Quote halifaxjohn="halifaxjohn"3 pages on Leigh Winers forum about Mr Stokes.
=#FF0000Apparently he is the reason they only narrowly won. Nothing to do with their indiscipline or the type of players they have.
Afterwards Mr Stokes pis@ed on Derek's strawberries, broke every window in the legends bar and was ejected for singing "O'h Hali Hali"
Talk about sour Lobby.'"
Actually John,
he is probably the reason we won, (never mind only narrowly) in the final analysis! In the first half, he absolutely caned us for every technical offence in the book. Two team warnings and two sin binnings, plus 12/13 penalties, ensured we didn't see an awful lot of the ball in those first 40 minutes.
For some bizarre reason, he 'turned' at half time, and apparently saw London committing offences that they didn't commit in the first half. The penalty count ended up pretty even, but the second half 'about face' by Stokes, ensured we got the possession, when London were tiring, and proved just enough for us to squeeze through. Strangley, despite conceding as many 'technical' penalties as us, London didn't receive a team warning or see any of their players in the bin.
This weekend, you are likely to see another virtuoso performance from Stokes, with very little chance of seeing much from 34 excellent players. (except kicking for touch from penalties!)
Seriously, the guy can be wildly erratic, so you could be in for an uncertain, and frustrating afternoon.
P.S. Beware of Batley - they can play a bit!!