i only caught the last 20 minutes but decided to keep it on. Up until that last 5 minutes it wasnt to bad tbh. france had the ball for i think something silly like 19 plays and where really going for it. but then as soon as nz got the ball the game was as good as frozen and just inevitably fizzled out to a disappointing end. I'll be quite honest. I'll never ever enjoy watching union simply because rugby league has a lot of things union doesn't, excitement being the main one. League is simply not stop entertainment and because of the way union is played, its something that game can never really have.

This just shows how much you know about the game.

The reason why it is well supported is because it is a 'middle class sport'.

Like all the other boring middle class sports such as golf and tennis that nobody really likes, but people follow suit, like lemmings, because the middle class 'mass media' tells them to. To be 'middle class' and 'respectable' is their [i'raison d'etre'[/i. They have made it socially if they are middle class.

I gave up on playing Union when in the Army, with their bloody kicking duels that we got rid of in the 1930s.Used to drive me mad, running one way then the other, every two seconds.

Their applauding kicking the ball into touch just shows there is a form of collective madness here.

i've watched bits here and there

some of the backs would go ok in league
2 welsh lads Jonathon Davies and James Roberts (i think was his name)
Dagg, corey jane, nonu
oh and someone by the name of sonny bill warming the bench

If i am been honest i felt sorry for the frogs i thought they were the better team.

What gets on my nerves is when you can see the team with possesion might have 5 on 3 on one side of the pitch with loads of space, just pass it out and make a break!... but no. Because they cant risk being tackled without anyone near them to back them up when tackled... they just give it on short pass inside and have another ruck and continually do that until a penalty is given.

Talking of world cups, the USA are about to qualify for the 2013 RLWC. They'll be in group D with Wales and the Cook Islands unless Jamaica can turn around a 30-4 deficit in ten minutes.

---------------EDIT-----------------

USA qualify for the Rugby League World Cup 2013 with a 40-4 win over Jamaica. They'll face Wales, the Cook Islands and Scotland in two years time.

Rugby union, like football appeals to the masses because there are massive gaps in the flow of the games where you can eat prawn butties, drink beer and chat to your mates. Most Union or Football matches have so little happen in them that you need to have these other distractions to fill in the time. Most Union "fans" will have never been to watch a "club" game, even if they play for a local club, but may have attended an international. After a game of RL, where do you start. I will confess to having watched a little of the world cup thingy, and my conclusion is just as it has been for as long as i remember.


Why the hell do people watch that garbage!!!... That goes for modern football too, since it was made a no contact sport....

Like others on here I have not watched a single minute of it. I think it has been going on for about four weeks and I honestly have not spoken to a single person who has either watched it or had the least bit of interest in it. Just can't understand why the "Dark Side" gets all the hype

The one thing League could learn from Union is the opportunity to compete for the ball more. In union there are loads of opportunities to win back possession from the other side, many of which can lead to potentially great attacking opportunities. In League the chances to compete for the ball are minimal and means that momentum has become a major part of the modern game rather than a more natural ebb and flow.

Cycles can go on for five minutes or even longer in union and the ball can go unseen for minutes. One on one ball steal and the turnover every six tackles will do for me.

Watched it at the gym this morning. Should've watched something else, nearly got off the cardio machines just to get away!

You are right in some of the things you say, but wrong about others. I wouldn't say RU is "middle class" (whatever that means in 2011), just go to Gloucester, Bristol or Northampton to see that, but I would say it has the widespread appeal that you talk about.

In the same way that many people will be "interested" in Wimbledon but never watch another tennis match in their life, many people who would never dream of watching a game of rugby, would happily go to the pub and make an occasion out of an international.

It's not the sport for knowledgeable supporters (I have been at Twickenham and even with my limited knowledge, have known about 10X as much as the average "fan"icon_wink.gif, but it does attract support and who are we to question what those supporters get out of it?

RL is, imo the greatest game on the planet, but take away the actual product on the pitch and you are left with a provincial, mainly Northern minority sport that 99% of the country would compare with Darts (or possibly slightly less important).

If we could somehow translate the product to proper marketing, then we could have a global game on our hands.

Sadly as long as the communists in Red Hall, and more than a few "whippet and clog wearers" on here have their way, it will remain a minority Northern sport, who hangs onto it's "working class" roots at the expense of expansion.

People say this but think about the days when league was full of union players, Offiah, Botica, Tuigimala,Scott Quinnell, Davies, Gibbs, Bateman, Devereux, Craig Innes, Michael O'Connor, Ricky Stuart, all of them union men. League was a more exciting game IMO back then and these were more exciting players than todays admittedly very fit athletes. Today I feel league has become a war of attrition, the whole business about winning the collision, getting a fast playtheball or slowing the opposition's playtheball is crucial to success, it's just league's version of 'dominating the ruck'.

League fans just slag off union because they think they have to and have chips on their shoulders but they should remember the great history of our game has been based on bringing through players from union. The total lack of respect being shown by some fans towards Gareth Thomas is a disgrace in my book - one of the greatest rugby players of his generation and a better winger over the last 10 years than any winger league has produced (in this hemisphere) except possibly Carney at his peak.

True about the union imports. If we're being honest, most of the threequarters from Australia, NZ, France, Wales and England would star in RL. As for the games themselves, well my 3-year old loves running around the lounge whilst 'football' (RL) is on TV (with a football and pretending to be tackled for the whole game), but walks away when the union is on.