So if one bad half and a bad atmosphere in one game makes the whole of the sport rubbish that means RL is poopie as I've seen some awful games with church-like atmospheres in Super League. Or, conveniently, does that not apply to RL?

I'm leaning towards Galliant on this one.

Oxford Exile goes to one game, which has the same meaning as a SL pre-season friendly, and tells everyone the atmos & game was crap. No .

I read it that he was using his experience at that game to illustrate a broader view that the product is poor; as opposed to suggesting that's his first and only experience of RU and he was making a judgement about the whole sport off the back of it. Given that he also said he coaches a jr RU team, I think my interpretation is probably closer to the truth.

But I'm sure he can speak for himself.

I played yawnion for 5 years at school & watched it for 20. It's poop.

This whole 69 page thread has reminded me of something a famous Welsh rugby player who played RL for a while (for the money) once said at my local RFC- 'I think Union and League fans have alot in common. They are both obsessed with Union.'

That's amusing coming from a union fan who spends a worrying amount of time stalking a rugby league forum.

I'm a fan of both codes so can comment on both. If by 'stalking' you mean 'looking at' then that makes you a stalker too.

Pull the other one

Alrite gallstones me owd mucker whatever happened to they can sell out every game? Were are the drunken louts lad the welsh had the heads screwed on right and cut prices,can't wait to watch nz run 100 pts a game up and await the daily mail backlash condemning the tournament as a farce,loads of made up nations full of multi nationals and rl get condemned for it oh the irony.....swing low sweet chariot lad

Why is RU a poor product?

I'm very much in agreement with 'The Emporers New Clothes' analogy. It seems almost trendy to jump on board the Rugby Union Jingoistic, Patriotic, Hooray for us, good old Johnny bandwagon but when you watch the product itself it's awful!

Somebody will eventually shout "the king is naked" and everyone will see what a poor sport Rugby Union is.

Turgid, stop start, over officiated, poorly skilled, sub standard athletes (in some positions) and lacking in any form of WOW moments!

Compared with Rugby League it's like watching U8s!

However, the establishment created Rugby Union and they continue to propagate it ahead of better fayre! They are aided and abetted by Rugby Leagues inability to market itself and world class ability to shoot it's own toes off.

As the old saying goes

'Rugby Union is an amateur game run by professionals while Rugby League is a professional game run by amateurs'

Do 'good' sports have to be non stop, highly skilled, under officiated to be attractive?

American football probably sits within the above criteria but seems very popular. Cycling is very one dimensional but popular, cricket very slow but internationally attractive.

Maybe as RL fans we are missing the point.

Or maybe I'm right!

Clearly the Rugger Buggers get something out of their sport. Why else would they turn up in tens of thousands for international games?

Attempting to claim League is objectively "better" than Union is just silly.

It's a different sport.

Union fans enjoy the scrums, enjoy the lineouts, rucks, mauls etc. We don't have them in league, so when we see them on tv, our ignorant minds think "it's just a bunch of players jumping on each other".

The skillsets aren't poorer than League either, in fact I'd say that you have to be a lot more specialised in your position/skill in Union than League. League, players have to be good at all skills to a degree, Union you generally have one job. In League, brute athleticism can get you along way, look at Tom Lineham at Hull, the lad has only just learnt to play a ball properly, can't pass, tackling technique is iffy, positionally naïve. But, he's big and fast, and has been snapped up by Wire for a fee.

The 10m rule gives our players the space to make the big hits, put on set moves, go on one man dazzling rules - that's why we love RL. Union, it's a different game, there's no 10m rule, there's no limited tackles, there's two extra men on the field.

It's a completely futile debate to discuss which is the 'best'. We should be looking at what they do off the field, how they develop & promote their game - and learning lessons from that.

So back to something like the topic in hand, will Sam make the WC squad? and if he doesn't will he return to league? I just can't see him hanging around for 4 more years to see if he can make the next WC squad.

I would be surprised. Why should he get the nod over experienced players who've been playing their chosen position all their lives?

And, if anything, the decision to play him in the centres at the weekend against France puts him up against plenty of good centres (including two from his own club!), when, if anything, he might stand more chance of getting in the squad at 6 or 8.

Will he come to league? Quite possibly, but it won't be SL if he does. Plenty in the NRL will be queuing up for his signature.

Absolutely. I'm sure i read recently he was getting married to an Australian TV personality so that will be factor in his decisions moving forward. He will have his pick of NRL clubs, i don't see him back in SL until he is over the hill or if ever to be honest.

Avenger are you one of those that looks in the mirror as a portly middle age guy and thinks, I look good?

He may return to league but with Bath likely to be in the Champions Cup every year he'll be playing in European games that are intensive as any International against the French and Irish sides (sadly not the Welsh) packed with world-class players, so it's no foregone conclusion. I think he'll stay as leaving early would be seen as being a quitter.

Maybe he is staying in Union because he enjoys it, have we ever considered that?

No.

I wonder which energised Sam Burgess the most: winning a Grand Final alongside Greg Inglis in front of a packed stadium of cheering fans, or standing around with his hands in his pockets waiting for another scrum to be re-set?


Tough call...

What about playing in a 6 Nations every year in front of packed stadiums of cheering fans in countries that he's never played in, playing in Argentina, South Africa, Japan in 2019 etc or going on the 2017 NZ tour with the British & Irish Lions? Or playing the same 2-3 countries every 2-3 years in RL?

Tough call...

Mods - doesn't this belong in Other Sports?