The reason the game enjoys a decent fair-weather interest is because in spite of how negative and lackluster the attacking play might be, there's an intensity present.

Having a 30 phase play in the opposition half, as poor as the skills on display are, as boring and uninspiring as it might be, it still gives a sense of intensity and, depending on who you're supporting, a feeling of foreboding or anticipation.

NH rugby is probably the worst in the world, but I get why some people are suckered into the product. If your team is in the opposition 20 for five minutes, it doesn't matter how many predictable pick and drives from the back of the ruck that there is, doesn't matter how crap the handling, the complete absence of rugby intelligence, it's still a situation that'll get your heart beat up if you have even 1% of a damn

Think about how you're on the edge of the seat if your team is defending or attacking on multiple repeat sets, a couple of times in a row the team is trapped in their own in goal and there's repeat sets coming from a goal line dropout. Now it could be the most uninspiring, unskilled match up that rugby league has ever seen, it could be god awful, but in that scenario there's an excitement because of the build up, the building of pressure. The longer it goes on the more nail biting it is, right?

Context is important. You could have Salford - London infront of 5,000 people and it could be free running league galore with tries and big hits all over the park, but it's still salford and london in front of 4,000 people at the end of the day. It wouldn't match a 9 - 4 forward dominated game between Leeds and St Helens in a semi final infront of a packed house.

The combination of intensity, atmosphere and sense of occasion that the Six Nations has it what sucks people in, it doesn't really matter how mind numbingly dull the rugby itself is. People tune into the Superbowl(younger people, admittedly) in a similar vein, they're attracted to the atmosphere and sense of the occasion. When you're told something is important and a big deal, they'll believe it. The Olympics is the best example of this that I can think of.

Forgot how good league is, we're missing that perceived significance.

Agreed, made a huge difference to us starting a 2nd team in my first year.

Are we all watching England on Saturday?

SRL is an excellent way tonot only introduce the game to a new audience, but also to garner a real interest and passion.

People will often go back to their home town clubs and, as I say, union will allow guys to carry on playing until they're 50. What's an important step imo is that we get Rugby League being watched on the big screen in these RU clubs.

I'd rather have my eyes poked out with rusty forks.

a fair few will......The BBC average 4.5 million viewers a game for the 6 nations and and Twickenham is rarely not sold out with 82,000 fans paying an average price of 65 quid each.....
there's no accounting for taste eh