If RU is so bad why did it need to sign so many 'slow' Welsh RU players in the 90s and Gareth Thomas/Andy Powell recently? Why did Koukash boast about wanting to sign British Lions a few years back? You can come out with as many clichés as you like, you just sound bitter.

Union is $hit

Clearly we didn't 'need' them since both players made absolutely zero impact

Whether they made an impact or not is irrelevant (Chev Walker, Iestyn Harris etc), my point was if RL was/is so superior why did it sign so many RU players in the last 25 years? Why did Koukash want to buy several Lions a few years ago? 60,000+ for a friendly weeks before an expensive WC (or anytime else) is something RL can only dream about, which is why Jesus-is-coming/Gareth are so bitter.

Would that be the Iestyn Harris that was so rubbish that he won 25 international caps for Wales in union? Let's not even get started on Andy Farrell. Can anyone remember the last RU convert that made the top level of our game?

By the way, using the buffoon Koukash's attention seeking does nothing to improve your argument, quite the opposite in fact.

Sam Burgess - England International
Kyle Eastmond - England International
Chris Ashton - England International
Luther Burrel - England International
Andy Farrel - England International
Barrie Jon Mather - England International
Jason Robinson - England International Lions International World Cup winner
Harry Paul - England International
Lesley Vainikolo - England International
Shontayne Happie - England International

Long list of failures that and I haven't even started on Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Wales, Scotland and Ireland or the huge number of Coaching appointments

As I said before whether anyone was a flop or not is irrelevant, if RL is so superior why have they signed RU players in the first place? Surely with its superior players it wouldn't need such inferior or useless players?

By the way, I notice you avoided my main point which was about a RL fan mocking another sport getting a crowd of 60,000+ for an International friendly. Any views on that?

Yes we get it they get bigger crowds and have better infrastructure, One Direction also sell more records than most bands, it's how the world works 'best' doesn't always mean most popular for a variety of reasons, that of course is also subjective.

You can't say 'well it can't be superior because these individuals were signed' I'm sure I don't need to explain why.

An observation...the jolly hooray henry boys (not including "Slammer Sam"icon_wink.gif in the backs have figure hugging shirts, the Fat boys in the pack have baggy ones

And people still try and tell me there's no bias in the media



Funnily enough the BBC neglected to report on the 2nd largest sporting event in the country last night on their news or on BBC Breakfast this morning.
The netball was reported on though. There was also a discussion as to how much the presenters were looking forward to the Union World Cup.

But there's no southern bias. To think there is apparently makes you a paranoid conspiracy theorist.

Burgess is running about at Twikkers snotting everything in sight!

He is though now in the sin bin for touching a French playmaker who went for a quick tap.
Funny thing was though that one of France's front rowers ran straight at Burgess and Sam met him head on and smashed him to bits, said Frenchman could be seen laying face down saying
"Qu'est-ce que l' Fruck absolue était qu'un"
[iTranslated "What the absolute Fruck was that"[/i

Bitter? No, its my.opinion. same way i think football, dressage, curling.(the ice one) are $hite as well as a million other things

63,000 tut tut thought they could sell every game out the world cup should be fun with half empty stadiums apart from the only real teams they have nz eng,jocks,paddy's, taffs, frogs,convicts the rest are joke nations,have anyone seen nz group good God looks like they will hit 100 pts most games how did Judas do? Were all the little fat men crying if he tackled to hard.....swing low sweet chariots plenty of empty seats swing low sweet chariot

Good god man, I'm no fan of rugby union either but that is one hell of a chip on your shoulder.
They got 63k for a warm up game, RL will never get that. Ever.

I mean as far as union games go it wasn't even that bad, some nice tries and decent handling.
It's the stoppages, scrums and penalty conversions that ruin it as a spectacle for me.

That could apply to the 3 posts preceding it. RWC 2015 is estimated by Bloomberg to make World Rugby/IRB £150,000,000 , going by the frothing-at-the-mouth posts of Jesus-is-coming (very apt, definitely has a messiah complex) he obviously thinks that is a failure. That means he is admitting that RL is, has and always will be a failure as it will never have that type of profit from the International game, let alone the stadiums, infrastructure or international reach. The bitterness is obviously eating away at him, maybe he should seek divine help

What do the RFU do with all their income ?

Share it out to all their member clubs and DEVELOPMENT!!!!!!!!!!

This really needs moving to the other sports forum or the mods are just leaving the VT wide open for Gutterfax and his multiple user accounts ( How many now, 4, 5?) to troll this place non stop when the world cup starts.

Re Burgess, I watched the first 5 minutes last night, that was enough for me. Life's too short. I've tried and have given RU more chances than any other sport but it just bores me to death. Watching lots of obese public schoolboys constantly dropping the ball, passing it forward or kicking to touch whilst running around pretending to be elite sportsmen isn't for me. Apparently Sam made the type of tackle you see multiple times in every SL game last night, wow.

They've got more money and get bigger crowds though, just like lots of other sports I dislike. Just wanted to acknowledge that before Jim or Galliant or one of his other alter egos pipe up and call me bitter or something.

'Bitter'? No, if you continually watch a sport that you claim to dislike i'd call you 'obsessed'

Funny thing is Mr Chuchill started this whole thread of jealousy and bitterness by watching a sport he claimed to 'dislike', just like you. What a coincidence. You are even teeing up each others posts on the first page of this thread in a mutual love-in. It's almost if you have 2 accounts

I just watched the highlights. As RU games go, it wasn't bad. England's wingers both looked sharp and scored three good tries. Sam did OK, but must learn that unlike in league, union refs dish out yellow cards at the drop of a hat.

The Union World Cup is going to generate £150m. As against £8bn for the Olympics and £4.8bn for the FIFA World Cup?

I thought it was supposed to be watched 4 billion people worldwide? Seems someone at the IRB must be doing a terrible job of selling it if it only generates such a pitiful sum.

RU World Cup is still small potatoes compared with a host of other huge multinational events including
FIFA World Cup
UEFA European Cup
Olympic Games
Winter Olympics
Commonwealth Games
Gay Games
Firemans Games

and quite a lot of Continent based multi national events like The Africa's Cup etc

Don't get fooled by the hype machine employed by the IRB!

Give up for Christ sake.

RU WC is a huge event. Maybe not FIFA world cup soccer but many many times bigger than anything RL could ever dream of.

They wont have games at Workington, Gloucester, Rochdale...... with commentators slavering at the mouth because 8k have turned up.

This will be a massive event, with massive crowds and massive viewing figures. The volunteers out number some of the crowds the RL WC got!

Ha Ha,
Go do your research fella or don't, it bothers me not either way!

Ignorance is bliss!