Rugby league ball-

Rugby union ball-

Some things have been mentioned above which makes sense as to why they seem to have better kickers but here is another one.

More tries are scored in RL than RU therefore most of the kicks in RL are from tries most of which are scored more than 10m wide of the goal making it harder to kick. Most of RU conversions are from pens not tries and most of their game is played up the middle therefore when they get a pen it is normally a more simple kick than a conversion attempt from a try in RL.

Odemwingie, Rugby Union offers 3 points for penalty kicks, so there is more incentive to kick them. The international goalkickers from the Six Nations, SA, Argentina and NZ have a better range than RL kickers, just YouTube players like Springboks Morne and Francois Steyn who can kick from their own half, or from 45 metres out near the sideline.

I think it more comes down to A) it is harder to score a try due to the number of players, the rules and the lack of creativity in players B) no one cares if they win a game by 3 kicks to 2 (can you imagine the outrage at a RL game if that was the result of 80mins of play!) and C) its called "kick and clap" for a reason!

get em' down a sea level and i bet they can't



saying that when i was 17/18 i could knock em' over from the halfway line..no problem

There is no doubt, across the board, RU kickers are better.

It is simply a matter of putting more importancve on that part of the game in training.
The odd one or two in Rugby League prove very skillful and can compete in the stats but in a consistancy test RU would be better.

I think Rugby League has a lot to learn from the kicking techniques in Union and the kiking coaches they emply.......however, if it's a choice, I'd rather see tries than goals!

Kicking is much more a priority in union than league. When union changed tries to 5 points they should have just reduced all kicks to 2. the 5 point try has had very little effect on the game.
Also with 15 players it is easy to hide a poor rugby player but excellent kicker in a team.

It's not so much the goalkicking that they are better but rather drop goals, Generally when you get a one point game in league some of the drop goal attempts are pretty woeful whereas in union they seem to boom them over from a long way out. Again when they're worth 3 points I suppose they pratice them a lot more.

I know at Hull kr we must have the worst drop out kickers in the league, from under our sticks we're lucky to get the ball 35 yards.

Could there be a more boring video

No but there is a shorter one.

It's Johnny Wilkinsons tries.

There's a video out there somewhere of the great French RL player Puig Aubert kicking a goal from the corner flag.

Hazem Elmasri kicked one the other day from the sideline ,and you wouldn't believe it, it went straight between the post..

... while smoking a fag.

Probably.

It's not a like for like comparison at all. The ball is a different shape. The Steeden ball used in the NRL and SL is shorter, pointier and lighter than a regulation rugby union ball. An AFL ball is even easier to kick accurately and further, being rounder and inflated to a higher pressure, whereas american football goes the other way - it's difficult to kick accurately (in spite of the fact that they keep aside a box balls just for kicking in the NFL).

Of course you could make the same argument for the superior handling skills of our players - it's easier to slip out a one-handed pass with our smaller ball.

Dave Alred who was the RFU and Saint Jonny's kicking coach for many years (and also Lions, Wallabies etc.) is of course a former RL player, having turned out for the previous pro RL team in Bridgend and Cheltenham in the early days of amateur RL in the midlands.

Yes. Kicks from the touchline are fairly common. Kicks from the corner flag? ie, on the touchline [iand[/i the tryline?


ps: How long has El Masri been one word?

All the ball dimension facts and picking specific goal kickers in rugby league simply proves that RU are better. You are trying too hard to prove the point.
The more you practise the better you will be. RU penalties are a much bigger part of the game than they are in League.
I hope it is no surprise to anyone that the are better scrummagers than us too, and pretty good at lineouts.

.....and I'm ok with that.
Let them have the kicking practise. I'd rather have someone who can actually pass a ball and make a tackle.
Kicking is an important part of Rugby League and should practised to the point of excellence ......along with tackling, defensive strategy, passing long, passing short, etc etc.
Rugby union kickers are almost like the special team in American Football. That's not what I pay to see.

Played Union at Full Back for many years.
As a result, I can say that I could probably(at 44yrs of age) still Kick a ball further out of my hands for touch or a 40/20 further than any current Superleage player.
As for place kicking, specialist place kickers in Union are a vital part of the team as they produce most of the points scored in a game in most instances.
Examples
NZ v Australia last weekend...37 points, 32 from the boot 86%
2 weeks earlier, SA vAustralia...46 points, 31 from the boot 67%
Week before, SA vNZ, 50 points 40 from the boot 80%

League on the other hand...
Australia v NZ 48 points, 12 from the boot 25%
NZ v Aust 54 points 12 from the boot 22%.

Most NRL kickers are kicking at 80-90% success rate. Is RU much more than that?

You make a good point about the percentage of points by kicks
........but better than any current superleague player is quite a boast

Used to be able to Kick from inside the 25yrd line to the opposite corner flag and it wasn't down to strength, just putting the right spiral on the ball. Annoys me that RL players don't seem to be able to gain more than 30 yrds from penalties to touch. If you get a penalty in your own 20, the least you should be looking for is a PTB in your opponents 20.......
As for current kickers in SL.....I am pretty sure I would give them a run for their money.

sounds enthralling!

do people realise that every try is followed by a kick at goal?

GF you should be on at half time at Quins when they do there kicking game you would be a winner if your as good as you talk.
It is a question that everyone asks why dont they kick further for touch? but then we would be the first when we kicked it and it didnt go out to say why didnt he just go for the safer option. Also i think they only make 20m or so because they get to do a new set of 6 and be more creative because they have space where as if they kicked to the opp 10 they would have too much pressure in front of the line of a rushing defence