going back to the games of 1996 against bath i went to the maine road one and the 7s comp at twickers and after the 1/4 final a union fan asked me what time were wigan back on (having a wigan replica shirt on) because wigan were great to watch. but when a union side was winning on the odd time they were, all you could hear was sweet low sweet chariot

Very true. After the recent Wales v Australia international the Welsh were bemoaning the amount of kicking going on during play and they are not the only ones to recognise the problem. In that match Australia kicked the ball from hand 40 times and Wales 22. The Welsh moaned about trying to play a running game and not kick but seemed resigned afterwards that it doesn't help get the result.

The reason for the increased kicking is to play the game in the oppositions half so if a penalty is given away it isn't an automatic three points and penalties can be the only points scored in some games. As you say guarded and negative tactics.

England in the Autumn games scored one try in 240 minutes of play so not giving away penalties in your own half is crucial hence the kick fest. RU which is supposed to be about keeping possession is now about territory and kicking the ball away as its the lesser of two evils.

As to the cross code games the assertion Wigan would have crumpled under the Union forwards game at Union ignores the fact several players had played RU before and there are ways around playing against a strong forward oriented union side.

Dave

Its a shame we cant get the champs of each code to play each other one game sat and the other game the following wednesday.

I'm sure Edwards played in the Maine Road game, not sure about the return fixture though?

He did play in the RL game.


I thought he played in the other too. He certainly played in the RU sevens game that was just before or after.

Lets ask Bilko..........

or Google




J Callard 16/15 K Radlinski

A Lumsden 15/14 J Robinson

P de Glanville (capt) 14/13 H Paul

A Adebayo 12 G Connolly

J Sleightholme 11 M Offiah

M Catt 10 J Lydon

I Sanders 9 C Murdock

K Yates 1 T O'Connor

G Dawe 2 M Hall

V Ubogu 3 N Cowie

M Haag 4 G West

N Redman 5 A Farrell (capt)

A Robinson 6 S Tatupu

S Ojomoh 8 S Quinnell

E Pearce 7 V Tuigamala

I take it that's the return fixture then.

Just look at the backline for the RL game. No wonder we put 80 on them. We would put 50 on the present team.


MATCH FACTS: Wigan:

1. Radlinski,
2. Robinson (2T),
3. Tuigamala,
4. Connolly,
5. Offiah (6T),
6. Paul (1T),
7. Edwards,
8. Cowie,
9. Hall (5G),
10. O'Connor (2T),
11. Haughton,
12. Cassidy (1T),
13. Farrell (4G),
14. Smyth,
15. Murdock (1T),
16. Quinnell (1T),
17. Johnson (2T)

Frightening. It would beat most of todays teams to be honest.

No he didn't.

Fair enough, I'm glad you added the proof to it aswell!




But according to BrettKenny's post he did. Are you sure?

You didn't need to ask me you just needed to look at [url=http://www.cherryandwhite.co.ukthe little website[/url I've created.



RL: Wigan 82 Bath 6 - [urlhttp://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=574[/url
RU: Bath 44 Wigan 19 - [urlhttp://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=1243[/url
Middlesex 7s - [urlhttp://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=1388[/url


A fact about that 82-6 hammering in the RL version of the cross code challenge was that Wigan had just two minutes more possession than Bath during that game (25 mins to 23 mins) but yet we scored 82 points and they got 6.

Yes, I'm watching the full match (At Maine Road) on Youtube as we speak.



Type 'Wigan' 'Bath' into search on youtube, the full game is on (split over about 16 parts)

I could have sworn he played.

I haven't seen the game for ages, but wasn't he jumping around really "pumped up"?

Or maybe I am getting confused with the Sevens game?

*shrugs*

I think theirs confusion between Guscott and Edwards between posters here.

So for the record Edwards did play in the League Match. Guscott "the sh*thouse" played in neither.

Well your not watching it very closely mate. - He led the team out!!

Didn't play though!

See Bilko's post.

Then look at my original post and the quote.

I know Edwards played in that game because when Bath score he went nuts at the Wigan players.

im typing this again but i would only say IMHO that only sam and past would make the 17 instead of murdock/johnson

100% he did play.

Edwards is playing here, bleached haircut.

Offiah's just gone in on 3 minutes.

On 5 mins:

Union commentator (alongside Stevo & Eddie):

=#0000FF[i"The thing that's amazing me in these first five minutes is the pace of the game, and that's what Bath are just not used to. There's just no breaks in play".[/i