Do you think there is an RU gut out there blogging on the RL international series?

My guess would be no.

Seems quite a sad obsession and quite ironic when you read stuff like;

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Plenty of talk from people on here who hate the sport, but the media is obsessed....

We may talk, but it's the media that does the damage.... I think that the point thats being made.

Time i have spent/wasted watching this RU World Cup has only reinforced my view that it's a game with very poor core skills, and the slow play suits the slow thinking of it's fans. Plenty of time to chat or nip to the bar while the dull, interminable scrums are set, and who has a bloody clue what's going on amidst a heap of bodies on the floor. I also noticed they are quite rightly talking about head injuries, many of which could be caused by blokes running around bent over, chasing a bouncing dropped ball...

This is the big problem for me. I too have watched quite a bit of this tournament, and I've seen hardly anyone in any of the British teams who I thought would get anywhere near a SL team, let alone the NRL. Okay, that doesn't mean they couldn't be knocked into shape over a period of time (as Inga was), but that's never going to happen any more because these guys and the media who constanty laud them seem to think they are already world-beaters.

The England team in particular seem to lack any kind of basic rugby skills, awareness, etc - which is puzzling given the presence in the English RU set-up of Farrell and Mike Ford, but then maybe they're just part of that select club of quality ex-players who also happened to be clueless as coaches (and perhaps this is why they aren't coaching in RL).

And I don't think it's just us. I strongly feel that wider interest in this tournament has now petered out. Easy to explain at a superficial level, perhaps, with England bowing out so early. But the public aren't daft. Aside from the odd highlight, like Japan beating South Africa, this has been nothing like the spectacle that was promised. Even the world football authorities know better than to extend their own World Cup past two weeks.

Yep... I have a few friends who are RU fans, and they are seeing the light... But i don't expect them to fully agree with me any time soon...

Well, not really. Although there's a case to be that because of the nature of the game, they are less important (!), I don't think there's much doubt that core skills in Union are way behind SL, never mind the NRL. Testament to the fact is that when an unremarkable back-line move results in the try in the corner, the commentators inevitably start banging about 'wonderful' and 'brilliant' it was. Brought up as we are on the skills of the likes of Tuivasa-Sheck, Nofoaluma, Joe Burgess, etc etc, it seems remarkably tame. But if that's all they know...

As I remarked elsewhere on a RUWC thread, the ABs are the best side by a distance simply because they have something approaching NRL-standard ball skills from 1 to 15. The other sides, especially the NH ones, just don't.

Of the admittedly little I've bothered with the games, it strikes me that the only time there's any real flow or continuity is when they apply League tactics. A case in point is that offload in the tackle from SBW that led to the try in the first half. The ra-rahs had no clue what had just happened, they were getting ready to roll about on the floor again. But a League brain instinctively getting the ball away caught them napping.

Got me ticket (finally) for London this morning. C'MON ENGLAND

I watched the final yesterday and thought it was a great Game. I'm always going to prefer the 13 man code but if more RU was played with the pace and style that the Ausi and Kiwi teams put on show yesterday, I'd enjoy watching more RU. But the fact that the commentators having lowered expectations about how dynamic the game would be, raved about the fact the 5 trys were scored in a final, say a lot about how dull most RU is to watch. I thought the Welch Ref was brilliant, great rapport with both teams, communicated his expectations and let the game flow.

I agree with all that, you do get the occasional good contest like the final, but they seem to be few and far between. The ABs barely play the same sport as the NH sides.

Right, now lets bring on the Kiwis!

Who cares if RU isn't as entertaining as RL, the exposure of RL is so poor you have to be a RL fan to know about the games, including the international series.

Ask people outside of the RL heartland about rugby, most won't even know there's 2 codes, ask them who plays rugby for England, and I'll guarantee they'll name RU players.

All this is due to marketing and exposure, something we are massively lacking, now RU has the mantel of 'real rugby'.

RL is miles behind, and with the current leadership in the RFL it's not drawing a par anytime soon. Congrats to RU on producing a well marketed excellent WC televised on national TV with full stadiums of fans cheering on all nations. Our WC was limited to Premier Sports with many makeshift international teams (How many Irish played for Ireland? etc) in front of unimpressive crowds.

Quite frankly it's embarrassing.

It is. I've remarked before that sometimes I think people living in the heartlands don't realise the extent to which RL is even known as a free-standing entity, separate from RU.in the rest of the country.

Right now I'm just about to text half a dozen or so friends to remind them of the KO in an attempt to engender some interest. God knows the BBC hasn't publicised it as far as I can see, apart from a terse mention on MOTD last night.

All that said, I'm looking forward to a terrific contest!

....and. er, Sam Burgess...

It certainly doesn't help when Sky don't really publicise the game either.

I'm out at the moment and they aren't even providing score updates on thier app ....

No one will invest into RL until they seen the money making potential in RL. Television etc is a business, a money making business. Once something is popular and has a large fan base networks will throw large sums of money and investment at the sport as they know it will benefit them through viewing figures (via sponsors/advertisements etc)

Major networks will only invest as much as they feel its worth (hence why the RLWC was tucked away nicely on Premier, they would have offered the best deal, or potentially the only deal) RL has to become a popular commodity then the prizes will follow.

Sadly for RL it takes money to make money, soon the NFL will be more heard of, spoke about and enjoyed in England over RL, as they have the investment (and knowledge of how to promote) their own sport. Already they sell out Wembley a few times a year with a proposed NFL UK based franchise in development.