.......what a tedious game that was. Hate to think I'd payed to watch that.

TV detector van will get you if your not careful then.

...

....http://youtu.be/Rd55M-lNBIA

I have to admit that as a wet weather game it's a bit of a dead loss spectacle-wise.

Don't usually watch much rugby but caught some of it in the gym and it bored me senseless. Got the impression no one wanted to have the ball, just kept kicking it to the opposition? Was like watching us with Howard upfront tbh

When Brian Moore calls scrums today a joke, you can be pretty sure they are a joke.
The more rules they bring in, the more of a joke they become.

Back in the days, fiercely contested scrums where a highlight of the game, whether straight, wheeled or collapsed. Maybe 1 in 5 were reset.
And they had to put the ball in straight.

I thought the same yesterday, also watching in gym, I think I still don't understand the rules fully.


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i thought it was a cracking attritional game, that a young england team did superbly to win.

but then, i have played the game to a decent level.

To understand Rugby one needs to understand the indoor shower game of find the soap, played at one's school.
Oh and one mustn't refer to one's opponents or team mates as "blokes"....they are "chaps".

I was about to make that point Mr Derwent. In a wet game it's like chucking a newly caught squid at each other so they kick for distance and rely on the runners. If the pack cut the pitch up you don't know where the ball will bounce so it becomes a lottery.

League is just a line of 13 against a line of 13 over a fifty metre width. It doesn't flow, it's just a brute contest with few tactics.

anyone who relies on cracks about 'class' in rugby was probably too scared to play it.

As someone who has played rugby at as high a level as you can get in artlepool, I largely agree with Mr XL5. And I enjoy watching a good game of RL
But the 6 Nations is the 6 Nations and I enjoy it as a tournament, accepting the shite (modern scrum laws) and the dullness of wet weather games alongside the adrenaline raising moments.

They really do need to look seriously and radically at scrums tbough. And by that I don't mean the RL let's hold hands solution.

Trying to compare Rugby League and Union is like comparing Union to American Football. There is a similar core to the game but all three have evolved differently to meet what their respective players and supporters want from the game.

Yes, was thinking about that 'call for a mark' rule while watching the game, just prevents the idea of someone making a mistake, which spoils the uncertainty of it all. It's like Big Sam bringing an attacking cross down on his chest and stopping the game while he clears the football downfield.

I believe American football has a "fair catch" rule very similar to the mark. I also believe the occasions when it is useful are very scarce.

I have been to over 30 internationals at Twickenham, both the new stadium and the old one before it was rebuilt.
At least another 20 internationals at Murrayfield. I have seen internationals and Welsh cup finals at Cardiff Arms Park and the Millenium stadium.
I have been to two Varsity games at Twickenham.
I have watched West all over the country including Leicester, Northampton, Quins, Wasps, Nottingham, Bath, Bristol and Gloucester.
I was at Morley when John Hall tragically passed away as well as games at Wakefield, Rotherham and Doncaster.
I have been to Melbourne Rugby club in Australia as a guest of a past captain and was presented with their shirt.
I have been to various RL games and attended a RL challenge Cup final at Wembley.
I love watching live Rugby of both codes and enjoy both equally.
I agree Union is harder to understand than league and agree with the old adage that Union is a players game whereas league is more spectator friendly.
Rugby Union six nations matches are special and a great weekend away.
A friend of mine called John Mitchell once described a six nations match as an incident in a fun packed weekend away and I can't think of a better description.
Anyone who hasn't done it ought to seriously consider giving it a try ( no pun intended).

Typo in the above post.......I meant John Howe not Hall as stated.
Sorry about that.
I'll take more water with it.

The mark rule prevents teams from just hoofing the ball miles into the air and it dropping inside the 22 yard line. The skill is for the attacking team to get it to drop just outside the 22 so the defence can't call the mark and hopefully spill the ball.

The mark used to be very different. The catcher had to have both feet on the ground and stick his heel in the ground to make a mark while yelling mark. And it didn't have to be inside the 22 metres.
The mark defined where the opposing team could take up position, so the catcher had to retreat a few yards to take the kick.
The initial reason for the law was to protect the full back's life: any attempt to charge or tackle a marker was an immediate penalty to the catching side.

The scrum rules were changed largely because of a succession of extremely serious injuries to the front rows when scrums collapsed. I read one report that said there could be a potential of eight tons equivalent weight on a hookers neck when it went. I'd say you couldn't really fault them for making it safer and stopping people collapsing scrums on purpose.

Mind Brian Moore could probably take eight tons as he has no neck.

Mind the scrum is still where all the fun is.

In its defence though, you dont have a bunch of fairies falling down when an opposing player nearly touches them.

Rather difficult to inflict an injury under a mass of bodies though Mr John.

Both sides accept it's a massiveley physical game and yet people bemoan the rules that try to prevent malicious injury.

If scrums no longer do the business then think outside the box and find another way of having a contested restart.
American football scrimmages are another form of contested restart, so it's not as though it can't be done.

Just learned today that Montpellier Rugby, who are doing rather well at the moment on a national scale thank you very much, have pre-signed a NZ player called Rene Ranger for next season.

Now I know you are all probably saying "what the fuck do I care", but look at his Wikipedia page first. No need to go past the first three lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Ranger

Arnt they in the quarter finals of the European Cup?

Also I dont get your point about NFL contested restarts its hardly the same as unless you have a great offensive line or a crap blind side defender than you have zero chance of sacking the quarter back.

I have no idea what you have just said here.

If he is prepared to identify himself as a Poolie by descent then I'll be happy to support New Zealand anytime they pick him.

The only bit of Compo's comment that I recognise is 'zero chance of sacking the quarterback'. I believe it is a euphemism used when refusing an offer of anal sex.

Wasn't saying rugby should use the NFL scrimmage, just saying there's more than one way of having a contested restart as proven by the scrimmage.
And it is contested: those fridge-freezers are in there for a reason.
RL scrums are uncontested. They might as well just make 6 players stand on the sideline and allow them to come on when the ball has been played back normally.

Oh and yes MHR are in the last 8 of the Heineken Cup and judging by the signings they have lined up they are going for it big time next season. :D

I'll stalk him and force an answer out of him.

I get what your saying now regarding the scrums in all forms of rugby just being there for show.

RL scrum nowadays. Just look at the shape and size of the "forwards":



How it used to be: