies to all!

To paraphrase the old blue toothbrush himself, Max Bygraves, Bongser wansa tell y’a story (as related to la jeunesse Mme de Bongseur this very eventide). He had arrived home earlier than she from work, fed her pussy, had all the relevant tabs open and verily said unto her, “Hmmm. The pride before a fall!” Coming to the end of his confinement, shuffling the necessary into the out-tray and beginning to muse on next week’s puntables, Bongser popped onto RLFans. First he found this on The Bulls’ forum: Quote ="paulwalker71"......And five people bagged 21 points from getting all results right plus either the bonus (70 tries) or a correct margin. Well done to Bent & Bongser, JohnBulls, Alex0604, ThePimp007 and Bull Northern.....'" Pride! Magic Moments. Bongser starts to debate which celebratory ales he will be guzzling this evening as he checks whether Uncle Rico has yet posted the Warrington league standings – and what does he find but: Quote ="Uncle Rico"........A Brilliant & Belting week for for our tricky poster from Leigh Bent & Bongser who not only saw his team wallop 'that there' London this weekend, but, piled on the points with an impressive 19 point prediction haul. The rest of us weren't quite as on the ball.........'" Magic Moment II. He is now VERY PLEASED WITH HIMSELF!! He starts to visualise not just the beer but the pulled pork he is going to get from la jeunesse upon his return to The Towers. She marinaded a full shoulder on Sunday. THEN he called in upon the Leigh forum and spotted new activity on the prediction thread and [size=200THUD[/size Well, well, how embarrassing. It would seem that Bongser has done another Wogan. Well, TOGS, after working for Auntie Beeb for so long it pleases Sir Tel to yell, “Here is the culprit, still unchanged: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-leagu ... RLP4069665 “ All the scoring bar the Barbecue is correct so let’s just do that barby: Cokey called it, Cokey, eerrm, didn’t as it happened nail it. Nor did anyone. However both Charles and Atomic were still within 5 so retain their 15 points apiece. On 46 points Charlie was actually this week’s winner – WWB of 25 that you have nicked from Cokey. Tell Barney that the Scrabble’s back on. Sorry Cokey, speak to Dave Woods. Beer culpa, beer culpa, beer maxima culpa. Bongser will get his info from your Bri in future!! REVISED STANDINGS: 1. Atomic – 346 2. Charlie (bat raise) – 326 3. Wanderer – 255 4. Pubbers – 246 5. Bongser – 243 6. Zulu – 215 7. Cokey – 197 8. (Joint) VL & WLJ – 163 Yada, yada, yada for the rest. Again apologies to all – Bongser is now off to the kitchen to pour himself a stiff one of anything but Baileys!!!

To paraphrase the old blue toothbrush himself, Max Bygraves, Bongser wansa tell y’a story (as related to la jeunesse Mme de Bongseur this very eventide). He had arrived home earlier than she from work, fed her pussy, had all the relevant tabs open and verily said unto her, “Hmmm. The pride before a fall!” Coming to the end of his confinement, shuffling the necessary into the out-tray and beginning to muse on next week’s puntables, Bongser popped onto RLFans. First he found this on The Bulls’ forum: Quote ="paulwalker71"......And five people bagged 21 points from getting all results right plus either the bonus (70 tries) or a correct margin. Well done to Bent & Bongser, JohnBulls, Alex0604, ThePimp007 and Bull Northern.....'" Pride! Magic Moments. Bongser starts to debate which celebratory ales he will be guzzling this evening as he checks whether Uncle Rico has yet posted the Warrington league standings – and what does he find but: Quote ="Uncle Rico"........A Brilliant & Belting week for for our tricky poster from Leigh Bent & Bongser who not only saw his team wallop 'that there' London this weekend, but, piled on the points with an impressive 19 point prediction haul. The rest of us weren't quite as on the ball.........'" Magic Moment II. He is now VERY PLEASED WITH HIMSELF!! He starts to visualise not just the beer but the pulled pork he is going to get from la jeunesse upon his return to The Towers. She marinaded a full shoulder on Sunday. THEN he called in upon the Leigh forum and spotted new activity on the prediction thread and [size=200THUD[/size Well, well, how embarrassing. It would seem that Bongser has done another Wogan. Well, TOGS, after working for Auntie Beeb for so long it pleases Sir Tel to yell, “Here is the culprit, still unchanged: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-leagu ... RLP4069665 “ All the scoring bar the Barbecue is correct so let’s just do that barby: Cokey called it, Cokey, eerrm, didn’t as it happened nail it. Nor did anyone. However both Charles and Atomic were still within 5 so retain their 15 points apiece. On 46 points Charlie was actually this week’s winner – WWB of 25 that you have nicked from Cokey. Tell Barney that the Scrabble’s back on. Sorry Cokey, speak to Dave Woods. Beer culpa, beer culpa, beer maxima culpa. Bongser will get his info from your Bri in future!! REVISED STANDINGS: 1. Atomic – 346 2. Charlie (bat raise) – 326 3. Wanderer – 255 4. Pubbers – 246 5. Bongser – 243 6. Zulu – 215 7. Cokey – 197 8. (Joint) VL & WLJ – 163 Yada, yada, yada for the rest. Again apologies to all – Bongser is now off to the kitchen to pour himself a stiff one of anything but Baileys!!!

Quote ="Bent&Bongser"To paraphrase the old blue toothbrush himself, Max Bygraves, Bongser wansa tell y’a story (as related to la jeunesse Mme de Bongseur this very eventide). He had arrived home earlier than she from work, fed her pussy, had all the relevant tabs open and verily said unto her, “Hmmm. The pride before a fall!” Coming to the end of his confinement, shuffling the necessary into the out-tray and beginning to muse on next week’s puntables, Bongser popped onto RLFans. First he found this on The Bulls’ forum: Pride! Magic Moments. Bongser starts to debate which celebratory ales he will be guzzling this evening as he checks whether Uncle Rico has yet posted the Warrington league standings – and what does he find but: Magic Moment II. He is now VERY PLEASED WITH HIMSELF!! He starts to visualise not just the beer but the pulled pork he is going to get from la jeunesse upon his return to The Towers. She marinaded a full shoulder on Sunday. THEN he called in upon the Leigh forum and spotted new activity on the prediction thread and [size=200THUD[/size Well, well, how embarrassing. It would seem that Bongser has done another Wogan. Well, TOGS, after working for Auntie Beeb for so long it pleases Sir Tel to yell, “Here is the culprit, still unchanged: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-leagu ... RLP4069665 “ All the scoring bar the Barbecue is correct so let’s just do that barby: Cokey called it, Cokey, eerrm, didn’t as it happened nail it. Nor did anyone. However both Charles and Atomic were still within 5 so retain their 15 points apiece. On 46 points Charlie was actually this week’s winner – WWB of 25 that you have nicked from Cokey. Tell Barney that the Scrabble’s back on. Sorry Cokey, speak to Dave Woods. Beer culpa, beer culpa, beer maxima culpa. Bongser will get his info from your Bri in future!! REVISED STANDINGS: 1. Atomic – 346 2. Charlie (bat raise) – 326 3. Wanderer – 255 4. Pubbers – 246 5. Bongser – 243 6. Zulu – 215 7. Cokey – 197 8. (Joint) VL & WLJ – 163 Yada, yada, yada for the rest. Again apologies to all – Bongser is now off to the kitchen to pour himself a stiff one of anything but Baileys!!! '" As Mama Cas used to say, It's Getting Better All the Time, an extra bone for Barney,he will study next week's fixtures in the morning,and Cokey,well it's them tight short shorts he wears.lol.

Quote ="Bent&Bongser"To paraphrase the old blue toothbrush himself, Max Bygraves, Bongser wansa tell y’a story (as related to la jeunesse Mme de Bongseur this very eventide). He had arrived home earlier than she from work, fed her pussy, had all the relevant tabs open and verily said unto her, “Hmmm. The pride before a fall!” Coming to the end of his confinement, shuffling the necessary into the out-tray and beginning to muse on next week’s puntables, Bongser popped onto RLFans. First he found this on The Bulls’ forum: Pride! Magic Moments. Bongser starts to debate which celebratory ales he will be guzzling this evening as he checks whether Uncle Rico has yet posted the Warrington league standings – and what does he find but: Magic Moment II. He is now VERY PLEASED WITH HIMSELF!! He starts to visualise not just the beer but the pulled pork he is going to get from la jeunesse upon his return to The Towers. She marinaded a full shoulder on Sunday. THEN he called in upon the Leigh forum and spotted new activity on the prediction thread and [size=200THUD[/size Well, well, how embarrassing. It would seem that Bongser has done another Wogan. Well, TOGS, after working for Auntie Beeb for so long it pleases Sir Tel to yell, “Here is the culprit, still unchanged: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-leagu ... RLP4069665 “ All the scoring bar the Barbecue is correct so let’s just do that barby: Cokey called it, Cokey, eerrm, didn’t as it happened nail it. Nor did anyone. However both Charles and Atomic were still within 5 so retain their 15 points apiece. On 46 points Charlie was actually this week’s winner – WWB of 25 that you have nicked from Cokey. Tell Barney that the Scrabble’s back on. Sorry Cokey, speak to Dave Woods. Beer culpa, beer culpa, beer maxima culpa. Bongser will get his info from your Bri in future!! REVISED STANDINGS: 1. Atomic – 346 2. Charlie (bat raise) – 326 3. Wanderer – 255 4. Pubbers – 246 5. Bongser – 243 6. Zulu – 215 7. Cokey – 197 8. (Joint) VL & WLJ – 163 Yada, yada, yada for the rest. Again apologies to all – Bongser is now off to the kitchen to pour himself a stiff one of anything but Baileys!!! '" As Mama Cas used to say, It's Getting Better All the Time, an extra bone for Barney,he will study next week's fixtures in the morning,and Cokey,well it's them tight short shorts he wears.lol.

Ian, I was trying to impress the women, But.............

Okay after that personal debacle things can only get better!!

Time to pay back one of the early season defeats.

Saturday start this week chaps & chapesses with:

London XX-XX Dewsbury
Swinton XX-XX Toulouse
Trannies XX-XX Halifax

Followed, on Sunday, by:

Featherstone XX-XX Batley
Leigh XX-XX Barrow
Rochdale XX-XX Sheffield

BBQ: What will the total number of tries scored in the above six games be?
2pts for within 10
5pts (ONLY) for within 5
10pts (ONLY) for bang on.

You can bet your Bongser dollar that he will be checking several sources from here on in!

Here goes:

London 28-10 Dewsbury
Swinton 08-32 Toulouse
Trannies 40-18 Halifax

Followed, on Sunday, by:

Featherstone 32-20 Batley
Leigh 48-08 Barrow
Rochdale 12-14 Sheffield - Thats a tough one !!!

Total tries: 49

Got to give Charlie some food for thought this week. It’s a tough one.

Saturday:

London 14-32 Dewsbury
Swinton 8 -24 Toulouse
Trannies 14-26 Halifax

Sunday:

Featherstone 18-28 Batley
Leigh 62-0 Barrow
Rochdale 6-32 Sheffield

Tries Scored 49

London 38-6 Dewsbury
Swinton 16-28 Toulouse
Trannies 34-22 Halifax

Followed, on Sunday, by:

Featherstone 34-16 Batley
Leigh 40-10 Barrow
Rochdale 12-22 Sheffield

Total tries: 48

Saturday

London 28-14 Dewsbury
Swinton 14-34 Toulouse
Trannies 34-18 Halifax

Sunday

Featherstone 34- 8 Batley
Leigh 42-12 Barrow
Rochdale 10-24 Sheffield

Total tries: 56

After last week's improvement hope this week will be better.

Saturday.
London 32 v Dews 14.
Swinton 16 V Toulouse 30
Toronto 34 v Fax 16.


Sunday.

Fev 32 v Batley 14.
Leigh 46 v Barrow 12.
Rochdale 22 v Sheff 18.

Bonus. 54 tries.

Sat

London 38 Dewsbury 16
Swinton 22 Toulouse 20
Toronto 32 Fax 26

Sun

Fev 28 Batley 12
Leigh 54 Barrow 4
Rochdale 24 Sheffield 20

54 bonus

London 22 Dewsbury 14
Swinton 10 Toulouse 24
Toronto 26 Halifax 16

Featherstone 32 Batley 18
Leigh 56 Barrow 6
Rochdale 10 Sheffield 16

Bonus - 45

Saturday.
London 26 v Dews 14.
Swinton 12 V Toulouse 32
Toronto 22 v Fax 24


Sunday.

Fev 30 v Batley 16
Leigh 38 v Barrow 16.
Rochdale 22 v Sheff 16.

Bonus. 48 tries.

Saturday.
London 27 v Dews 14.
Swinton 12 V Toulouse 28
Toronto 24 v Fax 28


Sunday.

Fev 32 v Batley 16
Leigh 50 v Barrow 12.
Rochdale 14 v Sheff 18.

Bonus. 49 tries.

The nine in attendance again – good evening to you all.

Your host started his pred spreadsheet last night and something was pricking his mind (now, now) as he headed two adjacent columns Lon Dew. He couldn’t quite summon the reason at that point though.

It was a weekend of two equal halves this week in prediction land. Three on Saturday, three on Sunday. Let’s start with the BBQ (though it’s hardly the weather). We punters were clumped pretty tightly within a range of 45 to 56 tries. After the first two matches (during which the sides involved racked up 24 tries) we were all looking a gnat’s nudger on the shy side. Then The Trannies & ‘Fax added another 9 ‘twixt ‘em (6 of the 7 Tranny tries scored by Leigh alumni – and the other by a lad from Golborne!) 33 tries overnight.

Overnight, five punters were still on for the Pokemon.

Also overnight, Bongser’s cluttered mind offered up the missing info. Ol’ Ma ‘n’ Pa Bongser had an eight volume encyclopedia when thine host was a nipper (haven’t seen it for thirty years). Ignoring the 8th volume (index), the others carried on their spines the opening letters of both the first and last entries therein. They ran: A-Bon, Bou-=#FF0000Dew, Dia-Grap, Gras-Lom, =#FF0000Lon-Pap, Par-Sop & Sou-Zwi!
With crud like that wombling around in his head now do you see why Bongser is so unstable?!

On to today’s matches. Cagey first twenty minutes but then the tries came a little more regularly. Come half-time (15 tries) and the water was already above Wanderer’s plimsoll line and up to those of Cokey & VL.

It didn’t take long for the tries to start coming in the second half and with Barrow’s in the 63rd minute, six of The Fellowship were outside five tries. Three left: (alphabetically) Connor McLeod of the Clan McLeod, Sundar Kastagir & The Kurgan. There could be only one!

Well into “time added on” in all three games, Chas & Pubbers fell outside ten tries and WLJ went through the “quickening”. As all know “The Prize” includes mortality and, had just ONE more try been scored, WLJ would also have been “pooshin’ oop daisies” in the locker of D Jones esq. As it happened (and Bongser’s taking “within 10” to mean “not more than 10 out”) there were no further tries and WLJ (aka Connor McLeod) lives to see another day with a measly two points in the bag – but many a mickle mak’s a muckle!

Two bonus points then out of a possible 90 for the walkers. Zero correct margins to boot. Was a high scoring round in The Championship to be counterbalanced by a low one in pred land? Nope!

The gee-gee loving Mr Caroli fell at the last fence by predicting a Rochdale win. Had he not, he would’ve once more been King o’t’ ‘eap t’neet.
However the other four of the overnight hopefuls successfully converted their Pokemons from the touchline. Congrats to Cokey, Wanderer, WLJ & Zulu. Twenty point bonus for that quartet. Had Leigh scored one more try, three of the above would have garnered a further 25 (WWB) – Bongser would rather Leigh be a trampy lady, go to the party but never come late – that looked uncomfy for a fair while!

And...................this, ladies and gentlemen, is why Bongser spoke of the bonus for so long. Those measly two points make westleighjim (dignified with his full monicker tonight) this week’s winner – a further 25 points pat on the head. Bravo!

The standings? As Charlie hit the upright and as runaway leader, Atomic, had a stinker this week, four scoring highly this round has put the cat well and truly amongst the pigeons:

1. Atomic – 353
2. Chuck – 337
3. Wanderer – 288
4. Pubbers – 255
5. Zools – 248
6. Bongser – 244
7. Cokers – 230
8. WLJ – 223
9. Lee van Couver – 172
10. Diggers – 110
11. LeytherX111 – 94
12. SaBadSel – 16

Squaring the circle and ending with reference books, Bongser cannot say what the word starting with Zwi was in volume 7 of the abovementioned encyclopedia was. What he can tell you (without looking) is that the last word in the lexicon itself of Chambers Dictionary (’98 edition) is Zythum – the earliest recorded mention of a beer-like drink. Bongser is going for a beer now and, despite having next week’s puntables ready, will wait a while until he’s sure that nobody is going to point out another gaffe!

Under 750 words – no way verbose!!

Bad augury? Bongser just watched a Dave rerun of Room 101 featuring the late Sir Terry Wogan. What will the booboo turn out to be this week?

As the also late Marti Webb used to put it, "Tell me on a Sunday, please."

Dash it! Too late!

Cap threauwn int' room. No bullets? Okay! Next weekend’s puntables with again a SATURDAY start!!

Saturday:
Toulouse XX-XX Featherstone
Trannies XX-XX Swinton

Sunday:
Barrow XX-XX Batley
Dewsbury XX-XX Rochdale
London XX-XX Leigh
Sheffield XX-XX Halifax

So it would seem that we are to face The Smoke for the third time in little over a month, this time deauwn Seauwth.

Five different Leigh scorers in the first encounter (four for London). Seven different (though some repeats from that first game) Leigh scorers in the later CCup game (famously none for The Bronx).

BBQ1: Part i) State how many NEW Leigh scorers there will be this round? If you think none, say so.

BBQ1: Part ii) Name ‘em (Thompsons and, especially bl00dy Baileys will require forenames to qualify) – no more nominees than your Part i punt.

Part i is worth five points. IF (and ONLY IF) you have got that correct, part ii will be worth 3 points a correct pop.

BBQ2: Part i) How many of the four London scorers to date will score again in this game? If you think none, say so.

BBQ2: Part ii) Name ‘em..... same rules & points apply

PS: Should you have made the bold prediction (in the scorelines bit) that London will again be nilled (this time in some corner of a foreign field) and reflect this in your BBQ2 punt, that punt’s 5 points will become 15. Dare ya!

Good Luck & Go Leythe!

Saturday:
Toulouse 32-16 Featherstone
Trannies 66-8 Swinton

Sunday:
Barrow 18-8 Batley
Dewsbury 26-6 Rochdale
London 16-28 Leigh
Sheffield 12-32 Halifax

Part one: None

Part two: None

Saturday:
Toulouse 34-18 Featherstone
Trannies 64-10 Swinton

Sunday:
Barrow 28-18 Batley
Dewsbury 30-10 Rochdale
London 16-32 Leigh
Sheffield 18-22 Halifax

Part one: None

Part two: None