Round 13 Results: Sydney Crush Canberra To Go #1

In the most crucial round of the 2011 ARTTSL Championship Season, Sydney have crushed Canberra 11-5 in front of a packed house at the Aiser Arena.

Both sides went into the match as 1 and 2 on the table, having only lost one match each this year. The game looked to be evenly matched up to 3-3 before Sydney took control and won 7 consecutive points to leave Canberra floundering.

In the other big matches of the round, Newcastle stretched Illawarra's losing streak to four matches with an 11-7 win in Wollongong, while Brisbane surged late to beat North Queensland 11-9.

Albeit a narrow loss it saw North Queensland drop out of the top 8 again, with a bottleneck forming around the finals cut-off area with only 6 rounds to go.

Tasmania finally managed a long-awaited win, inspired by the surprise return of Angus Featherlite-Blowingpam and Patricia Elksteine from Europe, both sporting summer tans and looking relaxed, as the home side romped to an 11-5 victory. The rest of the Featherlite-Blowingpam family were again notably absent from the match, and rumours are swirling that they may be considering selling their beloved franchise to distance themselves from Angus's antics.

Next week sees another set of crucial matches, the highlight being the clash between 2nd-placed Canberra playing 3rd-placed Newcastle.

ARTTSL Premiership 2011, Round 13 Results
Brisbane 11 d North Queensland 9 at Cairnes
South New Zealand 11 d Darwin 7 at Christchurch
Gold Coast 11 d North New Zealand 2 at Wellington
Perth 14 d Adelaide 12 at Perth
Ipswich 11 d Sunshine Coast 7 at Ipswich
Tasmania 11 d Melbourne 5 at Launceston
Geelong 11 d North Melbourne 9 at Geelong
Newcastle 11 d Illawarra 7 at Wollongong
Singapore 11 d Greater Blacktown 3 at Blacktown
Sydney 11 d Canberra 5 at Sydney

Round 12 Results: Planets Align for Round 13 Showdowns

The planets seem to have aligned as we look towards Round 13 of the 2011 ARTTSL Championship, which coincidentally will see 1st (Canberra) play 2nd (Sydney), 3rd (Newcastle) play 4th (Illawarra), and 5th (Brisbane) play 6th (North Queensland).

Mathematician Paul Thompson says it is not necessarily an entire coincidence, but that there may be an underlying numerical symmetry in the way the draw was programmed. "This can happen when automatically generating draws. One way to overcome this is to randomly shuffle the rounds as a fine step, but it seems Wilkington Tuffy didn't consider this, unfortunately. This is probably also why there were few top-of-the table clashes in the earlier rounds of the season".

The match of Round 12 was Canberra's epic win over Illawarra in Canberra. Canberra jumped to an early 5-2 lead before Illawarra squared it 5-all at half-time. Canberra made another break to 9-6, only for Illawarra to claw back again to square it 10-all. The sides then traded points on serve until Canberra finally prevailed 16-14.

In the other major clash, North Queensland consolidated their place in the top 8 with a hard-fought 12-10 win over Singapore. By contrast Singapore have now slipped out of the top 8.

Canberra and Sydney are now 4 points clear of their nearest rivals as they prepare for their Round 13 clash. No doubt the winner will be clear favourites to secure the Minor Premiership with just 6 rounds to go after this weekend, before the finals series.

Tasmania now languish 19th on the table after a dismal 11-5 loss to the Gold Coast. Meanwhile Angus and Patsy remain unaccounted for. Recent rumours suggest they may currently be continuing their holiday in Cyprus, having been tracked down by the media in Spain.

ARTTSL Premiership 2011, Round 12 Results
Darwin 11 d Ipswich 9 at Darwin
Melbourne 12 d Perth 10 at Melbourne
Adelaide 11 d Geelong 9 at Adelaide
Newcastle 11 d Greater Blacktown 6 at Newcastle
North New Zealand 11 d Brisbane 5 at Brisbane
Gold Coast 11 d Tasmania 5 at Gold Coast
Canberra 16 d Illawarra 14 at Canberra
North Queensland 12 d Singapore 10 at Singapore
Sydney 12 d Sunshine Coast 10 at Maroochydore
South New Zealand 13 d North Melbourne 11 at North Melbourne

Featherlite-Blowingpam Underwear Photo Released

An undisclosed source has defied the still-active suppression order and released the long-awaited photo of Angus Featherlite-Blowingpam dancing in his underwear at the Normanby Hotel in Brisbane in June this year.

Featherlite-Blowingpam and Patricia Elksteine remain unaccounted for since apparently boarding a Europe-bound plane in Singapore two weeks ago.

The alleged second photo, of Featherlite-Blowingpam and Elksteine dining in Sydney, has yet to surface, however as the couple have since gone public with their relationship the holder of the photo may see little value in holding it.

ARTTSL Championship 2011, Round 12 Fixtures

The match of the round sees previous table leaders Illawarra, undefeated for 9 rounds before losing two in a row, travelling to Canberra to play the new table leaders.

After breaking into the top 8, 7th-placed North Queensland will try to keep on their roll against 8th-placed Singapore.

Struggling Tasmania travel to the Gold Coast to play the strong but inconsistent 2010 Grand Finalists. They still haven't found Angus and Patsy either.

ARTTSL Championship 2011, Round 12 Fixtures
Darwin vs Ipswich (at Darwin)
Melbourne vs Perth (at Melbourne)
Adelaide vs Geelong (at Adelaide)
Newcastle vs Greater Blacktown (at Newcastle)
Brisbane vs North New Zealand (at Brisbane)
Gold Coast vs Tasmania (at Gold Coast)
Canberra vs Illawarra (at Canberra)
Singapore vs North Queensland (at Singapore)
Sunshine Coast vs Sydney (at Maroochydore)
North Melbourne vs South New Zealand (at North Melbourne)

Round 11 Results: North Queensland Break Into Top 8

North Queensland have finally broken into the top 8 after beating 2010 Premiers Newcastle in a 14-12 thriller in Townsville.

Illawarra have continued their slide, losing their second match of the season 11-9 to lowly-placed expansion side Greater Blacktown in Blacktown.

Angus Featherlite-Blowingpam and Patricia Elksteine were notably absent from Tasmania's 11-7 loss to Brisbane in Hobart. The couple are now rumoured to be holidaying in Amsterdam on a "serious drug binge".

ARTTSL Premiership 2011, Round 11 Results
North Queensland 14 d Newcastle 12 at Townsville
Greater Blacktown 11 d Illawarra 9 at Blacktown
Brisbane 11 d Tasmania 7 at Hobart
South New Zealand 11 d Adelaide 9 at Christchurch
Sydney 11 d Darwin 8 at Sydney
North New Zealand 11 d Singapore 8 at Auckland
Ipswich 11 d North Melbourne 9 at Ipswich
Geelong 11 d Melbourne 8 at Geelong
Perth 14 d Gold Coast 12 at Perth
Canberra 11 d Sunshine Coast 7 at Maroochydore

ARTTSL Premiership 2011, Round 11 Fixtures

In the match of the round, after toppling the previously-undefeated Illawarra last weekend, North Queensland hope to finally break into the top 8 with a win over 2010 Premiers Newcastle in Townsville.

ARTTSL Premiership 2011, Round 11 Fixtures
North Queensland vs Newcastle (at Townsville)
Greater Blacktown vs Illawarra (at Blacktown)
Tasmania vs Brisbane (at Hobart)
South New Zealand vs Adelaide (at Christchurch)
Sydney vs Darwin (at Sydney)
North New Zealand vs Singapore (at Auckland)
Ipswich vs North Melbourne (at Ipswich)
Geelong vs Melbourne (at Geelong)
Perth vs Gold Coast (at Perth)
Sunshine Coast vs Canberra (at Maroochydore)

Round 10 Results: North Queensland Break Illawarra Win Streak

North Queensland are the team to finally bring Illawarra's unbeaten run in 2011 to an end, defeating the table leaders 11-6 in Wollongong.

The result drops Illawarra to 3rd on the table, behind new leaders Canberra and second-placed Sydney on points difference. It also elevates North Queensland to 9th on the competition table, poised to break into the top 8, being only 9th on points difference and having hovered just out of the top 8 since Round 1.

Tasmania suffered another double-embarrassment, losing 11-6 in Singapore and in the meantime losing track of Angus Featherlite-Blowingpam and Patricia Elksteine, who attended the match, again against family wishes, then returned to the airport and disappeared. The couple are rumoured to have boarded a flight to Paris for a romantic getaway to escape the intense media scrutiny of their private lives.

Canberra were lucky to hold on and take the competition lead after a titanic struggle with now-19th-placed Greater Blacktown saw them just scrape home 12-10.

Sydney also just scraped home 12-10 against a resurgent North Melbourne, after intially taking an comfortable half-time lead of 7-3.

The Gold Coast continued their inconsistent form in 2011 with a significant 11-4 loss to Geelong. The result sees Geelong surpass the Gold Coast on the table, with the teams now 7th and 8th on the ladder respectively.

ARTTSL Premiership 2011, Round 10 Results
Brisbane 11 d Perth 9 at Brisbane
Melbourne 11 d South New Zealand 8 at Melbourne
Canberra 12 d Greater Blacktown 10 at Canberra
Sydney 11 d North Melbourne 9 at North Melbourne
Newcastle 11 d North New Zealand 5 at Newcastle
North Queensland 11 d Illawarra 6 at Wollongong
Adelaide 11 d Ipswich 8 at Adelaide
Singapore 11 d Tasmania 6 at Singapore
Geelong 11 d Gold Coast 4 at Gold Coast
Darwin 11 d Sunshine Coast 7 at Darwin

ARTTSL Premiership 2011, Round 10 Fixtures

Brisbane vs Perth (at Brisbane)
Melbourne vs South New Zealand (at Melbourne)
Canberra vs Greater Blacktown (at Canberra)
North Melbourne vs Sydney (at North Melbourne)
Newcastle vs North New Zealand (at Newcastle)
Illawarra vs North Queensland (at Wollongong)
Adelaide vs Ipswich (at Adelaide)
Singapore vs Tasmania (at Singapore)
Gold Coast vs Geelong (at Gold Coast)
Darwin vs Sunshine Coast (at Darwin)