Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:01 pm  

Mr Churchill wrote:

I honestly didn't see him have to make a tackle.

What I did think at the time (given that Union play him as a centre) was that he was very near those pile-ups that occur in Union when there is a tackle / voluntary tackle. But I didn't see him actually need to stop anybody.

Accept I could be wrong as I wasn't there and am therefore at the mercy of the angles and action chosen by the TV director. I wiz through a recording of the match to try to miss out those long periods when the TV director is showing replays when there is nothing actually happening on the pitch (and that happens a lot of the time) & I wiz through the match up to the point that Sam comes on.

As an aside, interesting to hear the Union commentators saying they hadn't seen a scrum that hadn't either had to be 're-set' or ended up with a penalty, that the scrum was "an important part of the game" but also it is "a blot on the game" and "something has to be done about it". Get shut of those "wing forwards" for a start I'd suggest and play 13 a side.
Aside 2. I had to laugh when a guy got sin-binned for tackling an opponent who had the ball! I kid you not. To be fair and to clarify, the guy with the ball was surrounded by his own players in the middle of a "maul" and, apparently, you are not allowed to tackle the ball carrier in those circumstances [Insert your own smilies as appropriate!]

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:08 pm  

Mr Churchill wrote:

I honestly didn't see him have to make a tackle.

What I did think at the time (given that Union play him as a centre) was that he was very near those pile-ups that occur in Union when there is a tackle / voluntary tackle. But I didn't see him actually need to stop anybody.

Accept I could be wrong as I wasn't there and am therefore at the mercy of the angles and action chosen by the TV director. I wiz through a recording of the match to try to miss out those long periods when the TV director is showing replays when there is nothing actually happening on the pitch (and that happens a lot of the time) & I wiz through the match up to the point that Sam comes on.

As an aside, interesting to hear the Union commentators saying they hadn't seen a scrum that hadn't either had to be 're-set' or ended up with a penalty, that the scrum was "an important part of the game" but also it is "a blot on the game" and "something has to be done about it". Get shut of those "wing forwards" for a start I'd suggest and play 13 a side.
Aside 2. I had to laugh when a guy got sin-binned for tackling an opponent who had the ball! I kid you not. To be fair and to clarify, the guy with the ball was surrounded by his own players in the middle of a "maul" and, apparently, you are not allowed to tackle the ball carrier in those circumstances [Insert your own smilies as appropriate!]

The union boys love all that scrimmaging stuff and the notice technical stuff in those "pile up's" that you refer to.
In the interest's of balance, maybe gutters could take you to a couple of union games and properly explain to you exactly what is going on.

Burgess for sure will be one very happy customer though, he is making his wages far easier than he was in league.
Much as we may be disappointed, League had many, many years plundering some of the Union talent (before it turned pro ) and what goes round comes round.

We have to find more effective ways of marketing league and expanding the game, both in terms of domestic and more importantly on the international stage, where sadly, we are light years behind kick and clap.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:24 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

, maybe gutters could take you to a couple of union games and properly explain to you exactly what is going on.

I haven't been to a game of union other than an international test since 1988.......i have no love of union and especially not their scrums, but I do understand that their administrators are lightyears ahead of ours......theyre that good they managed to get a poster here to pay for a channel to watch a sport he hates.....and even after 6 weeks of supposedly giving 4 weeks notice he's still glued to the set!

[PopTart]

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:10 am  

To me the RU and RL debate is all about money and marketing.
No one will ever really convince someone on the other side that their game is better. There is a lot of history and pride at stake for that to happen.
But good marketing may convince someone to be more interested in the other game.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:04 pm  

PopTart wrote:

To me the RU and RL debate is all about money and marketing.
No one will ever really convince someone on the other side that their game is better. There is a lot of history and pride at stake for that to happen.
But good marketing may convince someone to be more interested in the other game.

Sums it up well.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Thu Jan 29, 2015 12:02 pm  

PopTart wrote:

To me the RU and RL debate is all about money and marketing.
No one will ever really convince someone on the other side that their game is better. There is a lot of history and pride at stake for that to happen.
But good marketing may convince someone to be more interested in the other game.

Correct.

Interesting that this week Calendar news have been running a feature about the RU world cup which doesn't get underway until September. However, there has been no mention of the start of the professional RL season which is just over a week away, with a good percentage of teams competing being from the Calendar region.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Thu Jan 29, 2015 5:42 pm  

King Street Cat wrote:

Correct.

Interesting that this week Calendar news have been running a feature about the RU world cup which doesn't get underway until September. However, there has been no mention of the start of the professional RL season which is just over a week away, with a good percentage of teams competing being from the Calendar region.

What new season?

I haven't heard or seen anything about it!

What is it?

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Thu Jan 29, 2015 7:12 pm  

Good point, where are the ads for RL from Sky? I haven't seen a single one (but I'm good at avoiding ads) and wouldn't it be nice to see Sky doing something. Better get on the blower to the BBC and mention that there's something that could be on the radio sport news that's worth a mention.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:36 pm  

Precariously clinging to the will to live after enduring watching on Sky the utter garbage from start to finish that was the latest Union match in which Burgess participated never mind to attempt any sort of analysis. Goodness knows what Sam's private thoughts on the frustration of it all must be. At least we've got the Auckland Nines upcoming on Premier Sports to reinvigourate the spirits.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:15 pm  

Apparently he's getting loads of banter off his mates at South Sydney, he made a grand total of 15metres in one of his latest RU matches and has been on the end of some jokes from Australia.