Lifetime armchair league fan chooses to play rugby

[kiwi_man]

yeah i agree
moffo, are you really proud :shock:
lol

 

[screeny]

Like someone said, its about what postion you play. For example centres (like me) get much more ball time in Union then centre at League

I was a centre too and I touched the ball far more in league than in union.

League centres, sorry, make that league players, touch the ball far more often than rah rahs.

 

[screeny]

Generally speaking I think RL requires more fitness but I wouldn't agree that it is tougher.

Of course RL's tougher, in every aspect!

For a start there's:

1. Less players, so more running for everyone

2. 10-metre offside gap, so even more running for everyone

3. The offside gap means greater need for speed in attack to exploit a retreating defence, meaning more athletic and faster players

4. Point 3 dictates that defences need to be faster to negate a rapidly advancing attack, meaning even more athletic and faster players

5 The offside gap means there is more chance of high speed collisions in the tackle, as oppose to RU defences just having to retreat behind the back foot to be onside.

6. The ball is in play far, far longer in RL than it is in RU, and combined with the above points this exacerbates the physical superiority that league indubitably has over union.

OK rah rahs, let's hear you, how is union more physical than league? It's impossible to defend the indefensible.

 

[Te Kaha]

Try having eight 100K P.I. players from Poneke clean their boots on your back, legs, arms, feet and hands. Being at the bottom of a ruck isn't for the faint hearted.

ahhh those where the days.

 

[bayrep]

Try the boys from Morewa, We used to call them the all blacks as they just seemed to mow us down and thats when we were trying to tackle them :lol: . Of course our uniforms were white and blue so they used to call us the smurfs and after playing them it felt like it .

 

[ThrashViking]

Try having eight 100K P.I. players from Poneke clean their boots on your back, legs, arms, feet and hands. Being at the bottom of a ruck isn't for the faint hearted.

ahhh those where the days.

Im hearing ya,Poneke are the scum of Wellington rugby without a doubt
Theres always taunts of 'honky' yelled at the white guys playing against them
They didnt deserve to beat MSP in the club final either,Bloody crappy refs!

 

[ripper]

Like someone said, its about what postion you play. For example centres (like me) get much more ball time in Union then centre at League

I was a centre too and I touched the ball far more in league than in union.

League centres, sorry, make that league players, touch the ball far more often than rah rahs.

I got jackshit ball time in League.. Although I play 2nd Five Eight in Union so im genreally either the 1st or 2nd receiver.

 

[Sydney Carton]

I'll be playing prop unless i can make some more kilos disappear fast.

Thanks for the input guys.

as a first timer Union probably did seem a little less daunting as someone pointed out there is a social level of union but not league. (although the Ipswich RL are starting up a social grade this year.)

Off to training now......

 

[screeny]

Try having eight 100K P.I. players from Poneke clean their boots on your back, legs, arms, feet and hands. Being at the bottom of a ruck isn't for the faint hearted.

ahhh those where the days.

Since when do all eight members of the opposition pack all make contact with their boots to your body at a ruck? Perhaps.....hhmmmm....never?

So you're saying that being at the bottom of the ruck outweighs, in terms of physicality, the points I listed above to support league's physical superiority argument?

A very weak argument and you know it.

 

[Auckland4ever]

Try having eight 100K P.I. players from Poneke clean their boots on your back, legs, arms, feet and hands. Being at the bottom of a ruck isn't for the faint hearted.

ahhh those where the days.

heh heh. I remember seeing a guy choking on an earlobe he accidentally bit off another guy in a ruck. Then there was the Buck Shelford testicle-out-of-sack incident.

 

[Te Kaha]

Try having eight 100K P.I. players from Poneke clean their boots on your back, legs, arms, feet and hands. Being at the bottom of a ruck isn't for the faint hearted.

ahhh those where the days.

Since when do all eight members of the opposition pack all make contact with their boots to your body at a ruck? Perhaps.....hhmmmm....never?

Don't babble about what you don't know. New Zealand Club Rugby is nowhere as clean as what is broadcast on TV. The Refs are old school. If you dive in over the ball your fair game. And the Poneke boys took great delight in inflicting pain.

So you're saying that being at the bottom of the ruck outweighs, in terms of physicality, the points I listed above to support league's physical superiority argument?

A very weak argument and you know it.

Grow up. I don't feel the need to compare the games in the usual "my dick is bigger than yours". Each game has its good and bad points. I played both codes for allmost 25 years and never felt the need to justiy my love for both codes until I started talking to Australians. (worse mistake I ever made).

People who try for the one up manship that you try are as lame as those putting the boot into League in the SMH.

 

[ozbash]

i reckon TK.

screeny, i wonder if you know what the hell you are talking about or have never been trapped on the wrong side of a ruck...

good luck stewbum,, look after yr neck.

 

[screeny]

Ozbash and Te Kaha.

If you want to get insulting, fine. Get stuffed the pair of you. Is that ok?? I've played far more union than league, by the way.

I know, and you know, that league is far more physical than union. You see, it's not even a matter of opinion. The points I listed, and which you sectacularly failed to address, point to league being, by way of THE LAWS OF THE GAME, more physical than union.

This is what kills me about rah rah tits like you: 'rugby' has got this internationial reputation for being a tough sport to play. But RU fans all know that league is by far the more physical, taxing game to play and you're all insecure about that fact.

Te Kaha. No one's asking you to choose your preference. But both sports can't be identical in terms of physicality, though, can they? One's got to be tougher than the other, surely?

I don't know one dual code int'l who has EVER said union is tougher than league but I know several who have said that league is by far tougher than union. Again, you know this and all rah rah fans know this but you're too insecure to admit it publicly. Most of my chums freely admit that union isn't as hard as league, even though they're union fans. They prefer it for other reasons, wich is their prerogative.

Te Kaha, you mention NZ club rugby being not as clean as the televised rah rah. So, what you're actually saying is that it's violent? What's that got to do with sport?

I asked you which was the more physical sport, I didn't ask if NZ club rugby refs allow its players to stretch the rules and introduce otherwise unacceptable levels of violence into the matches.

If a Lancashire RL competition had refs who allowed mass violence does that make league officially tougher than union? Of course not. Citing a regional comp as the reason why union is supposedly harder than league is risible.

I was talking about the laws of the game and you brought up some regional variation of rah rah as an example of just how tough you rugger boys are!

Typical rah rahs: when faced with an entirely matter-of-fact, point by point argument of why league is tougher than union (i.e. because of its laws and therefore its intrinsic nature) you are unable to meet this rationale head on and instead cite irrelevant examples - in your case of pseudo illegal rah rah behaviour in NZ club rugby.

"Ever been on the wrong side of a ruck?" Is that the best union can do? Pathetic, fellas, truly pathetic.

And leet me say that for a moderator you're quite rude and unpleasant.

 

[Auckland4ever]

Ozbash is a rah rah? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Screeny, I'm not having a go at you, but why is it such a big deal which is tougher? Personally, I think overall league is tougher, but there are plenty of dangers in union that shouldnt be brushed off. Lets not forget how many guys have died or been paralysed in scrums. The point of this thread was for people to highlight pros & cons for playing both.
I guess the secret to survival for a guy like Stewbum, who is new to a sport is mainly down to how well he masters the different techniques within the game, so really, weighing up the pros & cons for either is mostly relative.

 

[Anonymous]

Having played both, but predominately being a union boy, I have to say that you need to be a hell of a lot fitter to play league. No doubt. But as far as toughness goes, I've got to say Union on that one. Both are great games to play and it comes down to what you enjoy. Being a prop/2nd rower God only knows how I managed to enjoy union.

 

[screeny]

Ozbash is a rah rah? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Screeny, I'm not having a go at you, but why is it such a big deal which is tougher? Personally, I think overall league is tougher, but there are plenty of dangers in union that shouldnt be brushed off. Lets not forget how many guys have died or been paralysed in scrums. The point of this thread was for people to highlight pros & cons for playing both.
I guess the secret to survival for a guy like Stewbum, who is new to a sport is mainly down to how well he masters the different techniques within the game, so really, weighing up the pros & cons for either is mostly relative.

The risk of paralysis doesn't make a game tough, does it?

The laws of league make it a harder physical sport to play. Full stop. If union fans prefer union fair play to them, but I laugh when they're not secure enough in their 'love' of their own sport to admit that it's the physical inferior of the two.

People who claim union is tougher are apologists. It's staated clearly in black and white (in the laws of the game) that league has to be tougher than union due to the points I listed above and which Te Kaha didn't address, instead bringing up the example of NZ club rugby being a bit dirty as proof of RU's inherent toughness.

Why is it important? Well, I'm a league fan and I don't like union and it makes me laugh to read union fans pathetic attempts at justifying their own sport's physical toughness compared to league.

Please don't take this as a glib comment, either. I'd like Te Kaha and other rah rahs give me a matter-of-fact set of reasons why union is tougher than league. I've done so for league over union but - surprise surprise - no takers for the defence of union.

 

[Thomas]

Jesus Screeny...my sport is tougher than your sport. So bloody what? Boxing is tougher than RL, but you don't hear them taunting you. RL players are bloody wusses when compared to boxing...you..you..RL apologist.

 

[Auckland4ever]

I think its because most of us dont care which is tougher. In my experience, neither holds a candle to boxing, but thats got nothing to do with why I enjoy sport in general.
I never said paralysis or death makes a sport tougher, it makes it dangerous & that is a negative. The thread was supposed to be about the positives & negatives of playing either code.

 

[Sydney Carton]

Ozbash is a rah rah? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Screeny, I'm not having a go at you, but why is it such a big deal which is tougher? Personally, I think overall league is tougher, but there are plenty of dangers in union that shouldnt be brushed off. Lets not forget how many guys have died or been paralysed in scrums. The point of this thread was for people to highlight pros & cons for playing both.
I guess the secret to survival for a guy like Stewbum, who is new to a sport is mainly down to how well he masters the different techniques within the game, so really, weighing up the pros & cons for either is mostly relative.

Exactly.....

And by all indications I'm in big trouble come Feb 20 for our first trial :lol:

Loving it though. Cant believe I sat on my arse all these years when I could have been playing.... :roll:

 

[Thomas]

You know, I played Aussie Rules for the first time in my life last year. I have never been so flogged before in my life. I was knackered after the first 1/4 and the hits (especially the sheperds off the ball) were more ferocious than any I got playing league. At least in RL and RU you know where the tackle is going to come from. With Aussie Rules you can get smashed from any angle.

But like RL and RU...its a different sport. I thought the cross code challenge last year proved that.