Most sports are decided by who scores the most points

You do know it’s played outside of England and Australia don’t you?

Pull your inflated head out of the sand. I enjoyed RU when my son played for Trinity Grammar, but at the highest level is totally depended on the Ref.
The most popular game in the world is soccer and it is also the simplest to understand.
The reason why AFL and RL is dominating free to air and Pay TV in Australia is because the average Joe Blow can understand it and it is generally won by the best team who scores the most tries or kicks the most 6 pointers.
With all the private school education available to RU you would think the penny will drop and they would make some key rule changes.
My dad loves RU and in fact broadcast it for a living with the ABC and even received a telegram the the Prime Minister of South Africa complimenting him on his “unbiased” call when the Wallabies played the Boks in Perth, but with all that history he still concedes that RU is a “good game spoilt by a few dumb rules”

Not all games are simplified to increase their appeal to the lowest common denominator.

I think both games are mostly structured (thats why they have coaches with clipboards!) with semi-regular outbreaks of spontaneous unstructured play. And the crowds generally love both aspects. Nothing like seeing a well thought out backline play result in a try – in either code. Its a thing of beauty to see a highly structured move executed perfectly. But then the unstructured off-the-cuff play can be exhilarating.

For me union’s continual contest for posession gives it an air of unpredictability and also introduces a whole new level of team work that isnt present in league.

It is small differences like this that can make the conversion difficult. Where once a player acted without conscious thought, they now give away precious moments to think before acting.

The ruck is another place where having to think before acting means that the advantage can be lost and the ball turned over. Not many league converts ever get the hang of it. I was watching Gaz playing in Ulster the other day and the ruck is still a foreign concept to him. Cross adapted well but probably cos of his junior involvement. Same with Barnes.

I think at times union fans become indignant when RL fans say their players could make it easily, as union is the little brother when it comes to the rugby codes in Australia. And often RL fans make the claim without great knowledge of RU, and without the self awareness that their game is played in very limited locations.

I for one am glad the ARU have reconsidered the league convert strategy – at a professional level. If a league player genuinely wants a new challenge then great, but none have proven to be worth the marginal expense they cost the ARU.

Some people are making themselves look silly. Maybe it’s the old theory of say things often enough and they become the truth.

Additionally Scott – have you ever spent say a year or two living in Europe, maybe the South of France? Would you like to? Or would you be happy to spend every holiday going to Coffs Harbour or Sussex Inlet?

Are you a foodie? Do you like your wine? Are you a coffee connoisseur?

Would you like to learn a different language or play footie in all sorts of different and exotic places?

Your comment that money is the sole reason a Leaguie would go to rugby bedazzles us with ignorance.

That is the main reason why he would fail in rugby big time. The mark and forwards roaming all the over the field would put a stop to that sort of kicking game from Thurston.

LT a try-scoring machine? Please! His trys per test average was sad!!
More trys than Joe Roco – no
More trys than Doug Howlett – no
More trys than Sivivatu – no
More trys than Habanna – no
More tyrs than Shane Williams – no
More trys than Joe Roff – no
More trys than Lomu – no

Actually – did he score any great trys??

Some people want a change of scene and the money is not the motivating factor — even if changing scene means they will earn more (although often people will make the change even if it means earning less). Forget about professional footy players for a minute and think about the rest of us for a minute. Some people would take the view that they are quite happy where they are in life, doing what they’re doing and have no desire to leave that to go and do something else, while others (not necessarily unhappy with their current circumstances) would be up for the challenge of doing something different and maybe even in a different country and culture where they don’t speak English. You come across both temperaments and you can’t say that one is better than the other. Just different.

I think it’s the same with footy players. Take Gasnier for an example. If the NRL had been able to match (or maybe even slightly exceed) what he was being offered from French RU I think he still would have gone across. I’ve listened to an interesting interview with him where he talks about his motivations for going across and I think he’s honest when he says it wasn’t really for the money. He’s the kind of guy who wants to get out of familiar surroundings and go and experience something different — and in Paris no less. Here’s a guy from Peakhurst High who wants to go out and discover the world. And good luck to him I say. And for all those who are quite happy doing what they’ve always done then good luck to them as well. Both are legitimate options.

The proposed French salary cap is still big by NRL standards but it’s got to have an impact down the line on who leaves Australian RL (and Australian RU for that matter — let’s not forget the players who have given up Australian RU for the Top 14) and where they go (both in terms of whether they go to some other country such as Japan or Italy rather than France and even if they go to France which club they go to as a cellar dwelling club full of no-names will have more room to move within the salary cap than a powerhouse club full of superstars).

I’m not saying that those who have gone across have done so purely for the money, but it is one factor that goes into the mix. If we take that EUR 8m / AUD 13m and divide it up among a squad 30 that works out at an average of around EUR 267k / AUD 430k (give or take) per annum. Obviously that’s an AVERAGE and some players will earn more than that and others less. There will still be room for a big salary for a superstar. But these big salaries will become rarer and with a salary cap in place offering a big salary to an untested “treiziste” (leaguie) to come across will will become a much bigger gamble for a club. Now I’m not sure on all the details and what room there might be to top up a player’s wages with third party endorsements, etc. That’s all to be revealed. But just taking the raw salary cap figures it’s interesting to compare them with what a few former rugby league players are earning in French rugby. Gaz is reprted to be on around EUR 300k (approx AUD 485k) a season (a bit above above the proposed salary cap average) and SBW is rumoured to be on a lot more than that. With an 8 million Euro (aprox AUD 13 million) a year salary cap for the entire club I don’t think you’ll see anything near the $1.1m a season Thurston is rumoured to have been offered from Japan coming from a French club to lure an untested RL player across to the 15 man game. So yes, with the new salary cap average salaries in the Top 14 will still exceed what’s on offer in the NRL but French rugby will no longer be the cash cow that it has been these last few years.