nird99's Roar Profile

Sheek, I have disagreed with you on many things but this time I will not. I would also like to see some of the current league stars have a crack at Union. I also think league is minor on the world scale. I was at the raiders leagues club on Friday night when the match was on and there may have been 15 people at the top end of estimations watching the game. The same number of people were also watching the crusaders v reds game earlier.

Hemjay, William Web Ellis has looked nice in the Aussie cabinet twice, nice in South Africa’s cabinet twice and even nice in Englands cabinet. What I am saying is that the All black side has been rated the best side in the world across all of these years and yet failed to win more than one world cup. Lets not get to excited about the RLWC trophy that is contested by so few nations and comes down to one game as you as an all blacks supporter should know this better than the rest of us.

Sunshine coaster, please enlighten me as to why the odds were stacked in Australia’s favour???? Do the kiwi’s play in the same comp, do they have their own domestic comp that supports the NRL team. How are they disadvantaged? The Australian team had very few players who play together each week so surely it caanot be this?

Kangaroos restore world order with crushing win

League

I definately think that there has been a fresh attitude and direction in the way that the Brumbies play the game. I have been a member for a number of years now and have seen more promise in this team than I have done in a number of years. It is great to see players want to come back to the Brumbies and I am sure that there will be a lot more to talk about in the years to come.

Lure of another World Cup too much to ignore

Agree with you Simon, great arguments from mikem and nickypeeves. I am an optimist and believe that rugby will flourish again very soon. My thinking is that we need live, free to air local games broadcast around Aus. This is the way for RU, teams, clubs, sponsors etc, etc to get the exposure needed with the Aus public.

I am a teacher and junior rugby coach and I am seeing a big number of kids being taken out of other contact sports, league in particularly for union. The reason is the continued bad press associated with league players at the moment. Mothers do not want their sons trying to emulate these players. Junior rugby is still attracting numbers, its the next step for these players we need to develop.

I think Canada would have enough quality players to commit two teams, while America might be more ideally suited to one. I have a friend that plays in a regular competition with 18 teams in California. There are definitely the playing numbers, but they do not have a lot of opportunity outside of their local comp. I see a perfect opportunity to offer another path for players to play high level rugby.

I do still think that Super Rugby should be seen as the pinnacle (outside of tests) rugby. I don’t think we should be asking the South Africans or the new Zealanders to put aside their national competitions. I believe that these competitions could be run simultaneously with super rugby, linking home game days for teams. Imagine buying tickets to a match and you get a NZ cup match and a Super game in the one afternoon.

SANZAR, your deadline is looming

If we are true union fans we will continue to support it through another period of change!

Force claim slam as Tahs nosedive

The negative attitude towards the game of union and the opinions that it will implode are starting to get on my nerves a little. Yes Rugby has some steps to make in a number of areas, including coaching, player development (both junior and senior and national competitions, but it does not mean that there is no future for the game.

League has been semi professional since about 1907, and has had the last 100 years to develop all of those things i just mentioned and they have done a fantastic job in all of them to produce the game we know today. (so dont get me wrong this is not a league v union battle) Union on the other hand has always, until the mid nineties relied upon completely amataur players and coaches and this has served the purposes and need of union for many years. Now with professional union, there has become a need to develop all of those things.

League had very simular battles in the early days with Aussie rules threatening to take hold in the northern states, but they went professional and developed as they needed and changed the game as needed to ensure its success. Union is going through this process now, and is looking at and trying things to develop the game. On a global scale more countries play union (over 100) compared to league (less than 50). League may have a strangle hold on participation in Aus but union is played very expansively across the world so will never die off.

Orange Emu’s under 17 side in about 1994 or 1995.

We went through the regular season undefeated. Our closest game was the final round of the season against mudgee. we were down by 5 points after time. I scored a try, the story now reads that i beat three players for pace and scored a great solo try (I was a prop) it fact it was a forwards try that we drove over with ball in hand. Our goal kicker then kicked the goal from about 10 in from the sideline to secure the undefeated season.

The major semi final was the week after. we faced the same team (Mudgee) that we had beaten in a last grasp effort the week before. We again narrowly won the game with a field goal with about three minutes to play.

Two weeks later we played the Grand final and who were we to meet but Mudgee. We had one of those games that week were we could not put a foot wrong. We won just about every lineout, won scrums against the head and very rarely dropped the ball. The only indiscretion was the penalty goal kicked by Mudgee in the third minute of the game. Unfortunately for mudgee it was there only three points of the game, were we managed to score about 35.

There were quite a few players in that team that played quite a bit of grade football in Sydney. I still enjoy it when I turn on the telly on a saturday afternoon and see one of my former team mates playing in the shute shield. It reminds me of the good old days in the under 17’s.

What's the best team you ever played on?