The Northern & Southern hemisphere Rugby union thread (6 Nations,Super Rugby,sevens)

[Iceman]

Quite interesting all this talk of teams I've hardly ever seen play outside of World Cups. Wish we could see everyone play everyone.

 

[Kaleb]

I really wish club rugby teams from the north and southern hemisphere could play against each other more often instead of just playing each other before their respected season starts.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Damn, Fiji beat that ass. New Zealand didn't how to react until Fiji was up 20+ points. Their open-field tackling and speed were awesome to watch.

 

[Hound55]

Not really an upset for 7s.

Fiji is a dominant 7s nation, just population wise they struggle to put out a full well-rounded 15s squad. Over the years they've had some of the most explosive individual players (particularly wings) in the world.

 

[Iceman]

7s is more about natural skills and allows teams who are good at running with the ball one on one a greater chance. 15s is much tighter and dependant on technical forward play and good tactics and kicking/decision making at fly half.

 

[Fallen Angel]

7s is more about natural skills and allows teams who are good at running with the ball one on one a greater chance. 15s is much tighter and dependant on technical forward play and good tactics and kicking at fly half.

This is why you should watch Rugby League.

 

[Iceman]

This is why you should watch Rugby League.

I watch some club rugby league which is really fun (just when I catch it, don't know much about it) but never see internationals. They don't seem to be covered by the media at all. At the same time I'm not too interested in club rugby union.

 

[Fallen Angel]

I watch some club rugby league which is really fun (just when I catch it, don't know much about it) but never see internationals. They don't seem to be covered by the media at all. At the same time I'm not too interested in club rugby union.

Rugby League internationals are usually on the BBC. Sometimes on Sky.

in the autumn England will play New Zealand in a 3 test series in England. It should be on the Beeb.

 

[Iceman]

Rugby League internationals are usually on the BBC. Sometimes on Sky.

in the autumn England will play New Zealand in a 3 test series in England. It should be on the Beeb.

Nice one, hopefully this thread is going then so I remember. I don't seem to see much news coverage of international rugby leagues in the papers or on general sports channels and sites. I'd be interested to check it out for sure.

 

[jmc]

League started to become robotic for me about 20 years ago. I still watch the NRL grand final and State of Origin but outside of that the game just became too repetitive with no variation in play for my liking.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Rugby union is robotic man.

Kick it into touch, line out, scrum, 50 phases and repeat the process. oh how can I forget penalties every 2 minutes.

 

[Iceman]

I like them both but I think the rwould be better if there was just one code, maybe like Union with a 6 phase limit. Whatever, some kind of combination, but having 2 codes weakens both IMO. Even much more popular sports would suffer, in football you'd have Ronaldo & Real Madrid in one code & Messi & Barcelona in another. And each country would have 2 teams. Imagine how crap England would be! t:

 

[Fallen Angel]

No thanks League is so much better and if they ever did merge ( It won't happen) but hypothetically speaking rather play with League rules.

 

[Iceman]

Which is actually more popular or are they roughly the same? I've never played rugby league. Used to play Union at school till 18.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Which is actually more popular or are they roughly the same? I've never played rugby league. Used to play Union at school till 18.

Depends.

In England and in Europe, Union is richer and the competition is far stronger. Down Under it's League.

 

[jmc]

Rugby union is robotic man.

Kick it into touch, line out, scrum, 50 phases and repeat the process. oh how can I forget penalties every 2 minutes.

That's very much an oversimplification of the sport. Rugby offers far more variation of style of play than what League can these days. The contest for possession in League has been stripped away over the last 20-30 years meaning there's no longer need to take risks. The fact the ball remains in play longer hides the fact that the playing style remains pretty much the same for all teams.

 

[jmc]

Which is actually more popular or are they roughly the same? I've never played rugby league. Used to play Union at school till 18.

Internationally it's Rugby by a country mile. The only two nations where it's not as popular as Rugby League is Australia and Papua New Guinea.

 

[Iceman]

Oh I kind of remember seeing some internationals years ago now that I think about it. Australia completely dominate international Rugby League right? I like UK club rugby league, more than Union. But international rugby union is great to watch.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Yes Australia have been the dominant team in International Rugby league for a while but New Zealand have won the odd Try Nations/4 Nations tournament and won the 2008 World Cup.

 

[Iceman]

Oh right. How often do you see a player switching codes during their career? I remember there were a couple of high profile ones but don't know if that was pretty much it or if it happens a fair bit. Guys who are good at one surely have a chance of being good at the other, depending on position of course.

 

[Fallen Angel]

There's more League to Union switches now as Union is a richer sport. But in the 80's and 90's it was Union players switching to League more.

 

[jmc]

Rugby was an amatuer sport until 1995 so the lure of the dollar was always on offer as League had been professional for well over a century. It's changed now, you can get seriously good money playing Rugby in France or Japan these days. There's no real lure for Rugby players anymore to make the switch other than trying out a new sport.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Sonny Bill Williams keeps switching like he's playing table tennis.

Though to be fair he is a freak of nature. Sam Burgess recently switched to Union as well.

 

[Iceman]

I'd kind of forgotten that it was ever amateur!

Just a shame as we won't see the very best players play against the best as they are split across 2 codes.

 

[jmc]

There have been times in the past where there were cross-code matches, but they really didn't prove anything other than Rugby players are good at playing Rugby and League players are better better at playing League. The games are really too different now and require different mentalities and skill sets from players. Fundamentally they are kind of the same, but only a few genuinely develop an understanding of both games and can easily switch between the two.