In all seriousness I think the time has come for both codes to amalgamate. Come under one banner of 'Rugby'.

The hybrid rules should be 4 points for a try, 2 for a conversion, 1 point for a drop goal, 5 tackles and a play the ball (defence 10 metres back), no line outs, 13 players a side and uncontested scrums.

I know I'm going out on a whim with all the die hards but I think the time has come, thoughts?

Have we met?

It will never catch on, when do the forwards get to lie down for a cuddle and a rest?

During the WC I chatted to more than several Tarquins who hadn't a clue what they were about to see (the walk down to the Leyther's ground sticks in the mind with a bunch of students "down from London" - why is it always "down" from London - I digress - & me & a bunch of others explaining the rules).

I wonder what's been done to cultivate those who were seeing the game for the first time. Or is it the depressing fact that the RFL have lost the initiative yet again & any converts have been left wanting & will simply gravitate back to the better organised & promoted (if mind-numbingly tedious) other code.
Not helped of course by the Barnet Pony Club being the only example south of Warrington they've got as reference.

I think if he's in with a shout he'll be in RU for the 2017 Lions tour to NZ. You ask most British and Irish internationals and they will place a Lions cap above any other they can achieve and to be a winning Lion would give you legend status for life in RU circles.

This.

There is more to this than just the player and any ambitions he may have. He may not even make it at RU.

Someone earlier said he's on £2m a year. Seems rather high to me but if he is they all can't be on that and it is a huge investment in the player. I reckon it has as much to do with publicity and selling the game as it does enhancing England's chances in the RU World Cup.

The NRL was not powerless to resist the approach financially. Their salary cap like RU doesn't count sponsorship.

It is a lack of willingness to pay your best stars just for being a star that makes the game open to such approaches.

It has not exactly gone down a storm with other RU clubs (but I expect them to close ranks) and it might not have done with other NRL clubs if his current NRL club had continued to benefit from his services due to a special sponsorship deal or whatever.

The difference is one sport clearly doesn't care about such things.

I've heard Owen Farrell is on around £200,000 a year plus £200,000 a year England Central Contract plus his third party sponsorship deals. Looking like £500,000 a year and he's a young lad although still an England regular, his club wages will rise overtime.

Agreed. Why not th top 4 from SL and top 4 from the NRL have a knockout tournament at the end of each season, or something of that nature. Like a champions league type tournament.

Remember you don’t even have to win your own domestic league in footy to be champions of Europe. So why not do something similar with the WCC?

I think that would be great for the game if we staged it @ Wembley similar to the RLWC semis for the Big Hit fixtures.

This would definitely be a step in the right direction.

That sort of money ought not to be out of the question in the NRL. Or even here given the ruling only £100K of a home grown players wage counts on the cap.

As Farrell is an England player he is the exception rather than the rule and there are not many England players.

So the fact we don't as a sport seem to want to protect Burgess and others from them is our own fault. Bath have not signed Burgess to play just for Bath and I doubt any RU club would be able to afford him if it were not for the England angle and the cash that brings.

This is not the same as us not being able to hold onto Sam because an NRL[u club[/u had more money.

It's rather worrying to wonder just how much RU central contracts can draw on. As you rightly say, the English RU clubs could never afford to do it on their own.

Some of these younger players now (or the most talented anyway) have new options open to them that their predecessors can only dream about:

[uOption 1[/u

=#800000£ SL Only - up to £100k pa
No money received from central funding, no sponsorship deals of note.

Players - Matty Smith, Sean O'Loughlin, Liam Farrell.


[uOption 2[/u

=#800000£££ SL ---> NRL - up to £200k pa
No money received from central funding, additional sponsorship deals available to supplement income.

Players - Lee Mossop, Sam Tomkins*, James Graham.


[uOption 3[/u

=#800000££££ SL ---> RU - up to £350k pa
Central funding & sponsorship deals available to supplement income.

Players - Joel Tomkins, Kyle Eastmond, Chris Ashton.


[uOption 4[/u

=#800000£££££ SL ---> NRL ---> RU - up to £500k pa
Central funding & sponsorship deals available to supplement income.

Sam Burgess, *(Sam Tomkins tipped to follow)


Any young player coming through now may have previously had aspirations only to play in SL (Option 1) with limited income over a ten year period. Over the last few years sports agencies have been signing these young players up and giving them the best opportunity to increase their income once established in Super League.

You can't blame the players, but as a sport we now don't stand a chance.

I think RU fans are similar to Cricket fans which I include myself in. I go to England cricket matches but I have never been to a domestic match. Why? Because its boring and nonnof the so called stars or top players play in these games. I find England RU and England Cricket tend to contract the players to the international side more so than clubs. England RU is more of a club ran organisation rather than an international team.

When England take on the Kangaroos and Kiwis in the 4 Nations later this year in Australia, Burgess will be playing for Bath, so is it money or love of playing for his country ?

for me its no coincidence that he has signed a 3 year contract, they have a world cup, olympic 7's, Lions Test all coming up in the next 3 years and not to forget they have 6 nations every year. If transitions as he should he will become famous in the uk and will go back to sydney its clearly a handshake deal rusty has agreed to.

The question is be asking myself if I were Sam Burgess would be

"Do I want to be half recognised as a minor sporting celebrity e.g Keiron Bracken, Darren Gough, Phil Tuffnell and appear on crap reality TV shows as way of earning more money once I retire or do I want to be recognised as an immortal/legend in the sport that gave me all the opportunities available to me and the sport I love?"

You shouldn't just make a decision based on purely the financial benefit otherwise your doing it for the wrong reason.

An old bloke once said to me " find a job that you love and you'll never have to 'work' a day in your life again.

And if I were Sam and Rugby Union asked me to sign I'd say "I'd rather suck John Hopoates fingers"

True about the "never work a day in your life" but it boils down to another famous quote "money talks"

It is an option though, what do you do after your finish? RU is a better option to have a better life due to the media attention and the fact that southern buisness men will employ ex rugby players as PR men on vgood salaries. Its a shame that some make a decision on rugby that is made for after the finish.

He won't need to work when his RL playing days are over, he's on enough money now to be set for life when he stops playing asking as he invests it either in a business, shares, bonds, houses, etc

That is the real issue facing RL in the UK now. RFL needs to allow clubs to bring in 1 player exempt from the cap with the club having proof it can pay the wages for that season without going bust. 4 or 5 clubs are in the position to do this including us. IL does not want to increase the cap but he is not a poor man by a long way. Tight maybe but not stupid.

But this is the problem we are not playing by the top sides rules we are playing by the teams mid table and lower. We pay what they can afford to keep up with and we lose too many good players to RU and NRL.

Could you imagine the interest of SBW - Salford, Sam Tomkins - Wigan, James Graham - Saints with both Leeds and Giants taking a player from the NRL. Way more publicity and a better competition. But as i said SL is played at the financial level of Widnes, Bradford, Hull KR etc. Unless they get the house in order SL will be the same as it is now in 10 years time.

Let the richer clubs get 1 exempt from NRL and get 2 exempt from the cap if they are trained by the clubs as juniors onwards and then bring in a 2 million cap. The clubs who can not afford the 1.6 million now would be in the same boat as they are now struggling. But it would give the top sides a chance to stop the players leaving for more money. Its not about the challenge if that was true then why did players like Peacock, Cunningham, Long etc not to go the NRL when it was obviously a better competition. RFL needs to wake up.

I just think the cap should be scrapped all together. The only cap should be on imports in order to promote the youth systems at each club. Big mouth he has but Marwan has a point - let the clubs pay the players what is affordable. Sod those who can't keep up.

I'm not sure if its been mentioned but on sky sports it says the details about the 4nations are to be released soon, also plans are in place to have a british lion tour in 2016......maybe the rfl are finally starting to listen to the fans afterall?

Or maybe they've just realised they are staring into an abyss. If so, it's about time.

Most of the points are well made on here but I'd love to see the workings of how Union and League go about putting in the foundations for success.

Sam Burgess may very well be moving for the money. However, it would not be too radical to suggest he might very well be doing it because England RU have a much greater chance of international success in an important tournament (e.g. World Cup).

Some have mentioned scrapping the Salary Cap and allowing endorsements/central funding. Would that make much difference? This is a game whose elite league in GB struggled to replace Engage with a title sponsor and most of the club's, even the bigger ones, don't have national or internationally recognised companies investing. The games finances are precarious at club level for several teams and the rising of the Salary cap would distort the league.

Another point well made was the lack of interest in the Aviva Premiership in terms of attendances. For a game that can virtually guarantee a sellout at Twickenham for international's it doesn't get football crowds for its domestic game. If we follow the central contract route we may improve internationally but it will be to the detriment to the Super League, which is really the main interest for RL fans in the UK.

We need an approach where we promote the areas of the heartlands and give as much money, infrastructure & communication as possible. We need more ex-players involved in the development of players, not for one club, but as a central RFL pool - a centre of excellence similar to Wigan' s Central Park but on a greater scale. The club's keep their academies and developmental areas and offer advice, coaching, scouting etc to help maximise potential.

The game needs selling at grassroots level with some level of confidence and security, whilst putting in real work on finding potential areas of development beyond the heartlands with investment from local authorities and businesses for local clubs to set up and links with Championship and SL clubs to offer a breakthrough scheme for players.

All of this can be offered to sponsors bigger than we currently have as a community, healthy sport with the potential to earn money.

This is being done I'm sure, but to what extent I'd love to know.

The problem doesn't just lie with the lower clubs. Our own chairman has publicly stated his opposition to raising the cap.