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Rugby league vs rugby union clashes are gathering pace

23rd May, 2015
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Is Michael Cheika on his last legs as Wallabies coach? (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
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23rd May, 2015
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Rugby league versus rugby union. A century after their split in Australia, debate still rages about the merits of each code. What have we learned about who would win in a head-to-head clash, and what could it look like?

Many have looked for answers.

In 1996, Wigan and Bath clashed twice. Not surprisingly, Wigan won under league rules. Bath won under union rules. Wigan led 101-50 on aggregate but few debates were settled.

In 2003, Sale defeated St Helens 41-39. Sale raced to 41-0 under union rules in the first half. Rolling mauls advanced up to 30 metres, and St Helens struggled to gain possession.

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The tables turned in a faster league-rules second half and St Helens dominated 39-0. Despite posting the third highest crowd that summer (12,257) it wasn’t repeated. When we consider than St Helens were returning from a two-month break, and missed five conversions, few conclusions can be drawn.

To compete head-to-head, new hybrid rules would be required. But who would develop them? And why? The answers were closer than many expected.

Competition has only intensified since with ARU raids on NRL talent, NRL scouts thriving in the gaps between club and Super Rugby and league’s growing inroads in New Zealand and across the Pacific. Debate rages whether players such as Andrew Fifita (photographed watching the Waratahs while negotiating with the Sharks and Bulldogs) are genuine conversion targets, or simply promoting their market value.

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Despite its global strengths, the ARU’s challenges in Australia are well known. No comparable market sustains four football codes. The rise of the NRL, AFL and A-League have taken their toll. In crowds, ratings and juniors. The ARU’s non-tour years continue to lose money ($6.3 million in 2014). A more sustainable club championship and mooted $45 million broadcast deal will strengthen its hand, but promoters have identified a new opportunity for profitable exhibition matches.

But how? The NRL’s high-tempo rule changes continue to separate the codes. Union maintains specialist positions and body types, while league players are seemingly evolving near-consistent large, mobile frames.

A series of false starts followed. In 2008, with the Manly Marlins. In 2011, with Kangaroos versus Wallabies. In 2014 a reported Wallabies versus Great Britain clash. No head-to-head clash resulted.

Players remained supportive. Israel Folau notes, “I’m certainly up for it. I think it would be a lot of fun and you’d attract a lot of fans to watching the game”. Manly legend Noel Cleal agrees.

“That would be great, to see a Kangaroos-Wallabies match in front of a packed ANZ Stadium … I’m a rugby league man through and through, but this concept is inevitable. It’s going to happen.”

Work on balanced hybrid rules continued. Wallaby legend Mark Ella developed the 2011 trial between St Augustine’s College (Sydney) and Keebra Park HS (Gold Coast) at Brookvale Oval. Perhaps more than any other game, this has laid out a template for what will follow.

League rules applied in possession to the halfway line. Union rules then applied. Thirteen-player sides, five-point tries, two-points goals and conversions and one-point field goals. Ten reserves, four x 20-minute quarters, a 60-second ‘shot clock’ for penalised sides caught in possession (versus average NRL set times around 50 seconds).

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The clock would reset as players cross the halfway line, at penalties and breakdowns. Five-player lineouts remained, but without lifting. After the match, Mark noted “there were only five or six scrums, three lineouts and possession changed non-stop. The breakdown is not a mess and the scrums are competitive.”

While promoters struggled afterwards, amateur efforts continued, including a hybrid trial in 2014 between Newport Breakers rugby and Avalon Bulldogs.

“The argument goes back over 100 years as to which game is the most physical,” noted Newport president David Hunt. “The leaguies said the union boys aren’t going to be able to tackle and I said you guys aren’t going to see the ball.”

Once again, it was inconclusive (after wild weather forced its cancellation). Hope continues. Do we now have a pathway to an elite clash?

A Starlight Foundation hybrid fundraiser has been announced between Randwick’s Greens and the NSW Cup Western Suburbs Magpies (NSW Cup) at Pirtek Stadium following the League grand final. TV coverage is mooted (but unconfirmed).

“This is just the start,” claimed Foundation president Phil Franks. “It’s been a long process to get two different codes to agree to it and I’m sure this game will be the catalyst for even bigger events down the track. The dream is for the Kangaroos v Wallabies.”

Will it happen? Time will tell. But the day when we see whether leaguies can secure enough possession to prevail is closer than ever before.

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