Anyone signing a contract for a Super League club should have a special clause stating that they're only allowed to leave for RU if they sit through a video of that England V. Ireland game. Twice. Its cruel, yes, but gets the message across.

Agreed.

Farrell doesn't seem to want to "come back" in a rush, nor Ashton....

Im sure there bank accounts look far better.

In the creature world it was like a Slug v Snail contest, I did see a tackle bust one in each half though. 80 mins of Union in reality equates to 10 mins of actual momentum play.

just black out the huge crowd and all the publicity Farrell is getting, and we should be good. I Don't mind watching union but i prefer league and i am sure most of the converts do but until league becomes on par with union we will all ways have players leave, but there is all ways somebody waiting to replace them.

i do hate how the ex union players commentators all ways avoid the mentioning of league when ashton, Farrell, Tomkins, Eastmond get mentioned. even the coaching staff are benefiting from having a league background.

League was mentioned briefly when Brian Moore was complimenting Farrell senior. To be fair, I know a lot of people think Brian Moore's a bit of a tool, but I've never heard him mention League with anything other than utmost respect.

Thanks so much for the laugh

Glad to see young Owen has inherited his old man's charisma.

Just seen the disgraceful stamp from the Irish No. 1 on an English players ankle.
Let's just say that if that happened in any Rugby League match then I would expect a very long ban regardless of who the player was or the club he played for. It was that sickening!

The fact that their wasn't a single try says it all. Maybe you could argue that both defences were immense, but it was more like that the attacking play was abysmal as per usual when it comes to union.

The Twittersphere was saying England made a grand total of 75m in the whole of the first half.

Was as dire a game as I've ever seen.

I'd like to challenge any Rupert or Sebastian to actually try and convince me that that sport is within the same realms of entertainment as rugby league.
It is a truly dire spectacle.

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.

Watched the full 80 and it wasent the best viewing. However im gonna give RU a chance, some of the games involving the All blacks and Springboks have been fantastic lately.

I actually don't mind RU and watch a fair bit of it and tbh that match against Ireland is about as hard to watch a game as England have played in for sometime, so it's not a surprise that a few RL fans didn't enjoy it but it was all about getting the result in a traditionally difficult fixture. The weather conditions didn't help at all & it did make the game a turgid affair but they did what they had to do to win.

Tbf to England RU they have been playing quite an expansive attacking game since Lancaster took over and the previous two games against NZ & Scotland were a far more entertaining spectacle.