- More points scored through tries.
- The ball spends more time in motion.
- The players spend more time “in play” because they’re not waiting around for scrums or line-outs.
- A better “tribal” club system.
- More meaningful domestic representative games.
- Better television spectacle.
- Better athletes (when was the last time League signed a Union player?).
- Better scoring system (that creates an incentive for attack).
- Clearer rules.
Comments
1. funny I thought 5 was more 3
2. most league fanatics complain when the ball is kicked (“in motion”) in union
3. without stats it is hard to say
4. different targets; union has less people but more committed than League. League has a few hangers on
5. Union has no domestic fixtures really Super 14 is International and so are most of the comps.
6. subjective
7. more about $$$$ the athletes
8. subjective
9. depends on how well you know them
:P
Chris,
Are you being purposefully obstreperous?
Let me make point 1 clear for you… in the average Rugby game most points are scored by kicks, rather than by tries. I can do the research if you like, but most people will simply agree with this statement on the basis of watching games.
Re 2 – that’s because the union players are trying to kick the ball out.
Re 3 – No, it’s easy to say by just watching a game.
Re 4 and 5 – No, we’ve been over this previously. Union has club structures beneath the Super 14 – the Super 14 is the equivalent of the State of Origin, or Cricket’s state system. It is a provincial or regional level. League is city or town based. It’s the Queensland Reds, not the Brisbane Reds. Each city in the east coast of Australia has a “club” competition that has players registered who play Super 14 or international Rugby, which is why Lote Tuqiri has been playing club rugby since being sacked.
6. I’d say you can simply compare State of Origin audiences to Rugby test matches or Super 14 games – there’s no competition. On any level – Super 14 Grand Final v NRL grand final, etc… Pick the highest rating league game against the highest rating Union game… the only place Union wins out is in the international v international arena – but league’s club competition grand final out rates both…
Re 7 – name one union player pursued by league (who wasn’t formerly a league player) in the past ten years.
8. See point 1.
9. Not really, it depends on how easily a lay person can learn them.