Letter in the Times today blaming the influx of RL coaches for turning RU into a boring kicking game, instead of the free flowing game it was and should be.
Has someone been watching a different RU game to me?

I can understand how improving the defensive structure would leave less opportunity to run

It's allways been boring, nearly as bad as wendyball!

Come on now. Since the RU legend that is Martin Johnson took over as England coach, they have become known as the great entertainers of world sport.

rlLink to letterrl

I just read that letter whilst sat in the pub. Caused me to nearly choke on my pint. The bloke's clearly deranged.

Be careful - you'll have Sally C coming on saying what a wonderful game it is compared to RL..................

off the field it is, by a very long way.

No it isn`t - At club level the grounds are poor and the clubs are even more in debt than RL outfits ...

TOP flight clubs may be in debt however, the off field structure and club mentality is leaps and bounds ahead of RL, Their youth development/retention is years ahead of RL, turning professional was a bad move in many ways for RU in the top flight but for lower teams who work like RU was before the change i think you'll find most are very much in the green financially.

so i think 'yed has got it spot on.

Watched the France v England game the English side seemed
to lack basic ball skills, also Ashton was 1 v 1 with the full back
but chose to chip and chase over him, also had 3 players in support ,wouldnt have thought twice when he was at wigan
would have took the fullback on or held it up for the support
to score.
The Guinness prem is a poor standard compared to Magners
league and the super 14 comps this is reflected in the
Heineken cup results, internationals , fitness etc, it all seems to
played in slow motion in the Guinness Prem and England
internationals.

I think it's a pish take, to be honest.

There is not much difference between the two national teams. After every England RU game, all you hear is fans/media complaining about the lack of creativity in the team, slagging off the halfbacks, shocking kicking game, saying its time to pension off the likes of Wilkinson and move give young talent a chance. Throw in a bit of blaming the game's administrators for not knowing their booty from their elbow and having too much reliance on overseas players in the current game. You get all the same after England RL, apart from you don't get the extra miles of broadsheet comment and know-it-all ex players writing editorials.

To put it into context, if RL fans got the media coverage that they wished for on par with union, then after every time the Kangaroos beat us we would have the opportunity to read Garry Schofield and Stevo write all over the Times and Guardian about how garbage England RL are.

I saw the opposite view recently on the Sale forum where someone was praising the youth structure within RL compared to Union which is still overwhelmingly dependent on recruiting junior players from the Private school sector .

The club mentality in RU is nowhere near that of RL with many supporters been more or less transient - Sale fans were recently threatening to follow Leeds Carnegie next season should they get relegated - I could not foresee a situation where I would become a Wigan fan if the same fate befell Warrington .

The youth structure in RL is well ahead of many other sports, definitely ahead of football. RU junior clubs struggle sometimes because most of the kids are at private schools which take their rugby very seriously and teachers put pressure on them to prioritise school over club. Being a leading 1st XV rugby union player for your school has its advantages when prefectships are handed out and UCAS references are needed.