FWIW, this was sent to people who bought tickets for the RUWC at the Olympic Stadiumhttp://i.imgur.com/xWB7mpJ.jpg" >

Doubt it was the RFU directly, and initially thought the RFL had bought the mailing list, but judging by the links at the bottom it's whatever third party company was doing the RUWC ticket sales.

^
That's interesting

No argument against any prior posts really...

But I feel quite upbeat at the moment - despite the RFL being absolutely useless - I think the sheer quality of our game is gaining growth in recognition.

Every day brings a Sam Burgess mention and a twitter rush - and every time he is talked about - so is Rugby League.

RL gets mentioned on Radio 2 via Simon Mayo and this morning Sean O'Loughlin was on the Chris Evans show.

Ticket sales for the internationals are healthy, the product has once again delivered (so far) and there is a passion in the crowd for our national team.
(I know it didn't come over on TV - but I was there and it was great to see and be part of)

And finally, I think its dawning on some (but never admitted in public) - that the Sam Burgess story so far proves that;

The level and intensity that Sam played at with Rabbitohs was far above the levels he needed to drop to for England RU.

In other words - he had to go backwards - and thats just not Sam.

While the media, Inverdale and their ilk had a field day - I think they have made themselves look s.

Unlike some other failed moves to RU, Sam's abilities have been well and articulately documented by Russell Crowe - plain for all to see.

You could watch RU for 10 years and not see the likes!

And now Slammin Sam heads back to Sydney - Rugby League is all over the news headlines today - could he be playing against the Kiwis on Saturday?

Radio 2 are leading with this story right now..

Well that's not a surprise. His Autobiography will make good reading when he brings it out.

"Homesick". FFS.

Diplomatic though

Why didn't he sign for us. What has Sydney got over Bradford..........................Er, maybe not!

Sounds better than "treated like crap".

As I suggested earlier, I firmly believe that some people within the halls of "HQ" were secretly hoping for a failure from England so that they could blame the "convert". He was a dead man walking from the start and I am not surprised he has gone back to a game and a team where he is appreciated and adored.

Sam Burgess did not cost England a shot at the RUWC whatsoever. It was caused by a mixture of arrogance, bad decision making and pre-historic tactics that tend to avoid doing the things that often helps win games of rugby - scoring tries.

Despite playing all the meaningful games at home, they lost two out of three (scoring a massive 2 tries in the process against the bigger nations of Australia and Wales) and, quite frankly, are nowhere near as good as they think they are.

Every tournament with an England team (in any sport) is the same. They get over-hyped by the media, balls it up, then the same media point the finger of blame at someone in order to "save face." Burgess was the obvious and easiest target as he was not an Old Etonian.

He is absolutely spot on. England Rugby Union have always been an utterly loathsome organisation. This is an association that continued to make a drug supplier their captain and still employ him in some capacity. They look after their own and seem to have deep suspicion of all "incomers".

Unions' loss is Leagues' gain.

Unsurprisingly, it hasn't taken Sam long to start to reveal what we all knew"That was an upsetting factor to me; that people who are supposed to love the game are actually tearing it to shreds," he wrote, in a column for The Daily Mail.

"I felt like certain people didn’t want England and Stuart Lancaster to succeed. They were after him — so aggressively. He could never do a thing right, no matter what. I was right in the middle of that and it is unbelievable. It’s not a productive place to be.

"Some ex-players just kept letting rip. It was a losing battle from day one. I couldn’t believe it. It’s almost like they don’t want anyone else to do well in the jersey.

"That’s definitely the feeling I got in rugby union. And since the tournament, there have been players coming out in the press, leaking stories.

"I find that really disappointing and I didn’t want to stay in a sport like that. It makes it harder to build on when people from the inside are crumbling."'"

Don't sell the game short it's quite big in Auckland as well! Though admitted last season the Warriors and Sam -" I will stand around at the back" Tompkins did not set the world on fire, but the Kiwi's stuffing the Aussies this year was major news. I watched most of the RUWC matches mainly as it is against the law not to in NZ and did think most of the 2nd tier nations would be more suited to playing RL - especially the Japanese and the Islanders. Interestingly apart from celebrating the AB's win down here the main talk was if the Springboks had gone all Hansie Cronje in their first match?

"A bomb placed under the West Stand at Twickenham would set back the cause of British fascism by 50 years" - Philip Toynbee.

When I read his column in the Mail and he mentioned ex-players having 'agendas' I thought what an odd turn of phrase. As if they wanted him and England to do badly rather than them pointing out the absurdity of picking him in the first place. I got the weirdest feeling of deja vu. Like I was on this board 6 years ago when anyone who suggested the club was a plane crash waiting to happen was judged to be part of conspiracy with Chris Caisley in an 'agenda' to destroy the club.