www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/s ... 97751.html

www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/s ... 97751.html

Well let's hope that The RLIF has been more proactive in protecting the intellectual property of the game than they were with the rights to the name "Rugby World Cup"

Make no mistake if Rugby Union wanted to get rid of two players, line outs and start playing the ball they'd have no problem convincing the world that they invented those rules and not us.

If they want to wear our trousers let them accept that ours is the better game and pay the proper price for them. By that I don't mean money!

Interesting point in the unlikely event they went 13 a side, change scrums. How do we define our identity?

What you mean sc-avenger is one journo suggested it, which is miles apart from Union even considering it. You really should get out more.

No Galliafax, what I meant is what I said!

10 years ago Wayne Shelford suggested something similar, he also said that rucks and mauls should be non competitive in order to clean them up and allow the ball to be freed up much quicker. Another of his suggestions was that teams should be limited to 6 phases of play in order to stop dour forward oriented teams from dominating possession with up the jumper, yard at a time borefests.

Puzzles me why you want to discuss Union on a League forum? Surely there are places that you can go to to chat about other sports......oh, hang on
[urlhttp://viewforum.php?f=30[/url

Because sc-avenger is obsessed about union. I reckon he and Mr Churchill are one and the same

If it drops to 13, then it would be a matter of time before a merger. Either on a club by club basis or a cross divisional championship. Northern v Southern etc.

Yes there is tradition and all that but part of that tradition is being part of the northern union and 15 a side. if they drop to 13 then their game will change and there will be a drive to merge.

But I doubt they will drop to 13 a side.

Number of players isn't the main factor here. It's what happens to put the ball back in play.
Have a pile on and a supposed contest for possession and you have RU.
Have everyone get out of the way and the player in possession put the ball back in play and you have RL.
Have everyone get out of the way, give the ball to the ref and he put it down to bring into play (and some other rules about obstruction) and you have american football.

You could change the numbers on the pitch, but unless the method of recycling possession is altered, it's still fundamentally the same game.

I don't know if I agree with you here.
The "pile up" that you mention are certainly competitive (although there are some bizarre rules surrounding them !) but, if these were limited to 6 phases, their game would change beyond all recognition.

Although I don't expect that they will drop to 13 players, IF they did, the drive towards a merger of the 2 sports would come from all sides.
The big boys in league would see £££ signs and the union brigade mat see to chance to rid the world of RL.

Also with 13 on the pitch. That pile up will effectively be smaller. You can't throw half a team into the pile up as it will leave too many gaps to be exploited. So at that point they will make a tactical change to just holding the player with fewer people, which would lead to effectively an unlimited tackle version of the game with effectively uncontested rucks.

The natural leap from that will be to limit the tackles.

But I don't think a drop to 13 will happen.

It's just a journalist burbling to himself on a quiet news day - nothing to see here.

Quote ="The Chronicler of Chiswic"It's just a journalist burbling to himself on a quiet news day - nothing to see here.'" Its really, not union is in a crisis the game is under increased examination from medical bodies and the defensive improvements from league coaches coming into union has killed their game in terms of entertainment in the northern hemisphere. The bmj has several articles on how the game is no longer safe for kids to play. Its not just a slow news day story. These proposals are coming from senior people in their game. balls.ie/rugby/tony-ward-13-a-side-rugby-3423/

Quote ="The Chronicler of Chiswic"It's just a journalist burbling to himself on a quiet news day - nothing to see here.'" Its really, not union is in a crisis the game is under increased examination from medical bodies and the defensive improvements from league coaches coming into union has killed their game in terms of entertainment in the northern hemisphere. The bmj has several articles on how the game is no longer safe for kids to play. Its not just a slow news day story. These proposals are coming from senior people in their game. balls.ie/rugby/tony-ward-13-a-side-rugby-3423/

I take it as flattering that another sport is considering mirroring ours to reach the levels of entertainment that we achieve.

Tony Ward is a 'senior' person in RU and his solitary piece means 'another sport is considering'?

Meanwhile in other rugby league news, Scotland's wheelchair curlers have lost 6-3 to Germany in their relegation play-off at the World Championships in Finland.

*spoiler* cheers i was going to watch that later

Union is already evolving, the rucks are becoming more like rugby league in that teams want to put as few people into the contact area as they can get away with.

Whereas before sides might have been committing 6 or 7 players into the ruck leaving 8 or 9 to play in space, now they may only throw 3 or 4 into the contact area. That leaves 11 or 12 players spreading out across the width of the pitch in defence, much as there would be in league.

Unlike in league however, the offside line in union is the back foot of the ruck rather than 10 metres away from it. Combine that with the recent trend towards "blitz" defences, and attacking players get absolutely zero space to work in unless the ball is recycled quickly. So teams try to avoid taking the ball into contact, but players lack the basic skills to keep it moving, offload in the tackle, run the correct lines etc.

So you end up with some turgid knockonathon of endless reset scrums, or sides choosing to kick because they don't back their own handling ability. Taking two players out may create additional space, but unless the offside line changes it won't create the additional time on the ball that creative players need to flourish.

It may not help your creative players, but your elusive runners like Eastmond would be far more effective with less players on the pitch.

Pot, kettle...
It's interesting that you magically appear every time there is a post vaguely related to union.
It is also interesting that you adopt the exact same style of post as a certain Mr. Gutterfax.

Thats because i like Union and League. You always seem to magically appear on Union threads too. Pot, kettle...

Just a journalist wanting to push some buttons.

It wouldn't harm rugby league.
If the dropped flankers those same players would be lost to the game as they would find it hard to move to another position in the rugby union team.
The tall ones would become locks or No.8 if more mobile but there are only so many places.

Rugby League lends itself to a flanker friendly style of play. Big running forwards who are fit enough to get around the field will find a place in all the pack positions in League.
Let them change it. We'll take their cast offs and make them good rugby players.

Erm...
I have posted in one Union related discussion since you 'joined' RLFANS... meanwhile I haven't seen a single post from you yet regarding the actual game of rugby league.
Keep digging Gutters, it is embarrassing but yet so, so funny at the same time.

Quote ="galliant"Tony Ward is a 'senior' person in RU and his solitary piece means 'another sport is considering'? '" Its not one man and a single opinion piece. The is being quite openly discussed in the union press. www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2 ... orthampton

Quote ="galliant"Tony Ward is a 'senior' person in RU and his solitary piece means 'another sport is considering'? '" Its not one man and a single opinion piece. The is being quite openly discussed in the union press. www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2 ... orthampton

Quote ="GlobalRugby"Its not one man and a single opinion piece. The is being quite openly discussed in the union press. www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2 ... orthampton'" Rugby League changes the way video refs are engaged and nobody mentions it in the press, but a long retired Irish fly-half gets his musings published in an irish paper and it's headline news? Union seems to have "done it again", stealing media coverage with a nothing story (you're/we're discussing it here on an unrelated sports forum)......is this really the basis for a viable thread on a RL board? This is more worrying [urlhttp://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/31497227[/url

Quote ="GlobalRugby"Its not one man and a single opinion piece. The is being quite openly discussed in the union press. www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2 ... orthampton'" Rugby League changes the way video refs are engaged and nobody mentions it in the press, but a long retired Irish fly-half gets his musings published in an irish paper and it's headline news? Union seems to have "done it again", stealing media coverage with a nothing story (you're/we're discussing it here on an unrelated sports forum)......is this really the basis for a viable thread on a RL board? This is more worrying [urlhttp://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/31497227[/url