The Hawks’ coach is Mark Aston the former Sheffield Eagles captain who is trying to set up a new professional club in the city

The Hawks’ coach is Mark Aston, the former Sheffield Eagles captain, who is trying to set up a new professional club in the city following the Eagles’ merger with Huddersfield.The St Helens forward, Vila Matautia, became the sixth player from the Super League Grand Final winners to undergo close-season surgery. At amateur level, at least, the code is not yet an endangered species in those outposts.Equally timely is Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks’ trip to York Acorn. But a tie with even more resonance sees two areas deserted by the professional game face each other when the Durham Tigers meet the Cardiff Cougars. The RAF play Normanton Knights and the Army face a Dewsbury Celtic side spearheaded by a Tuigamala, Andrew, younger brother of Va’aiga. Best of all, there is the Royal Navy’s appearance at Hull Dockers. The burgeoning student game is represented by John Moores University, at home to New Earswick All Blacks.The host city on 29 April gets an early taste of the competition with the local side, the Edinburgh Eagles, at home to Woolston, while tomorrow the Dublin Blues face Farnworth ROB. Shrinkage might have set in at professional level, but there is still an expansionist mood detectable in the ranks beneath.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the presence of all three branches of the armed services in the draw.

and try to take advantage of any chances that come our way.”. WHAT COULD be deemed to be the start of the Millennium season arrives this weekend with the first round of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup. To a game in need of a tonic, the array of amateur sides starting out on the road to Murrayfield – where the 2000 final will be staged – comes as a refreshing sight. Indeed, he need look no further than forward Jeff Hoad, who plays in his fourth consecutive cup final after helping Nottingham win in 1996, Ayr in ‘97 and being part of the beaten ‘98 Eagles side.McSorley said: “It’s blue collar versus white collar and as such it’s going to be a war Open hockey? That’s not us We’ll slug it out… Greg Smythe (eye) and Darren Banks (foot) are also very doubtful and the club’s leading points scorer, Paul Rushforth, is suffering with a damaged shoulder and has little chance of playing.Nevertheless, McSorley is confident his team possess enough experience.

Manchester are unbeaten in their last nine cup matches since their opening group stage defeat to Nottingham Panthers. Kurt Kleinendorst’s side then needed overtime to dispose of Sheffield Steelers in the quarter-finals, before making cup history with Cardiff Devils when their semi-final second leg ended goalless in Wales – Storm’s 4-0 first-leg cushion proving more than enough.
London, in contrast, overturned a 1-0 deficit against Ayr Scottish Eagles with a 7-0 victory at the Centrum Arena, before knocking out Bracknell Bees for a place in the final.However, McSorley’s plans have been wrecked by an injury crisis, with net-minder Trevor Robins ruled out with a groin strain. But McSorley is well aware of the threat the Superleague champions pose and admits his side will do everything they can to disrupt their flowing game in a quest to lift a trophy for the first time in the club’s history. But as all fishermen eventually learn, size really isn’t everything.Annalisa Barbieri is away.. LONDON KNIGHTS’ coach Chris McSorley has warned Manchester Storm to expect “a war” in tonight’s Benson & Hedges Cup final at the Sheffield Arena.

I had been utterly absorbed by the pursuit of this solitary fish, which all told had taken nearly six hours.But it worked and I lifted the little chap into the net, his lilac flanks glistening in the sun, his tail spade-like and quite, quite perfect. He was the most beautiful fish, the hardest fish, the best fish I had ever caught. As I admired this lovely creature, I thought of all the times that I had caught a bagful of stumpy-tailed, pellet-fed monsters and had gotten bored doing so.His weight? Just over one pound. I cast and the truth is that it did not all come together beautifully: the cast fell in a heap, I nearly broke the tip off the rod on the overhanging branches, I nearly fell in during the very inelegant capture, but that’s not the point. If I could just master a sort of reversed snake roll with a semi-double spey-style cast, upside down, I would have him.My fish – for in my mind he was surely mine by now – splashed around a little, safe in the knowledge that no one could reach him where he lay. I pondered the geometry of the cast needed to reach him neatly for a full half-hour.