On another note, the game badly needs Sonny Bill back! Only been on 5mins in the union final and he's played more ball in hand rugby than some of these players have done all tournament!

Just changed channel from final score and Australia have just scored by playing hide the ball.

traitors the lot of 'em.

Can't blame them for going over, lots of media frontage, lots of money, long term job prospects. If they stayed in league they would have probably been offered nothing of any impact or value. Good world cup, technically superb if you don't watch it with "rugby league eyes".

The final was as good a contest as you'll see in union. The rest of the tournament, not so much.

There are quite a few teams in this world cup that play the ball out wider and try to open the game up at risk, Japan, Wales, Argentina, S Africa, Australia and New Zealand have had some entertaining value.

Poor core skills performed under very little defensive pressure.

Once you look past all the hype, sensationalised presentation, flowery over the top commentary and the studio hyperbole that reaches biblical proportions all provided of course courtesy of the old school boy network and upper class establishment, the actual game itself is terrible.

Scum

This.

In answer to the OP: they were all fairly decent RL players, though none was the best I've seen in their respective positions.

This is a prime example of looking at their game through rugby league eyes, union core skills are not the same as league ones. Rugby league is very reliant on a passing game, Union is reliant on technicality phases. Just look at the scrum which is a very dangerous place in union our rugby league players would suffer from lots of neck and spinal injuries, creating a turnover at the ruck is discipline and technical based, in league we can't even play the ball correctly without a degree of frustration.

Our scrums, interference at the play the ball, time wasting, consistent intensity levels, respect to the referee is now a complete joke in our game.

I think the old school boy network and upper class establishment is well gone, I agree with you with the hype and sensationalism but you can bet the blokes at Red Hall would love to be in that position for our sport. They couldn't even be bothered to retain and direct all that experience from Edwards, Robinson and Faz amongst many others.

Whilst it is our off season and its World Cup Union I,ve watched their game a bit more to understand how their game is played, some games have been a fascinating contest especially amongst the teams I have mentioned in an earlier post. Perhaps you can watch the game with left eye (League) and right eye (Union) and just let the left eye go to sleep for 80 mins.

I'm a Level 3 Rugby League and a Level 2 Rugby Union Coach as well as holding a degree in physical education and a Masters in psychomotor skills acquisition for sport. I feel pretty comfortable with the balance of my views and my ability to judge.

Maybe you should stop assuming that everyone who doesn't conform to your way of thinking is somehow unbalanced or non objective in their views.

I bow to Avenger's expertise here. However, the best thing that could happen is that we now see three skillful, dramatic and exciting internationals between England and NZ, played before before crowds and live on BBC TV. Then we can make some comparisons with what's been seen from the Union code.

This is a rugby league forum so its expected to have this kind of defensive retort. I don't think it will change much to my opinion and viewpoint, probably messrs Edwards, Robinson and Faz have seen it in a similar challenging context. Very much doubt I will watch a live match of Union but it has improved a lot whilst League has lost its intensity and direction.