I'm very much in agreement with 'The Emporers New Clothes' analogy. It seems almost trendy to jump on board the Rugby Union Jingoistic, Patriotic, Hooray for us, good old Johnny bandwagon but when you watch the product itself it's awful!

Somebody will eventually shout "the king is naked" and everyone will see what a poor sport Rugby Union is.

Turgid, stop start, over officiated, poorly skilled, sub standard athletes (in some positions) and lacking in any form of WOW moments!

Compared with Rugby League it's like watching U8s!

However, the establishment created Rugby Union and they continue to propagate it ahead of better fayre! They are aided and abetted by Rugby Leagues inability to market itself and world class ability to shoot it's own toes off.

As the old saying goes

'Rugby Union is an amateur game run by professionals while Rugby League is a professional game run by amateurs'

Do 'good' sports have to be non stop, highly skilled, under officiated to be attractive?

American football probably sits within the above criteria but seems very popular. Cycling is very one dimensional but popular, cricket very slow but internationally attractive.

Maybe as RL fans we are missing the point.

Or maybe I'm right!

Clearly the Rugger Buggers get something out of their sport. Why else would they turn up in tens of thousands for international games?

Attempting to claim League is objectively "better" than Union is just silly.

It's a different sport.

Union fans enjoy the scrums, enjoy the lineouts, rucks, mauls etc. We don't have them in league, so when we see them on tv, our ignorant minds think "it's just a bunch of players jumping on each other".

The skillsets aren't poorer than League either, in fact I'd say that you have to be a lot more specialised in your position/skill in Union than League. League, players have to be good at all skills to a degree, Union you generally have one job. In League, brute athleticism can get you along way, look at Tom Lineham at Hull, the lad has only just learnt to play a ball properly, can't pass, tackling technique is iffy, positionally naïve. But, he's big and fast, and has been snapped up by Wire for a fee.

The 10m rule gives our players the space to make the big hits, put on set moves, go on one man dazzling rules - that's why we love RL. Union, it's a different game, there's no 10m rule, there's no limited tackles, there's two extra men on the field.

It's a completely futile debate to discuss which is the 'best'. We should be looking at what they do off the field, how they develop & promote their game - and learning lessons from that.

So back to something like the topic in hand, will Sam make the WC squad? and if he doesn't will he return to league? I just can't see him hanging around for 4 more years to see if he can make the next WC squad.

I would be surprised. Why should he get the nod over experienced players who've been playing their chosen position all their lives?

And, if anything, the decision to play him in the centres at the weekend against France puts him up against plenty of good centres (including two from his own club!), when, if anything, he might stand more chance of getting in the squad at 6 or 8.

Will he come to league? Quite possibly, but it won't be SL if he does. Plenty in the NRL will be queuing up for his signature.

Absolutely. I'm sure i read recently he was getting married to an Australian TV personality so that will be factor in his decisions moving forward. He will have his pick of NRL clubs, i don't see him back in SL until he is over the hill or if ever to be honest.

He may return to league but with Bath likely to be in the Champions Cup every year he'll be playing in European games that are intensive as any International against the French and Irish sides (sadly not the Welsh) packed with world-class players, so it's no foregone conclusion. I think he'll stay as leaving early would be seen as being a quitter.

Maybe he is staying in Union because he enjoys it, have we ever considered that?

No.

I wonder which energised Sam Burgess the most: winning a Grand Final alongside Greg Inglis in front of a packed stadium of cheering fans, or standing around with his hands in his pockets waiting for another scrum to be re-set?


Tough call...

Mods - doesn't this belong in Other Sports?