Lawrie L wrote:
Without slamming the past the Challenge Cup is almost becoming a burden. When two classic teams can't sell out Wembley it does say a lot.
Let's be honest here, where does RU largely make its money? Internationals
Now yes the new European tournament has arrived and is spangly and new but that takes interest away from the domestic leagues which aren't cracking flags.
Sam Burgess hasn't gone to Union to win the Premiership, nor the European cup. He's simply gone to try and win that World Cup in a year's time
I think you missed my point a bit here. There is truth in all those statements (well, hard to know about the last one, you'd have to ask Sam Burgess - off camera...). RU does make its money in internationals. RL does not. And it doesn't fail to make money in internationals because of the Challenge Cup. It fails to make money in internationals because the international scene is not competitive enough. The only teams that we can get excited about beating are on the other side of the world. There are only really 2 teams who can win a WC, with one (England) who you could say were an outside bet to pull off an upset. That has been true for a long time. Getting rid of the Challenge Cup would not fix those problems.
I think Sam Burgess is a pretty honest bloke, and I also think he recognises the size of the challenge he's just set himself. His talk at the moment is of trying to pin down a spot in Bath's team, before he starts thinking about England. That is not going to be easy at all.
I don't think he'll feature in the next World Cup. If he applies himself (as I'm sure he will) he could play a big part in the next one.