Actually that's a list of Australian, Kiwi and English dual code internationals not dual code professional players.


They may not be fat lard-'rses but many are certainly lumbering and have very poor skills. The obsession with scrums is a major negative in Union. Reduce the need for such strength in the front row and you could have a much better game.

Indeed, although I don't think they could squeeze many more into twickenham on matchday. 328,000 over 4 weekends @ £60 each paying a total of close to £20,000,000 to the RFU.....I am sure they wish they could have double headers at wembley for a tenner!
Sammy's destined to play centre....talk of him "walking into any position" is just plain daft.

Did you reply to the wrong post or something?

Nope.
I responded to your opinion that Scrums were a major negative in Union with a simple stat about your opinion not being held by members of the Public who have just given the RFU £20,000,000 over 4 Weekends this Autumn.
I agree that the set/fold/set/fold repeat scenario is a blight on Union, but the reality is that we can only dream of the demand for access that they somehow manage to maintain.
The thread has wobbled if not drifted totally.....the bottom line is that Burgess will see less ball, make less tackles and may well be bored playing Union for the next 3 years, but I have no doubt that he will be seen by more people and have more money in his bank as a result of it.
Everything else is just RL Fans bitterness towards a code that dwarfs their sport.

I would not agree that the competition Burgess has joined "dwarfs" Super league. In fact attendances are very similar and have the same problems as us with the smaller teams struggling to get over 4-5k in a soccer stadium. In fact aviva prem teams seem to struggle more having to move home several times to different soccer stadiums. Super league viewing figures dwarf the premiership

They still have problems even with more money and PR

The Prem sides also use filler tactics like giving 4 clubs an 80,000 attendance to their home average figures. and strange rounded numbers to boost attendance figures

I expect I'm not alone amongst interested RL fans in hoping that Sam Burgess gets a full game this Friday instead of just a fraction of a game off the bench.

TR, you're right, when you compare the club game they are similar {apart from the geographical spread, the continuing investment into it, and the sponsorships that dwarf RLs}, but gutterfax was talking about the international game. I can see why you chose to ignore it. The mis-management of RL has made sure that we'll never have a national stadium and we have regressed to being a regional sport, both of which mean that we'll never be taken seriously by blue-chip companies. You can't have progression without serious money to back it up. I bet Wood and Rimmer read this forum and laugh, because there are more threads about what Union are up to than what they are up to.

WTF... why are you incapable of discussing the two SPORTS without bringing crowd figures into it... biggest doesn't mean best, for various reasons... unless you're also of the belief that One Direction are the BEST band in the world.

Yeah see I didn't mention anything even close to that load of drivel. I responded to your inaccurate list title and the point about Union props. That's why I assumed you'd quoted the wrong person.

Presumably you think any Union fan who thinks football is rubbish is merely bitter?

McDonald's has $27.5 billion revenue, their product is still sht, like Union.

Nothing wrong with Union.

I suspect the reason so many poms are critical of the sport is because they are not very good at it.

Why is there a thread about Sam Burgess and Rugby Union on a league page anyway?

Already answered. 4th post on page 1.

Let's have it right!

The claim was that Sam Burgess could play for England in any position he wants to. I even highlighted the salient part in a seperate post but just for the hard of understanding here it is again

Any position =#FF0000HE WANTS TO

I don't suggest for a nanosecond that Sam could play prop in Union, he's far too athletic, the point being he wouldn't want to play prop!

You were so eager to jump up and down and scream and scream till you made yourself sick that you didn't read the post in its proper context.

I didn't like union before I discovered League and I sure as hell don't like it now, that's not bitterness, as far as I'm concerned it's utter unwatchable tripe and I can't for the life of me work out why anybody wants to play it or watch it.

I've always thought the huge crowds for internationals in union have little to do with entertainment and a lot to do with history and cultural allegiance. If these people were really into the game of ru then they'd follow it properly, not just go to a few England games live or watch a few England games on tv every year.

How many of the Twickenham crowd could name all of the head coaches in their elite division? It's not a passion for ru that sells all those tickets that's for sure.

If you go to an RL international or soccer international nearly 100% of the crowd will be able to name all the head coaches in their elite division. It's just a social inclusiveness thing, and not for me what sport is about, so for me they aren't successful. Just rich.

Kinda left the subject of Sam Burgess behind now.

Tre cool, have you gone round and asked all 82,000 individually? didnt think so, it's just prejudice on your part. If you had you'd know that to get a ticket, you either have to be a member of a local club or a member of the supporters club at £40 a pop just to get into the ticket ballot. Thats doing more than alot of England rl 'fans' do, most of whom never turn up to games unless tickets are a tenner. And there you have the main reason why Sam left, and who can blame him.

Same can be said of the RL fraternity - teams have 20-25k fans who turn out for a CC Final or the Grand Final, yet only have an average of 9-10k turning up for home games during the season!

Theoretically this is true, however in reality it is unlikely that every single person with a ticket meets those criteria.

I know plenty of people who have been for a day at Twickers, who have never stepped inside a rugby union clubhouse, or been to a game at any level before, or could name more than a couple of players they would be watching. They went because someone had some tickets and it was an "event" or it was a day out at the rugger with the chaps, not because they have a passion for the sport of rugby union.

Lol. Are you related to Gutterfax? He's good at talking bo||ocks too.

Yes I've asked everyone that went to the last England game at Twickenham.

Ive lived in the home counties since I was 8, I went to a grammar school down here and I work for a company that has seats at Twickenham, I know a LOT of people that go to Twickenham for England games (friends/colleagues/family/neighbours) and a LOT of people that watch the England games on tv every year. And not ONE of them has any interest in their Elite competition or ever watches club ru. I know one die hard club ru fan and he doesn't watch the national team at all.

For me the bulk of ru fanbase is not an actual fan of the sport (although they may think they are). You don't get that in RL.

Seem to have got my wish. It's reported that Sam is playing the full match on Friday.

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/30383063[/url

You just don't get it do you. If you criticise rugby union in any shape or form you're just a bitter, prejudiced northerner because they can fill Twickenham.

Nope.
Claims that Sam could walk into any position he WANTS to are further proof of the bitterness held by some on here though. The fact that they can fill twickenham for internationals, as well as club double headers and even the quins Boxing Day game simply points to them being a well run sport.
Rugby league in the uk has it's own event in magic weekend.......how come we only get half the crowd quins get for their stand alone Xmas game? Is it because RL fans refute to travel too far past their own front gate unless it's included in their season ticket?
Is it because the RFU pay the bbc to
Ignore or even bury league news unless it's a negative story............a conspiracy lapped up by Williams moonie set on here

A colleague at work today described Sam's performances so far as "looking like an overgrown toddler with an "interesting tackling style"!"

Think that means they've never seen anyone want to be involved in a game for more than five minutes havent seen anyone make a proper tackle!