Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:26 pm  

suffolk rhinos wrote:

opinions are like arseholes, everybody has one, mediocre tackling you obviously didn,t wales vs boks on saturday, ferocious tackling and hitting. brad barrit having stitches on his stitches for england, never understand why some league fans seem to belittle union, you don't see much of the reverse from union fans, small man syndrome maybe ps i love both games but prefer top class league to union

One England player had wrote in one of the Sunday papers (can't remember which) was "monumental" for making something like 18 tackles!

Crazy

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:39 pm  

Lawrie L wrote:

Has it worked in Newcastle? Yes they've had success but whenever I've been in Newcastle I don't think ive seen any Newcastle RU merchandise been worn anywhere and the ground never looks that full on tv

You should know of course that its a hard core football region but since they moved to Kingston Park they've averaged around the 7000 mark pretty consistently which clearly makes the thing sustainable - like the Rhinos they have always favoured a Friday night game which doesn't help away supporters that much, especially not when most of those supporters have nearly a full days travel to get to you (you don't just pop along the M62 to support a team in RU), but a Friday night in the South Stand at Kingston Park (yes, the South Stand is also the place to be although its behind the posts) is superb, good beer and a hog roast, read it and weep

Give it a go next time you're up there, its on a Metro line not too far out of the city centre and as always they are a friendly bunch.


Oh, I forgot the hot tub, yes you can pay to sit in a hot tub and watch the game, seriously.

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:44 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

You should know of course that its a hard core football region but since they moved to Kingston Park they've averaged around the 7000 mark pretty consistently which clearly makes the thing sustainable - like the Rhinos they have always favoured a Friday night game which doesn't help away supporters that much, especially not when most of those supporters have nearly a full days travel to get to you (you don't just pop along the M62 to support a team in RU), but a Friday night in the South Stand at Kingston Park (yes, the South Stand is also the place to be although its behind the posts) is superb, good beer and a hog roast, read it and weep

Give it a go next time you're up there, its on a Metro line not too far out of the city centre and as always they are a friendly bunch.

Yeah I'm up there this weekend but there not playing (typical) it's on the airport line IIRC?


To be fair they probably are doing alright given what's against them

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:49 pm  

suffolk rhinos wrote:

opinions are like arseholes, everybody has one, mediocre tackling you obviously didn,t wales vs boks on saturday, ferocious tackling and hitting. brad barrit having stitches on his stitches for england, never understand why some league fans seem to belittle union, you don't see much of the reverse from union fans, small man syndrome maybe ps i love both games but prefer top class league to union

I belittle Union, as you put it, because I believe it to be an inferior sport that has less skilled players playing it and tried for nearly a century to destroy rugby league. It's also a sport that benefits hugely from and is very closely allied to the public school network. A network that I detest.

When I talk of Union, I usually mean the pro side of it. The community/amateur side I find to be generally very good, at least in the Yorkshire/North East areas anyway.

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:56 pm  

Lawrie L wrote:

Yeah I'm up there this weekend but there not playing (typical) it's on the airport line IIRC?


To be fair they probably are doing alright given what's against them

Yep, one stop before the airport.

I had the pleasure of watching Jonny Wilkinson return from injury in a home game at Kingston Park, he took one penalty kick after about ten minutes and missed it and then five minutes later got injured again, the substitute who replaced him for the rest of the game kicked every single attempt and played like a man possessed, I think that was when he decided a life in the south of France might be nice, or Nice.

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 10:05 pm  

Him wrote:

It's sh|t to watch and, despite improvement, still has very mediocre tackling, passing, handling and attacking movement skills, even at international level.

I have always thought Union is better to watch on TV and awful to watch live. As a player and qualified coach I still can't watch a game live just for the game.
However, the spaces and pauses in the game suit TV. The close up TV angles allow you to see what you can't see live.
League is far better to watch live - no contest. But if you add the whole match day experience then it's hard to say. I have had some great days out at big league games, but the best day was me and my 9 year old at Twickenham two years ago for his first international.

Union in this country has issues with ball handling, especially finishing breaks- too easy to go to ground and let someone else make the decision. Most players have no clue what to do if they make a break into open space and support play isn't as good. There is a reason for this, support players in league can afford to overrun the ball carrier if he's tackled, in Union the first man there has to always compete for the ball so support players are not looking to get on the end of a possible offload or break, they are looking to clean out after the ball carrier is tackled. As a result they arrive late - too late to back up a clean break.
The RFU is trying to change the junior game to produce players who are first and foremost ball handlers.

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 10:25 pm  

DHM wrote:

I have always thought Union is better to watch on TV and awful to watch live. As a player and qualified coach I still can't watch a game live just for the game.
However, the spaces and pauses in the game suit TV. The close up TV angles allow you to see what you can't see live.
League is far better to watch live - no contest. But if you add the whole match day experience then it's hard to say. I have had some great days out at big league games, but the best day was me and my 9 year old at Twickenham two years ago for his first international.

Union in this country has issues with ball handling, especially finishing breaks- too easy to go to ground and let someone else make the decision. Most players have no clue what to do if they make a break into open space and support play isn't as good. There is a reason for this, support players in league can afford to overrun the ball carrier if he's tackled, in Union the first man there has to always compete for the ball so support players are not looking to get on the end of a possible offload or break, they are looking to clean out after the ball carrier is tackled. As a result they arrive late - too late to back up a clean break.
The RFU is trying to change the junior game to produce players who are first and foremost ball handlers.

I'd agree with all that, and Twickenham definitely seems to have the "event/experience" thing nailed, which at least partly explains why so many of the people who attend Twickenham games wouldn't go to club games.
I agree on the skills, it's something i think the RFU has been incredibly slow to pick up on. I think they thought that simply turning pro would solve the problem, or maybe they just didn't get why those skills are important until relatively recently. It infuriates me when I see some Union attacking lines where you can just see that the players involved really have little idea what to do. Especially when you see some All Blacks attacks where they prove that you CAN attack "properly".
Unfortunately England (and too many Premiership teams) still seem wedded to the idea of rolling mauls as their "best" way to score a try.

I also think they keep signing the wrong RL players. Burgess might garner some headlines and he'll probably do ok, but I think there are other far better suited players out there.

I'll just repeat that I thoroughly enjoyed playing amateur Union, much more so than League.
Union is far better at developing interest in the sport as a whole, League is much more based around the pro clubs.

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:06 pm  

I am not surprised that The RU team can't attract crowds bits and it is bits what I've seen at Headingley is awful

Re: Sam Burgess : Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:42 pm  

suffolk rhinos wrote:

england losing to NZ at league was not a big headline, as stated the only big headline for RL lately was Flowers punch

One I heard most recently in RU was the fans aiming homophobic abuse at the referee.

Re: Sam Burgess : Tue Dec 02, 2014 12:08 am  

southern_rhino wrote:

damned right! absolute stormer of a game. tackled everything and anything put in front of him. the issue i have with the anti-union brigade on here is that they have no idea about how to play the game, yet feel that its a crap game.
its not league, there for its not about breaking tackles and getting 50 meters down the field to score a try. union is much more of a team effort.
the stuff that goes on in the ruck will have flown you guys by. the ones who say chris robshaw is a crap player, but the stuff he does in the ruck makes him an exceptional player and most RU games are won there.
either watch the game with your eyes fully open then comment on it, or dont bother!.

Ooooooooh get you.
All very noble that last line if I could believe you or the others defending RU have never criticised a sport that you haven't played and don't have a true appreciation of.

I've not seen any comment on here that's been anything more than a light hearted pi** take so untwist the knickers.