It can only be described as a passing interest in Union (if that) for me, however, I watched the last hour of the Wales v France QF and missed most of the tries.
Wales got away with a fortunate win, after the French were in control until the elbow incident. Once France were down to 14 men, they still looked like the team more likely to score. I was surprised that they tried a hail Mary drop kick from miles out, and then didn't bother with ball in hand under the Welsh posts. This would have extended their lead to 9 points, and in my opinion seen them home.
The French number 13 would be worthy of consideration if persuaded to switch codes.

Union is a lot better than it used to be but ruddy Nora it's easy to waste time in that game. Think France touched the ball once in the last ten when trying to chase the game. As well as just standing over a ball at the back of the ruck you could also easily waste 5 mins faffing around at a scrum when, weirdly, the clock isn't stopped and no side who is behind seem remotely bothered.

What annoys me are the technical infringements that are penalised at the scrum. OK the scrums may be nice & tidy ,but the ref still watches the scrum half feed his own front row making all the pushing & shoving largely irrelevant .

I've seen the scrum half feed his loose forward in another game, with 13 men in each team.

Couldn’t care less that there is feeding in our scrum. I’m more bothered about the “con” penalty where the team pretends the ball has come out and catches the other side offside. I would make it a differential penalty.

I once saw Allan Langer throw a dummy by pretending to feed the scrum, then scuttle round the back of the scrum and try to make a break from the back. The ref (I think it was Ganson) caught him though!

Ben Stokes and the England team (mostly Ben Stokes) have stolen the summer really with the world cup and 'that' ashes battling display.

This lack of interest in the England Rugby Union team is just an added bonus.

if this England RU team doesn't win the world cup, they will be failures based on the strength of their opposition.... The battle for 2nd ranked national sport hots up.

Cricket 1-0 Rugby Union

I have never had the excitement of the 2019 Cricket World Cup final in any other sport. Electrifying.

it was literally unbelievable.... Probably the greatest end to a sporting event... Certainly the best one ive ever seen.

I actually thought the Headingley Ashes test a few weeks later was a more exciting finish.

I think it was because after that ball hit Stokes' bat and went for overthrows part of me felt that NZ had been done over by raw luck. If that had been Australia or India I wouldn't have cared, but with NZ being likeable underdogs I felt bad for them. From that point on, I wouldn't have really minded if NZ won the final.

In the Headingley test, England were the underdogs and at 10 wickets down were rank outsiders, and the opposition was Australia so I was far more invested.

Stokes was the common denominator in both...he must be THE biggest 'big game' performer I've ever seen from England in any sport, with Gary Lineker/Shearer probably the next best.

Really mate? no doubt the lads had a great year and was lucky to be part of a very good one day team, but until this year on the whole his career has been fairly inconsistent imo, with bat and ball, hence his averages. Don't you remember the T20 final 2016 where we had a big lead in the last over to win the Trophy and Stokes got took for 4 sixes and WI won.

No doubt it was an excellent innings at Headingley but for me it isn't the best I've seen even in Leeds, that would be Pietersen's against SA in 2012 where he dominated Steyn, Philander & Morkel like they were U13 side and they were the best bowling attack atm, scored 149 off about 200 balls. I can't take away what Stokes done this summer, he's really come of age & he's finally becoming the batman I thought he would be in Test cricket, but for me Pietersen is still by some distance the best big game player England have had, as well as playing some of their best innings full stop, when it was the Ashes or India or SA, or when we won the World T20, Pietersen always seemed to put on a show.

I take it you never saw Ian Botham? His 149 at Headingly in 1981 was off 148 balls against Australia whos attack included the likes of Dennis Lillee and Geoff Lawson! A match winning innings without a doubt along with the 7 or 8 wickets he also took in the game! Pieterson was a great batsman but in terms of match winners can't be mentioned in the same breath as Botham! And Botham was English of course!

The Ashes match at Headingly was miraculous, but for me the World Cup Final was the bigger stage and so the stakes were highest and hence the spectacle.

I think the one thing that cricket will achieve this year is a quite unique double (though I'm not a big enough anorak to check if this will be the first time), where sportsmen from the same sport will win the Sports Personality of the Year (Stokes) and the Overseas Sportsman award (Steve Smith).

As for the better occasion, I think the Headingley test just outdoes the World Cup Final for the sheer 'miracle' of it - Saying that, both occasions showed how much sheer good fortune can pay in sport. In both matches, England had enormous amounts of luck and contributed massively to the drama of the events.