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The Roar

Malcolm Dreaneen

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Joined July 2012

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My dream is for rugby league and rugby union to merge into one code. Imagine Biarritz playing Bradford, or Leicester playing the Storm, or the Rabbitohs playing Otago. It makes the mouth water. A unified code has so much potential and petty arguments about each are counter-productive. I enjoy most sports and have a passionate love for the All Blacks, Celtic FC and Wigan RL. I am a student of history and have enormous respect for those original northern English RL clubs like Wigan, Bradford, St Helens who broke away to form what was to become rugby league. I'm also a supporter of the Blues in Super Rugby and Everton FC in the EPL.

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Top article Adam!

Vale Robin Williams: here's what he had to say about sports

Nigel Owen can’t even call a knock-on properly. There were 2 or 3 incidences when the ball came off the hand of a player and was moving in the direction towards the player’s own goal line, yet Owen ruled them knock ons. And Nonu should have been yellow-carded too, for consistency.

Did the ref get it right in the All Blacks vs England?

Absolutely agree. It’s a great to see new places and venues like this. Personally, I’m sick of watching the ABs play Scotland Wales England one year, the England Wales Scotland the next. Time to take the ABs out to new, bigger frontiers.

It's official: All Blacks to play US in Chicago

Top effort Warriors, top game, top crowd

Melbourne Storm vs New Zealand Warriors: NRL live scores, video highlights

Top article. It is a prestigious tournament. All of the other codes would give their left foot for similar exposure into Asia.

Football fans must support the Asian Champions League

Great article, I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s tournament, as I have done many other years. The only nagging disappointment is the continued poor, gutless displays by Scotland. There was a time when the Scots forward pack was feared, packed with farmers, butchers and strongmen from the borders. But now, well….they’ve got too politically correct, trying to play a southern hemisphere hot potato game that doesn’t suit their psyche, or history.

Six Nations: The good, the bad and the ugly

Good article. The only thing I’d disagree with is the claim French home crowds are as rabid and hostile as other places. French crowds are highly partisan, far more than exists elsewhere in the rugby world. Their crowds are the closest to football crowds rugby gets. There’s massive cultural dislike between clubs like Perpignan (Catalan and generally pro-Spanish/anti French) on the one hand, and Biarritz (Basque and generally anti-Spanish/pro French) on the other, that is a reflection of divisions in history that go back hundreds of years. Montpellier hate Toulouse for historical reasons. Toulouse hate Toulon. Everyone hates the Parisian clubs for cultural reasons. La Rochelle and Montauban’s place in the religious history of France is a source of vindictive hostility, and of course the Basque derby between Biarritz and Bayonne is always a matter of life and death. In fact, if you wanted to cross the Mafia with rugby union, just watch the Top 14.

French Top 14 is fundamentally flawed

What an outstanding athlete

Ball to start for Wales against England

I think the Warriors must be a good bet – they’ve been training hard for it, and will have hometown support

WIZ: The Eels to win the inaugural NRL Nines

Hear Hear on the DT thing. I absolutely detest that publication, not simply because of the League / Union thing, and the unnecessary conflict it creates between the sporting codes, but for the rest of its content too. It’s nothing more than a Woman’s gossip mag with a sports section. The DT also shows the fundamental difference between the Kiwi vs Aussie psyches,especially in regards to the news and media. In NSW, the DT is a very popular newspaper. In NZ it would go defunct after a month, laughed out of town as being too unreliable and biased. But the fact Aussies continue to read it, and believe what’s said in there, whether it’s sports, politics or international news, is beyond me.

SPIRO: France defeat England with a brilliant 'le finish'

Rugger, the 18 year old star waiting to be discovered has been snapped up by rugby league, as have dozens of his ilk.

Is the ARU ignoring a rugby sevens gold mine?

Kallis, simply the greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen, IMO.

Farewell “King” Kallis, an all-rounder supreme

Great article – very informative!

Series unification will propel US sportscar racing to great heights

While Old Trafford may be a sentimental favourite, it’s downright dangerous to play league on that pitch. The fact the game was played there showed me two things: 1. The RLIF have got no idea how to run a proper event, and 2. the RLIF don’t give a toss about player safety. But congratulations to the Kangaroos. Outstanding effort. They are one of the great teams in world sport, no doubt about that.

Kangaroos beat Kiwis to win Rugby League World Cup

Let’s see Fiji do the business and pull off the biggest upset in sports history!

C’arn the mighty Bati: keep chasing your World Cup dream

To be honest I’ve not been enthused by this World Cup, but that may change this weekend with the semis, and then the final thereafter.

Phil Rothfield, I have a question for you

Absolutely agree with you clearly_concussed. While there’s been some aspects of this RLWC that have raised my eyebrows, and concerned me from a purists point of view, you have to start somewhere, and Rugby League needs to think outside the square on issues like eligibility and world cup draws / seedings etc. All in all, it’s been a success in the sense it’s raised the profile of RL, for the meantime, but whether it will sustain growth of the game outside of its hearltand areas is questionable, simply because there’s so much prejudice out there against the sport.

Phil Rothfield, I have a question for you

I think you’ve got to put those tv ratings into context Renegade, The long running soap Coronation Street gets about 8 to 12 million viewers per episode each week, and the Six Nations, especially games involving Wales and England will top 10 million viewers – see: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/ratings/wales-six-nations-win-peaks-with-95m/5053023.article, while the RWC 2007 final peaked at 16 million viewers in the UK – see http://www.rwc2011.irb.com/destinationnewzealand/news/newsid=2036054.html.
What the RLWC 2 million shows to me is that the tournament is popular with its heartland and regions, but has failed to capture the wider audience. That’s my opinion, based on the facts.

Phil Rothfield, I have a question for you

The idiotic French forward who put his hand on the ball in the scrum in front of the ref thereby ruining a chance for his team to draw or perhaps beat the All Blacks should never play international rugby again.

All Blacks vs France: International Test match live scores

One thing I also forgot to mention is that every RWC throws up massive boil overs. I’ve mentioned Tonga v France in 2011, but who else could forget when Wales were humbled by Fiji or Samoa? Or when France smashed the supposedly invincible All Blacks in the 1999 or 2007 QFs? In both those QFs for example, the ABs were expected to smash France, but the exact opposite happened. Or indeed when the Springboks beat the ABs in 1995 final, that was a massive upset too. What about the Wallabies beating the ABs too in kncokout stages a few times, completely against form. There’s so many examples where the RWC tournament has captured the imagination of people around the world because of it’s ability to throw up the biggest upsets at the least expected time.

Why the RLWC beats the RUWC

Patrick, I understand where you are coming from, but your argument is factually wrong. The one thing about the 2011 RWC I remember is the closing of the gaps between the nations. You had Tonga beating a French team that would ultimately make the final. Ireland beat Australia, then Australia turning it around and beating the more fancied and stronger Springboks. The Argies gave the ABs a huge scare. France turning around from their loss to Tonga and beating a highly fancied and professional Welsh outfit that was expected to win. Plus Argentina nearly knocked England out of the Cup in the first match, And then below that, all the second tier nations were competitive against each other, and occasionally gave their more illustrious opponents scares (eg Romania v Scotland, France v Japan, England v Georgia) If you look at the results from the 2011 RWC the majority of them were relatively competitive matches. On the other hand the RLWC can’t offer those kinds of results, We’ve seen this weekend France (who are ranked 4th in the World) getting thumped at home 48-0 by NZ, and then Ireland getting thumped in England 42-0. France and Ireland are supposedly Tier 1 RL nations, but they’re more at the level of Tier 2 or 3 RU nations. And we all basically know who’s going to be in the RLWC final – the Kangaroos and the Kiwis. The RLWC has been ok so far, as a celebration of the different cultures and countries that play the game, but the RWC is way ahead in terms of quality of games, scale and professionalism in the way it’s run.

Why the RLWC beats the RUWC

That’s not my recollection. In fact I remember seeing both days on TV and being played in front of capacity crowds in India – this article would tend to back up what I’m saying: http://www.ndtv.com/article/commonwealth-games/indian-ruggers-out-of-medal-contention-59047

Will rugby league ever become a global sport?

Well, it seems I’ve hit a raw nerve with a few Wallaby supporters, and ruffled a few feathers. I’m only trying to help you guys win back the Bledisloe! Because nothing else seems to be working,,,just saying aye

All Blacks vs Kangaroos: the ultimate Bledisloe Cup clash

Exactly Katipo. For the life of me, I can’t see why everyone gets so upset when an article talks about bringing the codes closer together!!!! Why are people so afraid ?? All the haters and small-minded people who can’t see past their own prejudices and understand how great one unified rugby game would be, with the best playing against the best.

All Blacks vs Kangaroos: the ultimate Bledisloe Cup clash

Must have been the one before that – it was one played in Oz, and he took it to the ABs massively. He went to the top of the list of toughest Wallaby forwards in the last 10 years in my opinion, after that game. And therein lies the problem with the Wallabies. They’re pampered. They’re well paid, and well traveled, but are they tough? I mean Mel Meninga tough?

All Blacks vs Kangaroos: the ultimate Bledisloe Cup clash

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