I agree with the others in saying that i dont trust them one bit. They would certainly love to take some of our backs into their game including charnley and tomkins and could offer them sooooo much money to do so. The only benefit i can see would be from a marketing point of view as the RU somehow manages to get 80000 people to go and watch that crap at Twickers.
As for the partnership and potential player movement between them it really wouldnt surprise me if Sam Tomkins played for them for a portion of the winter as he clearly has an itch to play union. This was seen by his inclusion onto the Baa Baa's team and made me wonder what else we may have promised him he can do as long as he signed a new deal at Wigan!

UNFORTUNATELY, we are not in the same position as the NRL, we don't have the money in the british game to compete with them financially to keep are stars here if they are targeted by an NRL club. Neither are we in the position to curtail their international career by putting a representative embago on players if they don't play in SL as we dont have the strength in depth they have. We just have to accept that we have to try and tie down our stars to longer contracts why they are young and at least get a transfer fee for them if they do move to Yawnion or the NRL whilst under contract.

Then look seriously hard from the top down to increase the revenue in the game as a whole so we can compete on a level playing field with them both.

Totally agree. I just don't buy into this idea that sending our best players to the NRL is good for the game.

How is it good for the game?

They won't improve the Aussie competition and their loss will weaken ours.

In Test match terms, we might have a few players who are used to a slightly more intensive competition, but I haven't yet seen a huge contribution at Test level from those who currently play in the NRL.

Could be that the higher ups realise RL has gone as far as it can go, at least as a professional game and Yawnion has reached a dead end as far as entertainment goes, especially at club level. Might be the first steps towards some sort of amalgamation. Either way I'm not worried about a game like this leading them trying to poach our players. Rugby Union is a small world as is Rugby League and I'm pretty sure that coaches and scouts from both codes are fully aware of who the best players are. We need to make sure we've got the funds and the game has the exposure needed to keep our best players in League. As a stand alone game, I'm not sure if that is possible, so maybe a hybrid is the way forward.

If it was global and everyone bought into a joint code... it would be the best way forward. It would be huge.

The international game would have potential to rival football and the global club competition would be better than what football have now.

I've always thought this, Rugby League was just the natural progression Union should have taken to make it a more competitive, open and exciting game. Going back to messy rucking that most of the time that frequently in a penalty is a massive step backwards. Hybrid games are nothing but a gimmick and will die out very quickly.

UInfortunately, I fear that money may speak more loudly than your common sense.

I'd imagine that a global rugby brand, with the best players from both codes pitted against each other in massive international competitions would have phenomenal cash potential.

In the first instance though, I suspect there'd be all sorts of bitterness and recrimination, and at amateur level I'm sure that both RL and RU would dig their heels in. At a personal level, I don't know if I could stand the idea of Wigan RL playing a hybrid code, though I have a nagging worry that British RL has now bumped its head against the ceiling in terms of our own financial development. Worrying times.

My view too.

My opinion is do not trust anyone from rugby union, they look down on us and always will, all this nicey nicey dosn't wash with me!!I could tell a lovely tale about a letter we received from Twickers HQ.

Go on then!

Been trawling through some of the stuff on VT about a potential Leeds Vs Leicester match. Its seems the general consensus is that scrums could be fairly dangerous if one side does not know how to properly use them. Now i know extremely little of RU, but if this is the case then a potential game against Sarries cannot go ahead. We cannot put our players in a position where they dont know what they are doing and by doing so causing serious injuries

Didn't they agree on "uncontested" scrums for the Wigan v Bath games?

As for a hybrid game, I can't think of one single facet of union that I would want brought in to league. Most of the differences result in a slower, less skillful game. I was reading an interesting article the other day, though I can't seem to find it atm, about the time the ball is actually "in play" during both codes. It compared the NRL to the Super 14 and it was something like 55-65 mins for RL and 35-45 mins for union.

Come on mate share your info and let all the do gooders who like union what they are really like,please mate come on.

You don't need a Hybrid game... just take Yawnion and improve it by:-

i) Reduce to 13 a side.
ii) Abolish the line out.
iii) Introduce the play the ball.

Job done!