Another example of why rl will be in the shadows of ru. Sam's arrival plastered on sky and headline on BBC news.
Sickening whilst rl does its publicity on YouTube.

Agreed. It amazes me sometimes. On BBC yesterday morning they had a Sale fan who was moaning that he couldn't get tickets for the next RU World Cup and a RU representative saying they were doing a ballot for tickets!

Our game (IMO) is far superior to RU yet we're miles behind them in every sense!

I tweeted the RFL last week saying they need to try to do something to encourage our elite players to stay in SL and if they can't, at least to stay in RL. Their response was, players come and go!! They said we need to concentrate on developing young players and that the teams who have won the GF recently have the best youth set ups. I replied by saying that there is more to RL than the GF and we also need to focus on retention of those players.

They said throwing money at the game and big pay rises doesn't help anybody which razzed me right off. I said it's not done RU or the NRL any harm and I told them I'm 44 years old and never seen us win a series involving the Aussies. I got no reply to that!

yea I watched this too, they tried to make him say it had been his ambition to play in the RU world cup. Clearly it hadnt, just there for a challenge and the cash.

Interesting to see they class Farrell as a dual code failure, maybe if he had gone at 25, rather than being at the twilight of his career and crocked.

A couple of things tickle me about this whole charade. Firstly, the media are blatantly creaming themselves about his arrival, which clearly says they appreciate what a talent he is, yet how many of them bothered to report on his exploits whilst he was in the NRL?

Secondly, there have been numerous pieces recently looking at previous converts from League, and many have branded the likes of Tomkins, Farrell, Paul and Vainikolo as flops. Granted, none of them set the world on fire, but every single one of them won England caps. How on earth can you be a flop if you get selected by the national team? It's especially baffling as nearly all of them crossed over when they were past their prime, some by quite some way.

The main reason they took Farrell was to get Owen,

Dyson will be happy.

Farrell also played in a world cup where an unfancied England got to the final so I think it is slightly harsh to call him a flop.

I think that Sam is a better player than those listed at the time they went to RU so there is a greater weight of expectation there.

I thought that Justin Webb on BBC Radio 4's today programme, was fawning so much over "Slamming Sam" that he was going to do something unnecessary in his underpants.....

Rather more sensible discussion on 5Live - Bath will use him where they want/need, but that could well conflict with how the England squad is shaped.
Pointed out that Billy Whiz made the England team in something like 4 months, but nobody's putting their lunch money on SB repeating it.
(but still absolutely zero mention of the match on Sunday)

Maybe they will, but be honest, I don't care if they use him as a tea boy.....

Farrell is so much a failure he's been the England assistant coach for years now.
The BBC News man is a soccer man. He hasn't a clue about Rugby whether it's League or Union.

TBH - it's all a bit of a love-in isn't it?
We've got exactly 12 months of this 'til the WC finishes a year tomorrow - then stand by for SPOTY if the rah-rahs get anywhere near the final - gods help us if they actually win again.

I was thinking earlier today that Burgess could/should be in the running for Sports Personality of the Year. I can only think of Rory Mcllroy that's had a really good year, as an individual, with the Ryder Cup team a shoe in for team prize. Surely Burgess should make the shortlist seeing as he's just won the World Player of the Year gong in addition to his GF win?

If he did, I wonder if he'd be branded as a League player or Union?

Only blessing is that the Rugby Union World Cup is on ITV. I'd imagine the old farts in their tweed jackets will have to get their tv's tuned-in to pick ITV up for the first time.

Nah - won't be on anyone's radar. It'll be Lewis Hamilton if he wins the Scalextric championship or one of the gymnastics team from earlier in the year or I'd actually have a couple of quid on Jo Pavey or McIlroy.