Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Aug 17, 2015 5:19 pm  

galliant wrote:

I'm a fan of both codes

Pull the other one

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Aug 17, 2015 5:27 pm  

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

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Aug 17, 2015 5:50 pm  

RU has always known how to promote and market the game. Poor product though.

Why is RU a poor product?

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Aug 17, 2015 6:00 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

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'

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Aug 17, 2015 6:45 pm  

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.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Aug 17, 2015 8:26 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

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!

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:03 am  

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.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Tue Aug 18, 2015 7:40 am  

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.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Tue Aug 18, 2015 9:45 am  

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.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:03 am  

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.