Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:47 pm  

galliant wrote:

Burgess put in a couple of good hits but was average elsewhere and for me shouldn't be in the RWC squad. It's all about opinions though. Agree about Slade though, he's an intelligent player and a star in the making. Just wish he was Welsh!

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:47 pm  

Congratulations to big Sam on his selection to the final 31 WC squad. Quite an achievement in such a short time. I hope he gets the chance to impress on the big stage and wave the flag for League.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:16 am  

Person doing a job.

This seems to be normal.

Why is this seen as a problem for some?

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sat Aug 29, 2015 8:17 am  

What a waste of "rugby" talent.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:06 pm  

Juan Cornetto wrote:

Congratulations to big Sam on his selection to the final 31 WC squad. Quite an achievement in such a short time. I hope he gets the chance to impress on the big stage and wave the flag for League.

No he is waving the flag for rugby union. Never understood why league fans think that league players playing union is somehow good for our sport.

When he first signed for bath I heard Brian noble and others say how if he plays at Twickenham in s world cup it would be great for rugby league.

Where do people get these crazy ideas from? It's more inferior complex and basically saying that a rugby league player is not big until he puts on an England rugby union Jersey.

Can't imagine the media and fans in Sydney are saying that Sam burgess playing union for England is great for rugby league.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:24 pm  

Agreed.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:27 pm  

kobashi wrote:

No he is waving the flag for rugby union. Never understood why league fans think that league players playing union is somehow good for our sport.

When he first signed for bath I heard Brian noble and others say how if he plays at Twickenham in s world cup it would be great for rugby league.

Where do people get these crazy ideas from? It's more inferior complex and basically saying that a rugby league player is not big until he puts on an England rugby union Jersey.

Can't imagine the media and fans in Sydney are saying that Sam burgess playing union for England is great for rugby league.

The reason is simple if you take off your Stevie Wonder's. Rugby Union outside of Sydney is a massively more popular sport with a huge worldwide TV audience.

Therefore just as Jason Robinson's success over a decade ago was good for Rugby League. Sam Burgess has had more mentions and national sports headlines in the last week than the SL has done all year. In each case his former League CV is rolled out for all to read therefore if he achieves some success in his short and limited Union career this will reflect well on his RL upbringing.

RL has such a low media profile that the BBC, on the day they relied on our Challenge Cup final to fill their Saturday BBC1 afternoon programne could not find any time to promote it on all their Breakfast time every 20 minute sports slots. Most national newspapers do not even cover SL.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:39 pm  

Which doesn't alter the fact that the clear sub-text as presented to the media re Burgess (and as it was with Robinson in his time) is

"good league player, yes, but can he hack it at the 'proper' version of the sport?". This patronising view is not good for RL.

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Aug 30, 2015 5:15 pm  

moto748 wrote:

Which doesn't alter the fact that the clear sub-text as presented to the media re Burgess (and as it was with Robinson in his time) is

"good league player, yes, but can he hack it at the 'proper' version of the sport?". This patronising view is not good for RL.

Which is precisely why I said "I hope he gets the chance to impress on the big stage and wave the flag for League."

Because if he did show what he can really do then this would make so many of the League blind media pundits have to eat their words!

Re: Sam Burgess Union debut : Sun Aug 30, 2015 5:25 pm  

It is of course dreadful for rugby league. To think otherwise is stupid. A lot of British RL's major stars have came from RU in the past. Now that the best of our small talent pool goes to play another game or to play in Australia is dreadful for the British game, which is going backwards at a great rate of knots.