Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:17 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

That's the key thing though....."10 years"....not enough patience I think from most. The Crusaders a good example, hoping that if we fast track them into SL we'll have a competitive Welsh team a few years later. The biggest problem RL has in terms of growing new teams outside the traditional areas is not allowing them to grow organically, but instead trying to fast track them before their ready. Realistically the soonest we could expect a competive Wales/Ireland/Scotland IF done right is at least 10 years but probably more.....but patience won't allow that.

London was starting to pay dividends after about 10 years.....IF we'd been run properly from 2007 onwards I suspect we would have seen a 17 Man cockney Squad in SL by 2017 and at least a half dozen England players.
The patience issue is directly linked to the clubs AND THE TV PARTNERS having too much say in the overall running of the game. The idea of the NRL flipping to 4 quarters to accommodate TV and get more cash is a prime example of the dog wagging the tail.....

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:53 pm  

it seems that there is only a certain amount of money to go around and due to the nature of the sport European governments aren't keen on Rugby League; as you probably know Tony Abbott has given almost A$10M of tax payers money to Souths recently, the opposite happened up here, its been 'decided' what sports are big in certain areas, this will change slowly over time, but not during our life time Fax butty. I could give you a critique of rugby union and soccer but you've asked me not too in the past so I won't, and obviously Rugby League isn't perfect on the field either, but with all things considered, imo it's the best sport going around.

So all this talk of your criticising the RFL L.Broncos etc. is almost a load of BS, John O'Neill said in 2003 to the IRB, 'look we've got enough money now (probably with a fair amount of borrowing on top) to buy out the NRL', the IRB said no, but it wouldn't have mattered if the IRB had said yes, rugby uion would still be struggling in Aus today, as that's he way it is. Most ppl are sheep, and of course the saying "When in Rome..." is a big important statement in Europe, so if you move to Wales you follow rugby union, it's just the way it is.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:42 pm  

Sam Burgess got on the field for the last 15 minutes of his latest Union match today.

Didn't get the ball once and didn't have to make a single tackle!

No further comment!

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:24 pm  

Its probably because Glasgow had most of the ball trying to win the game :crazy: you said you'd cancelled your BT subscription because you were 'sick' of watching RU, but you obviously didn't. The lady doth protest too much methinks.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:49 pm  

Mr Churchill wrote:

Sam Burgess got on the field for the last 15 minutes of his latest Union match today. Didn't get the ball once and didn't have to make a single tackle!

Damn easy money, then.

And for that reason I doubt we'll see him come back to the fold, sadly.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:30 pm  

December 14th

Mr Churchill wrote:

Required one month's notice given to BT Sport to cancel subscription. No more Union for me thanks. Absolute cr@p anyway.

January 25th

Mr Churchill wrote:

Sam Burgess got on the field for the last 15 minutes of his latest Union match today.

Didn't get the ball once and didn't have to make a single tackle!

No further comment!

Hmmm.....Supposed cancellation period ended nearly 2 weeks ago and even then, you said you'd stop watching it regardless. I'd seek professional help if I were you........

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:06 am  

miscreant wrote:

Damn easy money, then.

And for that reason I doubt we'll see him come back to the fold, sadly.

Easy money and easier on his body which is a large part of his reasoning for taking a couple of years away from the NRL.

Money plays its part but Sams got a huge earning potential in the NRL, the opportunity to become a duel international and compete in the World Cup also played its part in his decision.


Sam understood that the way he plays Rugby League would mean his top flight career would be over by the time he was 30 at which point he'd have to give League away and neither would he be fit enough to do anything significant in Union.

By playing Union now, he rests his body to a large degree, achieves what he wants to in Union and still gets to go back to Souths at an age where he can maintain his reputation as one of the Worlds best. Most importantly the reduction in wear and tear on his body extends his career as a professional sportman by a couple if years.

[PopTart]

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:45 pm  

Mr Churchill wrote:

Sam Burgess got on the field for the last 15 minutes of his latest Union match today.

Didn't get the ball once and didn't have to make a single tackle!

No further comment!

I didn't see the game but in the report I read, it said he stopped someone scoring a try with a goal line tackle, so although I believe you when you say he isn't involved much but I suspect you are exaggerating to make the point.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:16 pm  

I honestly didn't see him have to make a tackle.

What I did think at the time (given that Union play him as a centre) was that he was very near those pile-ups that occur in Union when there is a tackle / voluntary tackle. But I didn't see him actually need to stop anybody.

Accept I could be wrong as I wasn't there and am therefore at the mercy of the angles and action chosen by the TV director. I wiz through a recording of the match to try to miss out those long periods when the TV director is showing replays when there is nothing actually happening on the pitch (and that happens a lot of the time) & I wiz through the match up to the point that Sam comes on.

As an aside, interesting to hear the Union commentators saying they hadn't seen a scrum that hadn't either had to be 're-set' or ended up with a penalty, that the scrum was "an important part of the game" but also it is "a blot on the game" and "something has to be done about it". Get shut of those "wing forwards" for a start I'd suggest and play 13 a side.
Aside 2. I had to laugh when a guy got sin-binned for tackling an opponent who had the ball! I kid you not. To be fair and to clarify, the guy with the ball was surrounded by his own players in the middle of a "maul" and, apparently, you are not allowed to tackle the ball carrier in those circumstances [Insert your own smilies as appropriate!]

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Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:42 pm  

I agree about the scrum. To say the RU pride themselves on that part of the game, and it should be so, the professional level scrums are horrible at the moment. They've messed about with them so much they can't get a clean heel any more.
Any RU follower bemoaning the RL scrum isn't watching any club union now