Quote ="Catalancs"What on Earth happened to number 9?  www.missengland.info/regionals/wigan'" What happened to all of them? Are they really the best Wigan has to offer?

Quote ="Catalancs"What on Earth happened to number 9?  www.missengland.info/regionals/wigan'" What happened to all of them? Are they really the best Wigan has to offer?

BEER GOOGLES NEEDED!!!!!!!!

Dear Christ, the photographer at Wigan Pier's been busy!

Scouse muppet Saddened! was banned from RLFANS a couple of weeks ago.

What ever happened to you and Damo?

Cracking read. m.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/ ... pe=article

Cracking read. m.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/ ... pe=article

Think he wants me to be his dad.

The best Wigan has to offer would not enter.

A mate of mine has just texted me. He has just been past Knowsley Road and seen a company close by: www.bestinbreeds.me.uk/index.html Oh so close!

A mate of mine has just texted me. He has just been past Knowsley Road and seen a company close by: www.bestinbreeds.me.uk/index.html Oh so close!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVaBsIVn ... dded#at=89 Best try celebration ever. Hopefully a new NRL tv deal will mean that RL can steal all of Unions stars.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVaBsIVn ... dded#at=89 Best try celebration ever. Hopefully a new NRL tv deal will mean that RL can steal all of Unions stars.

It's a shame there is such a massive divide really.

If RL and RU could somehow join we'd straight away be the 2nd largest sport in the world.

I'd love to see a single Rugby code taking the absolute best bits from both going after football.

It will never happen tho.

Said this a few times. It could be huge. Bigger than football in some areas and some nations.

Even if you hate the union tactics, which many people do, it can still be a brutal game played by some very big and tough men.

Whilst I'm a league fan I do respect what RU players do and as you said a universal game of rugby with the right product on the pitch and with a truly global spread it would be huge.

I greatly admire firemen for the sterling work they do, but I wouldn't pay to watch them do it.


Went to watch Espanyol v Atlético Madrid last night. Great game, fantastic stadium, cracking atmosphere. The Espanyol ultras didn't stop bouncing and singing all game.

Agreed, especially in this country and France and also NZ and Aus.

Thing is, I can't think of a single RU rule that would improve our game. As far as I'm concerned, taking the best bits from both leaves us with RL as it is now.

Don't want 15-a-side, don't want their interminable scrums, rucks, mauls or lineouts, don't want them having to lose the ball in the tackle, don't want 3-point penalty goals, don't want all those penalties, don't want fullbacks kicking from hand as a first option, don't want a game where tries, or even running the ball, is a rarity.

I do like the idea of a lineout and I also like the unpredictability of a contested scrum rather than 12 men hugging and the ball going straight through the second row.

Scrums are one of the biggest problems with RU at the minute though. They never get it right the first time and it inevitably ends up with 3 or 4 scrums taking up several minutes over a set piece.

Line-outs would be good though, definately could be an interesting addition.

IMO Onion scrums and especially line-outs are the main reason you get those 6' 10" freaks which add nothing to the game. Down to 13 and a running passing game, rucks just a pointless waste of time. They are still 100 years behind us.

This.

They may only be 80 years behind us because they do have a kind of play the ball, although it is very scrappy.

Same here.

Could have a 14 man game (middle ground) with contested scrums and line-outs for kicks on the last tackle or just for a 40/20. PTB would be like RL but bring in the ability to strip the ball with more people in the tackle, it should be the attacked who must hold onto the ball.... also let players pass off the deck when they are not tackled like or their back, make the defenders control the tackle and force more attacking play, keeping the ball alive.

The thought of a rugby code rising to challenge football on the world stage would be delightful.

I don't have anything particularly against football except that I find it boring and am totally baffled by the fanaticism with which it is followed.

Of course it's too easy to say that people only watch football because they've been told they should (though that happens with cheap fly-on-the-wall TV), or that they only follow it because where they live there is almost nothing else (though again that happens with fly-on-the-wall TV). Maybe there's something in football that I'm must not smart enough to see and appreciate. But I still reckon that a single code of rugby, played primarily along RL lines, could attract massive audiences if it enjoyed the same saturation coverage and publicity that football benefits from.

But there lies the problem. It won't be played largely along RL lines. It might have been had the codes merged back in 1990, but now RU is totally in the ascendent, as it was always destined to be given that it's the establishment's game.

I feel it's possible that some time in the future - though probably not in our lifetimes - the top tier of the two codes will merge. Out of financial necessity, if nothing else. But here in in the UK RL is now clearly exposed to be a poor man's game. What could we offer RU that would make them give up their sacred scrummaging rules or the intense excitement provided by their three-point drop-goal?

There is of course the Australian factor to consider as well. Now that a massive load load of cash has been re-injected into Australian RL, they'd have no reason at present to even contemplate a merger. RL is top dog again Down Under. But I can't help feeling that we in Britain have missed that boat as well.

Probably spot on there.

It would be a big challenge to football tho which is something I really want to see.

The game would also flourish in England as we'd join the excellent grass routes game both codes have.

Let's face it RL & RU clubs pee all over football clubs in terms of facilities at that level.

When the going gets tough... www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ll_KR.html

When the going gets tough... www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ll_KR.html

Very interesting.