Radlinski mentions it in his book. They threw the game plan out of the window in the first half of the Union game and tried to compete in the rucks and mauls. We got smashed. At halftime West and Lydon tore a strip off them and told them to play like league and get the ball moving. We drew the second half.

To be fair I think Bath didn't play union like they would against a union side either (e.g. fully competitive scrums, rolling mauls etc). That would have made for a very boring game (like the Saints-Sale one). Fair play to Bath they wanted to play the union game in as much of an entertaining way as is possible in that code.

As you say, they could have just shut up shop and played a very technical game of union and just destroyed us with the intricacies of the forwards game with rolling mauls and rucks.

At the time Bath were well known for throwing the ball around and playing an entertaining game of union, and to their credit they tried to play that type of game. It was only when fitness got the better of them that we started to even things up a little.

You shouldn't have felt sorry for Bath. That was the wake up call the RFU needed after your team beat the hell out of them.

If you think that there is less lines of running etc now than there was back then, how is that the fault of the salary cap?

Wigan should have gone for the 100 and not eased up like they did, but they still rammed home the point that running with the ball, support play and lines of running (the things that can be compared between the two codes) were superior in the League code. After that they ran riot in the sevens competition, which is also on youtube, and they were the reasons why the RFU decided to go after league players and coaches.

I knew it would be Wigan's Fault!

Look at that back line.

There is nothing even remotely close to that in SL.

The speed of hands in the backs is completely lost in SL today.

Maybe so. I just fail to see how the salary cap has been the sole cause of what I perceive to be a decline in playing standards, quality and entertainment value.

Guscott - "There's no point - Wigan will thrash us at league, and we will thrash them at union"

B0110cks. He was shiit scared of getting battered.

I think Munster would woop Leeds at both forms of the game if it was played now.

I like Union but Kick and Drive Munster with 'superstars' like O'Connell and O'Gara are the most overrated team ever. Leeds would have them on a plate every time.

I’d take Doug Howlet tho as he’s got pace to burn.

Either way it’s two different games and the Union lads would win there’s and the League lads would win the RL game.

The Bath and Sale games proved that.

Great game and that Wigan side just shows how standards in Rugby League have dropped over the last 13 years.

It's no surprise though that 8 players from that squad were snapped up by union at one point or another.

Great find, even as a warrington fan im enjoying this, just proves that league is so much better

Thanks for that. I shall watch it in work tonight or tomorrow (or both)

By eck, you forget how good that Wigan side actually was. That back line was immense!

To be fair, I'm not sure how many (if any) of our current crop would get into that side!