There have been a few terrible games already this year, the standard of play is poor

I'm interested in watching teams defend.

Football isn't defending, it's tackling. It's about stopping the ball from reaching the goal and hoofing it out of the way.

Defence in RL wins field position. You can progress towards the opposition goal line by not conceding as much per defensive set as your opposition.

Who could possibly be into modern RL and not be into watching that happen?

No but you can play negatively.
Defence wins championships, scoring a few flashy tries does not

Ah so scoring more flashy tries against a tight defence than they score against you means you lose?

So you win with GOAL KICKS instead.

Interesting.

You might have something there.

I'm not sure I'd even call it negative. It's taking care of the ball vs looking for breaks, playing safe yardage sets vs throwing the ball about. Both approaches have their merits, and have times when they're the right way to play and times when they're wrong.
Likewise, it's possible to play both an attacking defensive style, and a conservative defensive style.

I remember at the DW a few years back Briers for us just hoofing the ball in touch at the end of every set of 6. THAT was negative