1 try in 240mins of rugby, Jonny Wilkinson going for a drop goal whilst 6-16 down and being camped in New Zealands 10. Yet 85,000 muppets turn up and watch this negative borefest.

yeah but a drop goal in union is worth 12 points isn't it?

You would think so wouldn't you, the way they always seem to go for them instead of a try, the game against Aus a few weeks back, Wilkinson kicked one after 90 seconds, thats ambition.

shocking

Two games in the Guinness Premiership last night.
One finished 12 - 9 the other 12 - 12.

Not a try scored

Interesting thread. Tends to show that League fans like to talk about the other code on RL Fans fora from time to time, largely to marvel about how poor it is, and the amazing attendances such a dull spectacle attracts. Glad it's not just me.

Rugby League Fans dissing Rugby Union???....That's an original topic...



If you don't like it or get it, don't bother watching it, simple....Plenty of other folk do.

Similarly, I think F1 is the biggest bore-fest on earth, and often do all I can to avoid any media which promotes it...I suggest those complaining on this thread do the same with Rugby Union.

If you don't like this thread don't bother reading it, quite simple really.

I'm just slightly bemused that every so often we get this tedious cock-measuring exercise of 'my code's better than your code'.

As you correctly pointed out in your original post, 85,000 people are happy enough to regularly watch this sport, so it must have some appeal???

Come on, there must be wrong with the majority of people who watch RU, the negative tactics are unbelivable at times, drop goals 2mins into games, 2 tryless matches in last nights league games. If RU folk are happy with that, they need there head testing. I'm not sure what the admission prices are for RU games, but if its over £5 i'd want a refund for the dross thats served up.

You're making the usual mistake of comparing it with Rugby League's basketball-style try fests, which even though to us fans are entertaining, can be construed by others as a bit tedious, because the act of scoring a try can become devalued because it happens so often.

Its important to note that to some people, the skill of scoring a drop goal is as difficult as scoring a try.....Whilst I don't neccessarily agree with this, I have to admit that the Wilkinson World Cup winning drop goal is up there with ANY sporting moment for sheer quality and nerve.

Its the negative tactics which i really have a gripe with, 16-6 down, the oppisition on the rack, and what does Wilkinson do? goes for a drop goal (which he missed, even though he was near enough right in front of the sticks) Under Clive Woodward, England were actually very entertaining and scored tries for fun.

Dont know how much league you watch but it aint always a try fest there are often very tight close games and they are still very exciting games as they dont turn the game into a tennis match just kicking the ball full back to full back

Probably seen more than you...



Also, not all Rugby Union matches are tryless bore-fests.

Look, I enjoy Rugby League very much, but I wouldn't go kidding myself that all Rugby League matches are thrill-a-minute...There must be some games on Sky that get the neutral quickly reaching for the remote, in the same way that some people on here do with Union.

As I said earlier, I can't stand F1, but I have to accept its appeal just by the huge crowds that turn up to watch....I think folk on here have to do the same with Rugby Union.

Just shows how embarrasing league fans are that they couldn't even get 20,000 to watch some proper English talent like Tomkins and Eastmond giving it to the New Zealanders.

But the league fans will have the same excuse "the RFL didn't market it properly" despite the fact there's at least 100000 fans who attend club games regularly who would have to have been living on Mars not to know the league internationals were on.

This apart from the fact it is about 3 times as expensive to watch the RU team!

I think this forum is a fair enough place to slag rugby Union Off, I watch a few minutes of Union here and there to see what the standards are, as I am genuinely interested, and I'm afraid the basic rugby Skills of running and passing the ball are down there with Junior rugby League standards....

There is no doubt when it comes to two 6ft 7 players lifting another 6 footer high to reach a thrown ball they are very good but I keep tuning in to expect to see some kind of Rugby and I am always dissapointed.....

for example Albi V Perpignan last night:
Perpignan down by one point in the last few seconds they win a scrum penalty somehow and get posession on their own 40 and I think ooh great ... a chip over the top ...? spray it wide through hands....? a deep kick and chase........? nah a drop off to a forward who trundled it into the ruck, tackled game over........

for F's sake....

To be fair its only been in recent years that league has pulled away from union in terms of basic skills. In years gone past Warrington used to sign fat Welsh RU players who were only coming to league for money, and they were regarded as some of our best players in some cases even greats. A lot of guys who couldn't quite make it to the top in RU used to come to league to get a chance, Matthew Ridge was a second stringer on the fringes of the All Blacks but in league he became the Kiwis all time points scorer, same with Ricky Stuart who was Nick Farr-Jones understudy but came to league and was considered an all time great of the game.

Nowadays with the improvements in skill levels of the modern game league has started to produce elite athletes of its own like Chev Walker, Karl Pryce etc so the boot is on the other foot and union wants our players, but for many years we trailed in their shadow for skills.

The RL guys never had a chance. RU is far too technical for simple things like passing.

your right He should have stayed in rugby Union and played for the Queenbeyan Whites union side.... I mean Why move to a Rugby League club that was chock full of losers like Laurie Daley, Mal Menninga, Gary Belcher, Chikka Ferguson and Bradley Clyde.......

I'm sure Nick Farr jones has an equally impressive CV......

And Ricky stuart played League as a kid first and then moved to Union but I'm sure you knew that you Cheeky monkey...


oh and.......Matthew Ridge moved to League just before John Gallagher did which one went on To be a League legend again....

The 2 matches on TV yesterday were absolutely dire. Wilkinson's drop goal attempt at 6-16 was a really poor option and the team's overall discipline was very poor. Having watched all 3 of the England games I'm of the opinion that the hooker Dylan Hartley is a liability and would be very much at home in our 70's-80's Biff side. The current RU rules don't exactly help with the advantage invariably given to the defence at the breakdown.
One thing that I did notice was that the standard of passing is very poor. The Australian team (against Scotland) bombed 5-6 tries through poor passing and as a result were beaten by a Scotland team that hardly played a single minute of positive Rugby.

I quite enjoy watching RU International matches, and agree with a previous poster about the thrill of Wilkinson's drop goal in the World Cup final.
But I was watching Scotland and whoever yesterday, and was disappointed by Scotland's only tactic which appeared to be get in the other half and win a penalty.
If the Aussies had a goalkicker of even mediocre quality, they would have walked away with the game.
Surely the rules need to be changed to prevent this ping pong rugby farce of kicking back and to?
And can we stop this knocking of each others codes simply because RL fans are jealous of the coverage and marketing of RU, and RU fans are jealous that RL fans see far more open play and tries than they do?
Both codes are still better that football!

I think you have just defined 'the' difference between the two codes. RL is all about gaining possession for territory to score tries. RU is about gaining territory to induce a penalty or be in range of dropping a goal. As long as RU rewards drop goals/penalties with three points, the emphasis will remain on scoring penalties and drop goals.

We can probably learn from RU's current 'entertainment' problems. A couple of years ago a lot of rules were changed after pressure from the Southern Hemiphere Unions. The changes didn't work and they've now reverted back to most of the original rules which has confused the players and made for an even more sterile game. The moral is don't mess about with the laws too much.

I think in RU they should play with a square ball.

I think they should have a goalkicking contest (say 10 kicks at goal each) If it's a draw at the end of that, then they play a game of rugby.

It could save an awful lot of boredom.