Quote: Spongolium "The whole RU vs RL is pointless. Die hard RL fans will never accept anything you say against their sport. There are tough union players. Anyone who diss-regards that is an idiot. There are also talented union players that become the best of the best in league. Does Jonathan Davies ring a bell, Scott Gibbs, Scott Quinell, John Deveraux, Paul morrierty(sp). Look face facts. Players from RU can quite easily switch to league.
Don't get me wrong, players from league sometimes make it in union. But not as often. Jason Robinson strikes me as a good union convert. The best league player in britain at one point completly failed at union. Iestyn Harris. There were other factors but it happens'"
Good post.
Disagree about Iestyn. He wasn't brilliant by any stretch of the imagination, but he was better than a lot of the tripe that surrounded him in that Wales team (and Cardiff too). When you're branded the saviour of a nation's national sport before you've even player, it's fair to say you're under a certain amount of pressure. He could have been brilliant with the right support, coaching etc. Unfortunatley it wasn't to be.
I think many people who follow only one code, and ignore the other, seem to forget how totally different the games are to play, and just assume because someone is a superstar at one code, they will be at the other because their code is 'superior'. There are many, many cases to prove that wrong and the truth is, different players react in different ways, you can only judge each convert on a case-by-case basis.