They've got to milk it. With Henson going dancing, Tindall being dull, and Cipriani going to Oz/looking like he wants to move to football, they've got no obvious new poster boy to focus their coverage on.

Scrums in Union are a joke... 1 in 10 actually gets the ball out to continue play without a penalty or free kick and some scrums take 4 or 5 minutes with all the re-sets... and Union fans have the cheek to take the p1ss out of League scrums!

Did you see Scotland v France? One of those had nearly 4 minutes on the scrum count. Even Jonathan Davies was getting irritated by it.

I saw one that must have been that long - ended in a penalty try for France

I gave up on the game though

A friend of mine actually watched the England v Wales game last night.
He said there where some good moments in the game and I just shook my head at him.
He is no longer a friend of mine anymore.

The fact that comments on a BBC blog about the 'pulsating' game are mainly about Chris Ashton having the audacity to 'celebrate a try' tells me everything I need to know about union.

(Why do the BBC need so many ex-players hanging around to explain the subtleties and nuances of the game? Oh.)

i swear if that pitch side reporter/interviewer lady from the BBC had banged on about chris ashtons try scoring antics one more time, id have teleported down there through force of will alone and slapped her silly.

Especially the idea that this is some kind of Rugby League celebration - the stupid swan dive in the air is and always will be a Rugby Union try scoring celebration, I can't remember a RL player doing it in the 20+ years I have been watching the game

Have to agree with Dunbar, the basic skills on show were embarrassing considering this was arguably the pinnacle of international rugby union.
Will try and catch the highlights of the other two games this week.

that game reminded me just why i stopped watching rugby union. around 20 of the first 40 minutes spent either arsing around at scrums, which then never actually happen and become penalties anyway, or watching people take and mostly miss penalty kicks. oh the excitement. a complete inability to run decent lines, draw the man and pass at the apppropriate moment, always running at defenders instead of on the outside shoulder (if your expecting to recieve the ball) and always running at defenders instead of the inside shoulder when you have the ball and an overlap outside you.
and then their are the forwards who seem to believe that everything should be reduced to a titanic and (apparently) manly struggle which involves mauling for several minutes at a time when you have a three man overlap and would walk over with one straight pass.......and then knock on, or hold onto the ball and concede posession. And yet League forwards have the reputation for being thick, brutish northerners. <sigh>

Yep. Like the guy playing for London Irish who dropped it. Never seen him play league.

Put 'London Irish missed try 18/3/07' in that video site.

His face when he drops it is class

YEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!*drops* AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

What I like best about RU, particularly the way England play it, is the forwards tow their bollox off, putting their careers on the line to win the ball off the attacking opposition only for some back or half back to punt it straight back to the opposition ...and more defending and pain for the forwards. That's gratitude is that.

nah,can't believe that ! (from a southern softie btw)

I wonder how long the scrum clock will last. Seems a very anti union thing to have.

www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 51,00.html Former Bradford Bulls winger Rikki Sheriffe has agreed to cross codes to join Newcastle on a two-year deal. Good money for Sheriffe but odd signing for 'ambitious' Newcastle.

www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 51,00.html Former Bradford Bulls winger Rikki Sheriffe has agreed to cross codes to join Newcastle on a two-year deal. Good money for Sheriffe but odd signing for 'ambitious' Newcastle.

Cata - please replace the word 'ambitious' for 'ludicrous' - he was mediocre at RL and it seems highly unlikely he will improve at RU - he is simply well,......mediocre.........and that's being kind IMO !

Rikki Sheriffe, the next Chris Ashton

more like Chris Tarrant !

Or Gareth Raynor, or Karl Pryce.

Cant see England loosing in this six nations anyway

I suspect the SANZAR nations would have something to say about that!

Paraphrasing the predictably over-excited BBC build-up.
In my personal opinion in terms of quality nothing comes close to the Tri-Nations, and that includes the world cup.

www.code13rugbyleague.com/2011/0 ... um=twitter “We have begun our negotiating with broadcasters to develop our broadcast agreements for up to five years from 2012. If you look at Rugby League as a television spectacle it shows no signs diminishing. Viewing figures of SKY Sports for Super League matches during 2010 were higher than those of the Rugby Union Premiership and there was a similar profile on the BBC for the Challenge Cup.” Rugby Football League chairman Richard Lewis.

www.code13rugbyleague.com/2011/0 ... um=twitter “We have begun our negotiating with broadcasters to develop our broadcast agreements for up to five years from 2012. If you look at Rugby League as a television spectacle it shows no signs diminishing. Viewing figures of SKY Sports for Super League matches during 2010 were higher than those of the Rugby Union Premiership and there was a similar profile on the BBC for the Challenge Cup.” Rugby Football League chairman Richard Lewis.

Rikki Sheriffe, the Credit Crunch Chris Ashton!