Ok so it's not your cup of tea, and as a spectator sport I'm watching wigan not club RU, (except my own club)
But the RFU/WRU/IRU put a great deal of effort into the national side and it's players, who knew Sam Tomkins or Sam Burgess outside RL, lots of people know who Owen Farrell, Johnny wilkinson & Martin Johnston are.
Asked you average Welshman who the welsh RU team are they would reel off a list of current players.
Show a Welshman a shot of Gareth Edwards and they will name him, he hasn't played for 35 years. He's a national hero.
Thats the potential RL has, it's not tapped into.

I have been reading the comments on Burgess and most of the comments and ideas are good. The reality is that he left Souths for the money. However the idea of scrapping the cap I think is crazy. You will get clubs trying to live the dream and sending the clubs bust. As Wigan supporters I imagine you look back at the days in the 90s when you won everything, however it bust the club, what has happened to Central Park, you are now don't have a ground, nor do Fax, look at Swinton. If the cap works it forces clubs to be sensible

1 - Foden
2 - Ashton
3 - Tuilagi
4 - Barritt
5 - Strettle
6 - Ford
7 - Eastmond
8 - Robshaw
9 - Care
10 - Lawes
11 - Tomkins
12 - Twelvetrees
13 - Farrell

The cap hasn't stopped lots of clubs going bust.

We need better financial regulation that encourages clubs to grow, not a salary cap that encourages clubs to do nothing to improve their finances. (Players are paid over 30% less in real terms than they were pre-cap, this is just not sustainable, we are heading for a semi-pro future.)

Winning everything didn't bust the Wigan club. The new stand at CP ran millions of pounds over budget, that's what did for us financially.

Comparing us with Halifax and Swinton is hilarious. We've just seen more Wigan fans go to Sydney than most clubs take to nearby away grounds. We are the cup holders and SL champions and along with Leeds get the biggest attendances at home (in the ground we don't have...).

I can't believe you can be so blind with what is happening to top flight RL in this country.. It's being raped of all its top players!!!! What happened 30 years ago is totally irrelevant....

Whoahh...we won't have facts on this forum thank you very much.