Will they though? The dilemma between centre and back row is a real one. I think he will end up playing at centre for England but I don't think he'll excel there. Plenty of blood and thunder which will please some but not really a creative force. Neither does he have a kicking game. Flanker has to be a better bet but to those not too [iau fait[/i with the subtleties of union (and I include at least 50% of the average Twickenham crowd here) the perception will be of a bloke paid an absolute bundle to lift the jumpers, tackle, ruck and maul. That's if they notice him at all.

RL has been around for 120 years - how long a game to you want to play?

Part of the success to Sky viewing figures is that there are fans of the game that are not or ever have lived in the 'heartlands'.

Accessibility has stopped the growth of the game, just dumping a team in say Nottingham won't suddenly reap any reward either.
Bring games, even if it is only a couple a year, to these areas with the established teams, market them and try to bring in those that are interested but not interested enough to drive 200 mile round trips for something they are not sure about.

I say this only because of the uneven fixture list, kill 2 birds with one stone.

^ This.

Without SL teams and the RFL dedicating time and effort at Grassroots level whats the point? Get the teams going into development areas with workshops / training sessions / coaching lessons for team managers / player facetime with the local teams / Academy games / Under 19's etc against local academys / teams really push the boat out and make a big effort to be seen in the community and to be investing time and effort into these areas, hearts and minds if you will.

Once a certain level of interest is generated, then a SL game can be set up to be taken to them, the usual kids in free, discounts for local club teams etc. With "Every, Minute. Matters" these games can be billed as a serious event, instead of a half assed friendly with as much passion as a wet dishrag.

To do this we as a game need to seriously start pulling in the same direction. That means stop the petty squabbling and start forming close bonds between the amateur scene and the profesional. Say what you want about RU but their club network at grassroots is lightyears ahead of what we have even at some profesional teams.

We have a really great sport, very marketable (in the right hands) and loads of potential. Nothing will ever be acheived while one set of local businessmen argue with other areas local businessmen over nothing, while the governing body makes descisions to try and placate and please everyone and end up pleasing no one. Pick a battle, fight it then move on to the next, dont jump around every other year with a new gimmick / league structure etc.

damned right! absolute stormer of a game. tackled everything and anything put in front of him. the issue i have with the anti-union brigade on here is that they have no idea about how to play the game, yet feel that its a crap game.
its not league, there for its not about breaking tackles and getting 50 meters down the field to score a try. union is much more of a team effort.
the stuff that goes on in the ruck will have flown you guys by. the ones who say chris robshaw is a crap player, but the stuff he does in the ruck makes him an exceptional player and most RU games are won there.
either watch the game with your eyes fully open then comment on it, or dont bother!

as for why hes gone to bath, well as pointed out, its a lovely city, 3rd in my eyes to salisbury and york as great places to visit. im sure the money didnt put him off, but to say that a man youve never met "only went for the cash" is silly. he has a chance to play in a sport that famous.

last big RL headline? ben flower punch (god knows when last one before that was)
last big RU headline? eng beating the aussies.

says it all.

Actually the last big RL headline was England losing to New Zealand, which was also a big RU headline in the last few weeks.

england losing to NZ at league was not a big headline, as stated the only big headline for RL lately was Flowers punch

And probably before that our man Zak.
Bit of a pattern there don`t you think?

haha, was that on the BBC news at 6? no, no it wasnt. the only press we get is bad press.

Just because the national media ignore Rugby League doesn't mean Rugby League hasn't had any big news stories since the GF. If you base your news intake purely on what you see on national TV news then you will be getting a particularly skewed and very superficial view of the world. Which might explain a lot actually.

Now THAT is a huge mystery which not even the most professional of marketing experts have been able to solve to date.

Draw a circle of 30 miles radius around Leeds, then pull the eastern side right out to the coast and the northern side right up to Teeside - its a big area isn't it - now count up the number of amateur Union clubs inside that stretched circle, I'd be surprised if there were less than 50, not even surprised if there were 100.

Do Leeds market to all of these clubs - absolutely yes.
Do they give financial incentives for these clubs to sell tickets - absolutely yes.
Do they give away free tickets to juniors, run training sessions with juniors, send along first team players to prize presentations, rotate dozens of junior teams for half time tag games and bring-along-your-parents sessions - absolutely yes.

And yet you can still go to home games and find that 50% of the crowd are the parents of the kids who played at half time, its completely baffling why the RU community inside that stretched circle just will not support a professional team - now compare to Newcastle where a similar take over of two well known amateur teams were funded by a wealthy local businessman for the purpose of buying into the new professional RU closed shop that was the Premiership, and for some strange reason, it worked.

I played Union for years, up to a half decent standard.

It's a great game to play.

It's sh|t to watch and, despite improvement, still has very mediocre tackling, passing, handling and attacking movement skills, even at international level.

opinions are like s, everybody has one, mediocre tackling you obviously didn,t wales vs boks on saturday, ferocious tackling and hitting. brad barrit having stitches on his stitches for england, never understand why some league fans seem to belittle union, you don't see much of the reverse from union fans, small man syndrome maybe ps i love both games but prefer top class league to union