I guess if you bothered to listen to or read union hob nobs/journos in this country and NZ for decades, like the Eales, O'Neiils, Martins, Zavos, FitzSimons, Campese, and the last ARU CEO who got the flick(forgot his name, such was his impact), you may have some idea.
Oh the irony:-
Your point "probably best not to use the riches of another sport to bag Union...",when these union gimps are doing just that, by bagging rugby league.
What cave have you been hiding in?
They continually bagged rugby league's lack of International presence, and continually made out their code had this huge Global international presence,where 4.5bn watched their World Cups. When in fact they have a decent International presence ,but a huge Global presence is plain BS
Nothing wrong with Internationals ,and rugby league do have them albeit on a much smaller scale.