Last night Wallaby loss shows why Union the inferior game

[roopy]

We don't have a list from the Queensland cup, English division one, Bartercard cup, French comp etc etc etc who all have all or some of their players semi-professional.

 

[herbert henry1908]

people seriously miss the point when they criticise the size of the rugby league world cup.

NO ONE has ever claimed its as big as the union equivelant , offcourse it isnt.

but it isnt as far off as some would have you believe. Its an absolute myth that union is a big international sport. Basketball and cricket absolutley dwarf union in terms of player numbers and money.

and even if the rugby league world cup is small , so what! it shouldnt stop us from having it and being proud of it.

 

[roopy]

Well there a good enough reason to support England (Ranked 7th)
Only 2 wins away from Roopy putting a gun to his head.:lol: :lol: :lol:

union rankings are bullsh*t. Half the time they play halfarsed teams on tours etc.
There are only five teams worth a pinch of sh*t - NZ, Aus, SA, Eng and France - you will never see a side other than those five win a union WC as long as your arse points to the ground.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

FFS, they have now got a pro team in the SL, give them a few seasons and they'll be back up with the top 3. :roll:

Not that long ago, GB got beat by 60 odd points by Australia, in the Tri Nations final a few years ago, GB got done 44-4, are GB not one of the top sides?

Last game Aus played against France was 12-44, yet GB getting beat by more is better.

Last game NZ beat France was 22-38, yet they were not a pro team, give them a few seasons to get use to being fully pro.

2004, NZ beat France 20-24, that same year, Australia smashed the poms 44-4.

When Australia beat France in 2004, it was 30-52, are you saying France are better than GB because they managed to score 26 more points than the poms?

 

[Johns Magic]

Ah yes, so France did beat Australia within the last thirty years. Twenty-nine years and ten months ago to be exact :lol:

And again, yes, France did beat England in the 1990's. Once, in April of 1990. The rest of the decade, well...:lol:

If that's the fourth best nation in league, then you're in trouble.

 

[Butters]

We don't have a list from the Queensland cup, English division one, Bartercard cup, French comp etc etc etc who all have all or some of their players semi-professional.

So in order to make up a tournament of 10 international teams they're going to select players from 2nd and 3rd rate comps from Australia and England to represent a country that their only link to is more than likely there grandparents? Yep Rugby League is a juggernaught when it comes to the international level.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Ah yes, so France did beat Australia within the last thirty years. Twenty-nine years and ten months ago to be exact :lol:

And again, yes, France did beat England in the 1990's. Once, in April of 1990. The rest of the decade, well...:lol:

If that's the fourth best nation in league, then you're in trouble.

And you're an arrogant little sh*t, give the frogs a few seasons of PRO footy and watch them bounce back.

 

[Crippler]

can someone please tell what is so wrong with League scrums?

just watching union world cup i reckon 80% of scrums are pulled up for rotating or collapsing with a high chance of the repeat happening and a penalty given followed by a boring penalty goal.


whereas league scrum would be pulled up probably about 20% of time and alot of times results in great set moves for spectacular tries.

e.g. the beautiful Hodgeson try in 2005 semi with marshall at lock sprinting from back to step a couple of players to put a flying Hodgeson thru a hole to score a great try.

They trialled uncontested scrums in super 14 recently i think and it got the game going alot more quicker.

 

[roopy]

So in order to make up a tournament of 10 international teams they're going to select players from 2nd and 3rd rate comps from Australia and England to represent a country that their only link to is there grandparents? Yep Rugby League is a juggernaught when it comes to the international level.

The players will mostly come from the top level comps - and a hell of a lot of them will be born in the countries they represent - nearly as many as the Union WC who have the equivalent of three teams of Kiwi born, and two teams of SA and Aus born players running around - giving them a Namibia team that is nearly all S African, a Japan side with nearly as many tongans as Japs, a USA side with its best player born in Qld etc etc etc

 

[herbert henry1908]

Ah yes, so France did beat Australia within the last thirty years. Twenty-nine years and ten months ago to be exact :lol:

And again, yes, France did beat England in the 1990's. Once, in April of 1990. The rest of the decade, well...:lol:

If that's the fourth best nation in league, then you're in trouble.

stop talking rubbish.

how many times have england won a game of union on Australian soil?

what about scotland/ireland and wales ? whats there record like against Australia? arent these the best teams oustide of the big 5?

when has a second tier team in union ever done anything special at a world cup? besides from the first two world cups when south africa was missing none of them have ever made the semis , altough that was back in the day when scotland and wales were considered top countries. however this will change this year.

union have 5 or 6 countriies , the rest are pretenders.

 

[Butters]

League scrums arent scrums, a scrum is where 2 forward packs contest for the ball. A league scrum is when 2 forward packs touch each other for a bit then break before the balls even out.

 

[herbert henry1908]

So in order to make up a tournament of 10 international teams they're going to select players from 2nd and 3rd rate comps from Australia and England to represent a country that their only link to is more than likely there grandparents? Yep Rugby League is a juggernaught when it comes to the international level.

sorry mate but your a moron.

no one involved in Rugby league has ever claimed that its some big international sport.

however some astute observers have pointed out that union isnt that much bigger.

 

[Butters]

when has a second tier team in union ever done anything special at a world cup? besides from the first two world cups when south africa was missing none of them have ever made the semis , altough that was back in the day when scotland and wales were considered top countries. however this will change this year.

Fiji made the finals for the first time since 1987. Argentina beat France in the opening match and are on their way to their first ever Semi Final if they beat Scotland.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Fiji made the finals for the first time since 1987. Argentina beat France in the opening match and are on their way to their first ever Semi Final if they beat Scotland.

making the quarter finals isnt that special and if you re-read my post i already acknowledged that Argentina or scotland would make it this year.

still this will be the first time when all of the top 5 countries were present that one of the second tier teams will make it to the semis.

once doesnt make it some big international sport.

 

[Butters]

sorry mate but your a moron.

no one involved in Rugby league has ever claimed that its some big international sport.

however some astute observers have pointed out that union isnt that much bigger.

The way alot of people here talk down the Union world cup you'd think that League would have some sort of huge tournament made up of homegrown players from all around the world.

 

[Butters]

making the quarter finals isnt that special

So making the top 8 out of 20 isnt an achievement? Fiji dont even have a professional comp of their own and the closest thing they have to one is playing Tonga, Samoa, Japan, Australia A and the Junior All Blacks. They even had to beat Wales to make the Finals and you don't think its an achievement?

 

[Johns Magic]

union rankings are bullsh*t. Half the time they play halfarsed teams on tours etc.
There are only five teams worth a pinch of sh*t - NZ, Aus, SA, Eng and France - you will never see a side other than those five win a union WC as long as your arse points to the ground.

Firstly, that's two more teams worth a pinch of sh*t than in league.

Secondly, there are so many other competitive nations.

Argentina beat France earlier in the world cup, and France then went on to knock out the heavyweights NZ. Argentina have now won 5of their last 6 against France. Argentina also beat England last time they played them, and only lost by 6 to the All Blacks in their last encounter.

Ireland are out of form at the moment, but last year they beat South Africa, England and Australia, all by 15-30 points. They only lost to France by three points.

Last year Wales beat Argentina and England and tied with Australia.

Even countries like Tonga only lost to South Africa in the world cup by 5 points.

You don't get that in league.

 

[herbert henry1908]

So making the top 8 out of 20 isnt an achievement? Fiji dont even have a professional comp of their own and the closest thing they have to one is playing Tonga, Samoa, Japan, Australia A and the Junior All Blacks. They even had to beat Wales to make the Finals and you don't think its an achievement?

it may be an achievment for them but it is hardly 'special'

escpecially when you consider they only had to beat one decent team to make it there , and its a massive stretch calling wales decent these days.

 

[Johns Magic]

how many times have england won a game of union on Australian soil?

You don't remember the last rugby union world cup grand-final?

what about scotland/ireland and wales ? whats there record like against Australia? arent these the best teams oustide of the big 5?

Last year Ireland beat Australia, England and South Africa all by 15-30 points, and only lost to France by three.

Wales drew with Australia last year and beat England.

Argentina are one of the best outside the top 5, and they've beaten France five times in their last six matches. They also beat England last time they played them, and only lost to NZ by six poins and South Africa by 11 last time they played.

when has a second tier team in union ever done anything special at a world cup? besides from the first two world cups when south africa was missing none of them have ever made the semis.

Argentina will be in the semi-finals after tonight.

There have been plenty of upsets from nations outside the top 5 in world cups.

 

[herbert henry1908]

The way alot of people here talk down the Union world cup you'd think that League would have some sort of huge tournament made up of homegrown players from all around the world.

that may be how some people like you interpet it , but from experience its simply a result of people with half a brain challenging the idea that union is a big and competitive international sport.

sure they have a few more competitive countries but its not that much bigger that its worth bragging about.