At least Thurston is honest about switch

Another interesting development 3D television, the RFU will be showing England v Wales in a number of cinemas across England and presumably Wales during the forthcoming 6N's. [uk.eurosport.yahoo.com]

Springs If I recall RU tests at Old Trafford during the last decade have been v All Blacks and Argentina (2), aggregate gate approx 170K. Average gate circa 55,000 whereas average gate for RL tests in the heartlands is probably circa 22+K. The move by the RFU to test the water away from Twickenham was unknown and I suspect during the next decade there will be more Tests away from Twickenham. The 2015 RWC could be a watershed as grounds such as St James Park in Newcastle, the Olympic Stadium in East London and Ricoh Stadium in Coventry are being mooted as future venues. What you probably don't realise is that Professional rugby union in England represents a very small % of the playing numbers. In Lancashire and Yorkshire, and indeed the Tyneside area amateur rugby union is very strong, such that two of the most successful county sides in the county championship have been Lancs and Yorks. Frankly I suspect that one of the reasons why the RFU has not moved earlier is that Twickenham is expensive to maintain and they need to hold Tests to pay it's way. However as the game expands playing more tests away from Twickenham must make sense, particularly as the demand exists to get a decent gate. RL can't compete and it doesn't have to. It has it own issues with the probability that the expansion to Wales has been a failure and big question marks over whether the franchise will continue after the next round of franchise awards. In spite of being a professional sport it fails to sell itself to majority of the UK population and must be in danger of having a difficult round of TV negotiations ahead.

Siva Samoa. You are only perpetuating the argument,although we are discussing the Australian situation.Why not throw in Ubekistan,you miss the point completely; again. Bogans? If that is supposed to be an insult,it is dated and childish,and proves the point on the eliitist claims. BTW you just succeeded in insulting rl players who participate in that code in all those countries you mentioned(except Argentina of course).Keep up the good work.

Now there is some irony for you. Civy Sam falling back on socio-economic cultural insults.

Elitism and classism in rugby in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Wales, and Argentina ? Just because your code is only played and watched by bogans.

Mick Nothing much has changed over the decades,since I had a foot in both rugby camps.Elitism,classism and at times racism seems to be the last" liferaft' some can hang their hats onto, in such a competitive sporting landscape.There is little else on offer.They do their code no service,just ensuring 19th century attitudes still prevail.

Twickenham is in southern England. Do they even have RU tests in northern England?

The latent racism and classism in comments from some of these elitist rugger types is contemptible.

Total crowds at international level in Northern England this year: Union= 46K League=118K. Total crowds at international level in Northern England this DECADE: Union= 46K League= ~900K If England played ONE League test in the north for the entire decade it would have sold out Old Trafford in seconds.

Yes, if you can in fact establish that touch football now is organised and run in Australia by the ARL or internationally by whatever international body runs rugby league. Rugby 7s is organised by the IRB and its affiliate member bodies.

Merry Christmas all. May the war resume in the new year.

it wont happen so dont worry your pretty little head over it.

the stadium official closed it because there was no demand. why did they re-open it 4 days later for a football match? face the facts - on an international level in Northern england this year: RU biggest crowd= 46K RL biggest crowd= 30K 50% larger. should i mention Twickenham which gets sold out for every game?

for backs atleast, i think people who appreciate the lineouts and scrums and rucks and mauls are the forwards, who are lacking somewhat in league, they're more, heavier backs in league. thats the fundamental difference between the two games and something which hinders the understanding between the two. you'd be surprised how tiring minutes of lifting and pushing in mauls scrums and lineouts is compared to running, although its a different type of exercise.

I just said every year EXCEPT this year, take away Crusaders/Salford and the average rises again. Please tell me Leeds Carnegies average crowds. And 63K for the Old Trafford Final seems to be more than barely half of 44K. The 44K was for a WC final. 4 nations got 31k, a sellout. The crowds in the '05 Tri Nations were not much different from this year.

It means a lot. 60 minutes of running back and forth is far moretiring than 40 minutes of kicking and lineouts.

60 mins of gameplay dont mean nothing if its the same thing, although you're gonna say in response to this there is repetitivity in union too, but there arctual strategy involved in moving the ball, rahter than passing it from one side of the field to the other in a big warm up game of touch

by and large yes it is leaguies. concentrate on keeping your heartlands

if two union players were ever tow look more like mungos those two are your men. look at their sporting and cultural backgrounds.

So lets see, 20 tackles for a union fowards a good game, 40 for a forward in League. Oh and with all those scrum resets that can take up to a quater of the game, all that standing around. Isn't their a bigger number of interchanges in Union too. And wait, wasn't their that incident called bloodgate so one of unions fine examples of a phyiscal specimen could get a rest. And Oh, Isn't their also a bigger number of players on the field in union for the same time played (I'll let you do the maths for this one). Then there's the matter of actual gameplay in Union v League of being 40 v 60 mintues (just google it if you think I'm fibbing). I'm really starting to see how the fowards in Union do so much work. And to think didn't get on to the number of hitups or the the photos of the fine, but pregnant (Must be because they are just so fit from all the running) Union forwards on the net or the reports from league converts saying the games less physically demanding etc etc...........