On players signing, French RU and Japanese RU are as big a threat to the NRL as the Aleague lol. RL players have gone to union for as long as they have been able to throw money at them, just as union players did in the 80's and 90's, neither code has really suffered and great or lasting damage.

If it ever was a real threat the NRL has more than enough money to bring in a marquee signing grant and sign anyone they choose. They put $50mill in the bank last year as a future fund!

NRL Biggest domestic rugby comp in the world. Must be a decent sized pond to grow a fish that big.

The RU World Cup is undoubtedly more established and has more 'major' nations than ours, but after a successful League World Cup last year I don't think we are as far away as we once were.

Union are doing exactly the same as RL by playing the lesser fixtures at smaller grounds in the heartlands midweek such as Georgia-Namibia at Exeter, which makes common sense. After this initial rush there will be a lot of discounts on offer though (as with our World Cup) even though the likes of the All Blacks are a draw, its a massive task to fill the Millennium Stadium for them playing Georgia on a Friday night, and no doubt discount codes and Groupon etc will be used to fill it you can already buy 15 tickets for that game, whereas for the big games its a limit of 4.

The main difference is they have a much better '2nd tier' of nations such as Argentina, Scotland, Italy who will still draw a crowd and compete but won't be anywhere winning the thing. RL badly needs the likes of Scotland, France, Fiji, Samoa, Wales etc to improve and grow.

Don't believe the hype! www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/sport/di ... FWdpmvuADN www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugb ... bs-6468100

Don't believe the hype! www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/sport/di ... FWdpmvuADN www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugb ... bs-6468100

Who doesn't like penalty kicks in a game of rugby (sic) lol!

Union is doing really well in Australia it seems. [iWallabies crowd for Argentina clash the lowest this century Only 14,281 patrons turned out at Cbus Super Stadium to watch Australia survive a late Argentine onslaught and win 32-25 on Saturday night.[/i Read more: www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union ... z3DEnLwdjo

Union is doing really well in Australia it seems. [iWallabies crowd for Argentina clash the lowest this century Only 14,281 patrons turned out at Cbus Super Stadium to watch Australia survive a late Argentine onslaught and win 32-25 on Saturday night.[/i Read more: www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union ... z3DEnLwdjo

Lol the bledisloe cup has dropped from an audience of 1.5mill to 625k, less than your avg NRL game. The super 15 final featuring nsw attracted 325k, less than your avg pay for view NRL game. Bloody slow used to be the only relevant union event in Australia but even that has diminished to levels that will soon be eclipsed by the socceroos pushing union to 4th place In the Australian sporting landscape. Steve Allen, managing director of media firm Fusion Strategy, is not so sure. “It’ll be a great effort if they get [a national TV audience] of 800,000 on Saturday night. “It just isn’t one of the top-tier sports on TV any more.” www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/sport/ev ... kMDFgEzQGL

Lol the bledisloe cup has dropped from an audience of 1.5mill to 625k, less than your avg NRL game. The super 15 final featuring nsw attracted 325k, less than your avg pay for view NRL game. Bloody slow used to be the only relevant union event in Australia but even that has diminished to levels that will soon be eclipsed by the socceroos pushing union to 4th place In the Australian sporting landscape. Steve Allen, managing director of media firm Fusion Strategy, is not so sure. “It’ll be a great effort if they get [a national TV audience] of 800,000 on Saturday night. “It just isn’t one of the top-tier sports on TV any more.” www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/sport/ev ... kMDFgEzQGL

Why would I care how popular RU is in argentina or japan? I have as much interest as how popular basjpketball is in Greece or archery in butan. I care about how RL is travelling in every country And especially in Australia where I live. I love how you spout on about the superiority of union yet when I bring up about it in my country you go off all global lol like I care. I have little interest in how big the RUWC will be, I am just really pleased the RLWC was a great success for our game. When I get chance to lol at union I will enjoy it given the sht they have tried to heap on RL over the years.

LOL away at union......meanwhile the facts never change in regards which sport is better or which sport is bigger. Your supposed aloofness does little to hide your insecurities about how local league is.......maybe if they give you the western nrl team you crave you can at least say its a national game

But with all that wealth, theystill have to poach league players and let's be honest, union in the north is slightly more popular as league in the south.

If the RFL had the money the RFU did, and we had to rely on poaching other talent, and not really made any gains on the non-heartlands, they would be uproar on here.

Of course the union WC will dwarf leagues WC in terms of attendances and profit, but te 2013 WC made further gains on the international stage. Shame we lost Sally Bolton which is typical of RL.

LOL away at union......meanwhile the facts never change in regards which sport is better or which sport is bigger. Your supposed aloofness does little to hide your insecurities about how local league is.......maybe if they give you the western nrl team you crave you can at least say its a national game