Havent watched a union game for years, people kept saying it had become closer to RL and was more open. Being on my sick bed I was flicking and thought I'd take a look, will come back in another few years to see if it's got any better.

It's absolutely tragic, but unfortunately it's true.

And the corollary of that is, we won't make great inroads into union's popularity by tweaking and 'improving' our own product (even if we were able to do so).

Everyone in my office is talking about the RUWC right now. None of them show any interest in the sport at any other time of year. In fact, not being funny, I reckon I know a damn more about RU than most of them do.

That's like someone watching the first ten minutes of Widnes v Hull KR and deciding that all of rugby league is terrible, played on plastic pitches in front of half-empty, soulless stadiums.

The Super 15 and Rugby Championship in the southern hemisphere have moved substantially closer to RL, with a focus on avoiding taking the ball into contact and a move away from setpiece-based game plans. Sadly, as in RL, the northern hemisphere is lagging behind in that transformation and persists on playing forward based styles primarily based on the fact it's still a winter sport and is often played in conditions that don't encourage an expansive game.

The Japanese are probably the closest thing this World Cup has to an RL side, simply because their setpieces don't match up to the big teams so they have to be more expansive with the ball and keep it in play for as long as possible.

So people told you that RU had stopped doing mauls, line-outs, scrums, etc? If not, why were you surprised that RU still did them?

Japan Rugby are more like a 7s side than a RL side, Japans 15s and 7s sides interchange and work together a lot.

You probably do but so what? That's how you attract new fans into the game (sorry, 'product').

RU's marketing is very good and professional. As JBDU says, it has to be because the RU product on the field is very poor. Similar to McDonalds I guess; fantastic marketing makes it the most popular restaurant in the world even though the grub's not up to much. But we've always known that - put 15 monkeys on the field and Twickers would still be full. Even then, it's easy to say that we could learn from RU as regards marketing - but it's not quite so easy without their money. The lesson really is that international sport is bought into by the general population. Old Trafford full for the RL World Cup Final in 2013 even though England weren't playing. The RL authorities should just announce that there will be an RL World Cup very two years (alternating between Southern and Northern Hemispheres). Then, just work hard to make it happen and see where we are a generation down the track.

Just a couple of bits I have caught of the RUWC show that it's still pretty amateurish on the field despite it being 20 years since the passing of Shamateurism. In a RU match yesterday, there was a perfect example of what constitutes a double movement. The ref gave the try immediately. Touch judge suggested video ref should have a look. The slo mo showed a perfect example of a double movement - but the try was still confirmed in next to no time! Had to laugh. Then a Scottish RU bloke touched down with his foot and half a leg clearly over the dead ball line - but a try awarded without hesitation and checking with nobody. Couldn't believe that either- but had to laugh again. Never mind, hoping to see some fantastic tries in the Sky matches this weekend to match those two long distance efforts by Cas v Leeds and that by George Williams for Wigan v Saints last week.

It's so bad that you paid good money for months (and probably still do) to BT to watch Aviva Prem rugby

For someone who says has only watched 5 minutes of Union in years you can hardly claim to be knowledgeable or up to date yet you have made 7 postings in this thread all anti Union. Why?

You could say the first 5 minutes of a League game could go
KO
Ball received and run into a defender
same process repeated 5 times
ball is kicked to opposition
opposition repeats above
etc etc

I agree, one of the worst things about rugby league is its predictability, especially in the early parts of the game. There is so much more competition for the ball in RU.

I thought that the removal of the strike for the PTB as marker was one of the worst rules to be taken out of RL, or being able to PTB to yourself without a marker.

Thanks for proving you're not interested in the slightest in actual debate and discussion.