Come on Butcher. Be fair. The intricacies of scrum (hold, pause, touch, pause, engage, pause, push) followed by reset scrum, followed by reset scrum followed by penalty are a joy to behold. So much better than that boring running with the ball game that we all prefer.

Exactly.

Who needs things like tries and a running game when you can watch half the men on the pitch push against each other. Or the wonderful spectacle of aerial ping-pong when the ball eventually comes out...

Before going out for a lineout.

It's utter garbage. I'm someone who can enjoy the skill and execution of nearly any sport and enjoy it for what it is. Except Rugby Union. It's easily the most boring game on earth.

Known as kick and clap or should that be kick and crap

The popularity of Rugby Union is driven largely by image - particularly in London in my experience. I don't know anybody who hasn't played the game who has any real comprehension of the intricacies of the sport, yet they will all cart themselves off to the pub for England games or to Twickenham for Sevens. I would say of the people I work with more of them than not applied for RWC tickets - again most of them have a minimal comprehension of the game itself, and I could probably name more of the starting 15 from yesterday than them despite having not watched an England game in at least five years. It's about being seen to be associated with the sport (and an element of patriotism which RL still hasn't managed to tap in to).

To point out the obvious lack of entertainment when watching Rugby Union is to miss the point.

I think it's entirely down to the exposure it get's in the media. I get the Daily Mail on a Saturday, Not for the paper but for the TV Guide. If you look at the Sports Pages it's a true reflection of the national media as a whole.
If there's a Rugby Union Friendly against anybody there's four full pages of coverage together with a Headline on the back page and a column from Sir Clive Woodward "The World Cup Winning Coach".
When Great Britain played New Zealand in the Four Nations two weeks ago there was nothing (Unless it was that small I couldn't find it)!. Note that that's in the northern edition of the Paper, what it's like in the southern Edition god only knows.
Until this imbalance is addressed we will never become a National Sport.
I thought Brian Barwick was brought into Rugby League to help out with this situation. It's obviously working, Well done Brian!!

As for the game, Myself, a friend and my son (Aged 11) attended a Sale Game on a Groupon Offer. The fans were nice a friendly, welcoming us as new spectators but the game was atrocious. No excitement apart from one move that you see a hundred times in an average Rugby League game. My son said after about 20 minutes to never bring him to a Rugby Union game again. I thought that sums up the entertainment value of Rugby Union.