Bath fan comparing League and Union :)

[menpond]

What sort of booze does a hound drink? My preference is Abbott, OSH, claret and French champagne. Read between the lines.

[slimshady]

What sort of booze does a hound drink? My preference is Abbott, OSH, claret and French champagne. Read between the lines.

AAAARGH for god sake shut up you absolute loon ball are you Stanley Unwin!

[Nezza Faz]

What sort of booze does a hound drink? My preference is Abbott, OSH, claret and French champagne. Read between the lines.

AAAARGH for god sake shut up you absolute loon ball are you Stanley Unwin!

Think this going slightly off topic at this point

[jobo]

One on one tackling he/she mentions is a bit of a strange one. Can only think that Kyle Eastmond mustn't be impressing him.

[southernpie]

One on one tackling he/she mentions is a bit of a strange one. Can only think that Kyle Eastmond mustn't be impressing him.

I don't know, it does seem to be a lost skill in Rugby League (Can't say how good it is in Onion as I don't watch the game), there is so much emphasis on the wrestle that "tackling" the opposing player one on one ie taking his legs seems to have been forgotten about. A classic example IIRC was the cup semi between Dire and Whinos Rhys Evans ? chasing Briscoe for the breakaway final try tried to take him high and got fended off whereas if he had taken Briscoe's legs he possibly could have stopped him. I appreciate the main reason for tackling around the chest is to clamp the ball but the example I used there was no-one in support of Briscoe to get it away to. It has also frustrated me particularly this year at the amount of offloads we seem to give away almost as if the three players making the tackle are getting in each others way and no-one clamping the ball carrying arm. My memory may be playing tricks but I seem to remember Gary Connolly and Radders at Fullback almost cutting the attacking wingers in half and stopping them dead by tackling around the waist and often forcing them in touch. They didn't often try and tackle higher. I am talking about when attacking players had broken the line and it was one on one

[slimshady]

Obviously being from a rugby city I follow it all very closely and can't wait for the World cup next year. It seems like yesterday that the last one finished.

In terms of the league vs union argument, league players across the board tend to have better fundamental skills in attack. But a lot of this is down to to the forwards not really comparing at all to each other in each code. In league a prop will not have to do any driving of any kind, he's just another battering ram. Scrummaging in Union is infuriating at times but it is a hugely technical aspect of the game and the forwards, in particular the front rows have to be built for driving within the scrum, hence the props are shorter in union and weigh 18stone+. In league scrums aren't contestable at all, despite what anyone tries to argue, the scrum half just puts the ball in and wins the ball, the props aren't driving at all, just leaning against each other and having a rest. The lineout is a similar story, the forwards in union will spend hours on the training pitch practicing lineout moves.

Defence in union is also vastly superior. I laugh my bollocks off every time a league player coverts to union and the commentators bring the standard line out 'oh he can obviously defend coming from league.' Pick any random rugby league game and the number of 1 v 1 tackles will be in single digits. By that I mean, 1 player, running at 1 player and being brought to ground by that 1 player. In union this is common place. In league the player with the ball will run into 1 player, who will just snag him and hold on, and then 3 or 4 of his team mates will come in and collectively bring the player down. Also the rules on tackling are different in union, when I watch league to me a lot of the time players are just barging each other. It makes the impacts look more impressive but for me it's just a horrendously boring game. Just player has the ball, runs at another player, gets brought down by 4 defenders, gets up rolls ball between legs and the process repeats itself endlessly.

As HoB says Australia is the only 'rugby nation' in the World where league is more popular. I think that popularity would soon wane if they didn't win every World cup pretty much unopposed. They have only lost 1 out of the last god knows how many. The rugby league World cup is pretty much contested between Aus, NZ and England every time. In Union you have the 5 'major' nations with Aus, NZ, SA, England and France, but then Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Argentina who have the capability of upsetting those teams on their day (or even having long spells through history where they were in the elite group). And then Samoa, Fiji, Italy, Tonga and many others who take the game extremely seriously, and spring many upsets. With the league World cup it's those 3 teams that I mentioned, plus 1 depending on the luck of the draw who make it to the semis.

Like I say tho I'd have the average league player as being much more skilful in terms of the fundamentals than the average union player. In league when there is a 3 v 2 it is almost always converted whereas in union there are numerous times when they aren't, and these situations come up a lot more in league with them having less players. There's a lot union can take from league and in fact last week my club, Bath, had Wigan Warriors down training with them. I'v no doubt the Bath lads will have probably got a lot more from the experience as obviously where Union (in my opinion) has an edge (back row play, set piece play and 1 v 1 defence) are pretty much useless skills within league.

Right Ive just stopped laughing, this public school twerp must have been at the Pimms.

Rugby unions defence is better the League, our props are just battering rams, and just lean on at scrums, they have 5 major nations, union has the edge in back row and set piece play.

A lot of the union teams have RL defensive coaches, they dont make more 1 on 1 tackles than RL. If our props are just battering rams what are theirs, has he ever seen ruck play or the props leaning on the ruck having a rest. They too have probably 3 major nations, Aus, NZ and SA. If the French union hadnt stolen all the French RL money and property, it would be a much stronger RL nation. England are not a major nation, they won the world cup yes but how many times. They picked RL coaches and players to give themselves the best chance of winning it. They will not win the next world cup and Burgess wont be the answer because the rest of the team isnt good enough. They have the edge in back row and set plays is the funniest thing Ive read, most tries in RL are set plays and our back rowers are more skilful and agile than unions.

[OAMJSONA]

Kick & clap nuff said

[devon jim 1]

Saw England play Wales at Cardiff Arms Park - The Welsh National anthem was the highlight of the game for me - tremendous - all down hill after that. Off to compare the Donkey Derby with the Cheltenham Gold cup now. In the words of John Macenroe Bath fan cannot be serious :exc: Can he?

[menpond]

Back in 1966 Prime Ministers worried on the potential reverberations of England winning the Football world cup. Politics was dirty at that time,before the Soviet Union collapsed,and we were still in post war squalor.Anyway ,we won the Cup, and politics continued as per usual till M THATCHER appeared ,for good or bad. Now in NZ the ALLBLACKS are de facto royalty and religion, and notorious chokers in WRU world cups. They were never going to lose at home that autumn.

[josie andrews]

Back in 1966 Prime Ministers worried on the potential reverberations of England winning the Football world cup.< Yes we were quite good> Politics was dirty at that time,before the Soviet Union collapsed,and we were still in post war squalor.Anyway ,we won the Cup, and politics continued as per usual till M THATCHER appeared ,for good or bad. Now in NZ the ALLBLACKS are de facto royalty and religion, and notorious chokers in WRU world cups. They were never going to lose at home that autumn.

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