Thursday 1 March 2012

It's a crazy plan, but it just might work...

As the NRL kicks off with a nail-biting one point win for the Dragons, there's only one question on every League fan's lips this weekend: can Hornets actually qualify for the next stage of the Northern Rail Cup?

The answer is - possibly. Maybe not. But possibly...

Admittedly, it's not entirely in our hands.

Keighley are in the last qualifying spot on 6 points and a + 18 difference.

On Sunday they play Oldham who are on -70 - so a narrow Oldham win at Keighley would give them 6 points and a minus points difference (and reduce Keighley's points difference slightly).

London Skolars  and the Scorpions have 3 points each, with two games to play - so they need to gain fewer than 3 points from their remaining games. Skolars play 'Fax on Sunday and the Scorpions have yet to come to us.

Hornets have no points and a -56 difference (better than either Dewsbury and Oldham). Say Oldham beat Keighley by 8 points, leaving them on +10, we would need to gain six points and better the +10 difference to get into 4th place.

So, given that the other results go in our favour, a ten point winning margin against Dewsbury would leave us needing to beat the Scorpions by 57 points  (46 + 11) to nick 4th.

It's not over till the fat lady sings.