I assume you are being pedantic and not just thick

It's sport and can be both boring and exhilarating. I have seen plenty of boring leagues games too. Many of the greatest players (meaning rugby players for the pedants ) in League's history came from Union where they learnt and displayed their skills.

Since becoming professional Union has progressed in leaps and bounds and has transformed itself from being essentially just a players game into a leading spectator sport. The pro-players are now athletically fit with high skill levels which cover a much wider range than league players.

Union allows contest for possession at all stages and this is one of the reasons the public (sporting - public please note!) prefer it to League. Rugby Union does not just appeal to rugby fans but the big games attract a lot of fans from other sports and is played in many more countries than League.

My own preference is for league but I also have a great love of Union. Although they are different games they both are handling games that share many of the same skills. Attacking back play in both games is very similar which I along with the majority of rugby fans can appreciate.

I don't understand people who cannot watch the two codes of rugby without trying to compare one to the other, they are different games played to different rules with different tactics and different field positions, the points scoring is different, the number of players on the pitch is different, set moves during the game are different and the whole emphasis of both codes are different.

The ball is the same shape - maybe thats what is confusing all of you ?

Loyal Leeds Fan wroteJust watched the last 20 minutes when he came on, and in that time he touched the ball only twice. Completely boring, genuinely no idea why people find Union entertaining. I hope he himself gets bored and comes back.[/i"

The point I responded to was "[igenuinely no idea why people find Union entertaining"[/i

If you are to make a sweeping criticism of a whole sport based on a 20 minute period of play then be prepared to remain in the dark. I believe you need to watch a whole match before making negative comments and I believe you should watch a whole lot of matches to at least appreciate the differences before writing off a whole sport. Both codes of rugby have their fans and critics and of course it is up to individual taste but like it or not Union has a greater following in this country and around the world.

I do not agree with your logic as many league games contain periods of sometime longer than 20 minutes where it is "drab, dull and tedious to watch" That does not make it follow that all of of League is "drab, dull and tedious to watch" There has been much criticism on this board of many recent SL games that are regarded by many as pointless and lacking in entertainment value but no need to write off the whole of SL!

Are you saying League has a greater following than Union?

Sorry. I promise not to forget next time

I think from a league eye, it can often be very frustrating to watch RU because of those differences. The limited tackles in RL make teams take a few more risks and push the boundries a little more whilst in RU it can often be a more gradual attempt to attain dominance. I've enjoyed a few RU games and don't really get in to blaming them for all our ills or thinking it is some kind of conspiracy that they are popular. But I've also watch a lot of games and been incredibly frustrated at what seem huge RL gaps being missed, that some of the more basic skills we take for granted in RL aren't quite there in RU not because of a lack of quality in those players but because different skills are prioritised. For instance, to an RL seeing a player make a break and then look for contact seems ridiculous, it seems a huge waste and terrible play. In RU they need to avoid being isolated and not exploiting the break in the same way is probably the better play.

As I say, im not really trying to get in to criticising RU because they are different and independent games, I can however see how some of those differences can appear very negative to an RL eye.

Saying that, a set piece heavy RU game like we saw last night can be particularly boring. That game was not a good example of RU or sport in general.

As a fan of both codes - I prefer league but both are better than soccer - I can go to a game of rugby league & see pretty clearly just about everything that happens in a game.
When I've been to spectate at a game of union, because so much of the action is at close quarters amongst a melee of players (scrum, ruck, maul, lineout), I've found it much more difficult to see with any certainty exactly what's going on.
On tv I can see much more clearly what's going on in the Union game. I still, however, find many of the refereeing decisions hard to fathom - much more so than in RL - when does someone get penalised for going off their feet at a ruck compared to penalising the attacking player for holding on to the ball? Why did side A get penalised for taking the scrum down or not pushing straight at the scrum? Those are just 2 of many instances where the referees make judgment calls that in my view could easily go the other way.
Generally matters are much clearer cut in RL.

Just one other point that should be of concern - if the experiences at our local club are anything to go by there is and has been for some time a flow of young amateur talent from League to Union, the most common reason mentioned is that they have "done it all in League" by the time they are in mid-teens.

I can certainly see what they mean in an amateur game which you may have played for up to ten years and where the simple structure is quite predictable, "six tackles and a kick" is usually used in a derogatory sense but in many ways its also a truism.

Moving the youth level of amateur RL to summer is going to enable more kids to play both codes and switch between them at will.

Social rugby union does have an edge over amateur RL though, in terms of the atmosphere it's played in. It's a difficult task to convince kids who are used to being looked after in the way local RU clubs do to go to some of the places amateur RL is played and experience the hideous environment of intimidation.

Union is e I have no interest in it what so ever it has nothing in common with RL appart from a common ancestry and the name rugby. Rather watch cricket, and that's saying something.

You're not intelligent enough to watch cricket.

Have you tried darts instead?

When I first came over here a man approached me hearing my accent and I said no I'm not I Irish I'm English lol, oh he said have you been watching the 6 nations wonderful excitement heh? I coach college rugby. I said no my game is Rugby League and I didn't have time to explain why I prefer RL and point out the differences before he went into a tirade against our game as unintelligent ,unattractive and the proof of the pudding one one plays it over here.Now someone must have filled his head with that kind of lucre considering he couldn't differentiate a northern English accent from Irish.I finished up telling him he would get a coaching job in Britain you've no RL Experience.Some of the stuff he came out with must have come from RU propaganda. He did say something that made me think he said RL is too similar to NFL

The England-Aus game hasn't been bad. Australia have been so much better with the ball, but haven't been clinical, both their SHs were 5hite as well I thought, and although their forwards are terrific ball carriers they're awful at the line out, and the scrum in particular. People talk about contested scrums and although I'd like to see contested scrums in RL I'd hate for scrums to be policed like they are in union.