And pray tell - who did the Aussies and Kiwis play warm up games against??

Its because naturally your backs are your most gifted athletes.
If you like the rough and tough you're probably playing rugby as a kid anyway..in the forwards, therefore already involved in the system.
To have the best backs we'd need to draw from different pools and approach the most talented athletes as kids

"Hey, talented 13-16 year old athletes. Want to run in the Olympic 100 metres final in front of a worlwide audience of billions? How about play in a football World Cup final? Or maybe in front of a full house at Twickenham, Murrayfield or the Millenium Stadium for your country?

No? Well maybe you should think about giving rugby league a go. Make a success of it, and you too could be running out at a half empty Keepmoat Stadium on a Friday night then standing around bemused while the PA realises it doesn't have the opposition national anthem on tape."

Ok


Well we could begin to approach maybe the ones that blatantly aren't going to be playing for Manchester Utd.
I reckon it's a bit of a myth about all footie clubs having great attendances and if you picked athletes destined for Championship football half of them would make better backs than what we have now.
We really do pick up the bottom feeders regarding talent

I'd argue vigorously against that statement - rugby league at a junior level picks up [isome[/i hugely talented all around athletes (Ryan Hall and Sam Burgess spring to mind).

The challenge is getting those kids interested in the game at an age where it becomes their first choice sport, not something to fall back on if they don't make it at something else.

You can't. Either they like the sport or they don't.

Most pro rugby league players love the sport.