BATH Vs WIGAN clash of the codes Rugby à XIII contre Rugby à XV 8 mai 1996

[TheLawless1985]

A French amateur RL side played a pro French champ RU side in a cross-code game last year and only lost by 4 points. Much better result than this and in the League half the side only had to go back 5 meters.

[playthatgeetar]

Of course. I lived in Montpellier in the South of France for several years. The level of hatred our game faced there - which went so far as the collaborationist government persuading the Nazis to ban it - is maybe extreme, but we are not being paranoid when we are unwilling to accept the hand of friendship from Union - not that they hold it out so often. Edwards, Lydon, Farrell et al, we know why they went. Money. Shame they felt the need, but there you are. I

[terrortorn]

@playthatgeetar You could not write the French story, people would think it is too far fetched. The RL really missed an opportunity to publicly confront RU's bigotry but I supposed that would not have turned out well in the London based Union bias press. The RFL needs to make more concerted effort to get TV time on freeview channels.

[fatsoblitz]

professionals against amateurs it was obvious league would win put a current leinster or munster against any league team and it would be a different story

[terrortorn]

@fatsoblitz yes Wigan would put 100 on them. 32 mins average play time compared to 70, Union still very pedestrian.

[Tact52]

@349quinman

oh eh, I need to correct ya there son, corry is only for old people. us younger generation northerners, we drinks frothy pints we do. (southerners drink frothy coffee, whats that!?), we hug, fight and beat our chests. And thats just the women :)

[kaicolobread]

Look how long league has been professinal and union was professinal for a few months when they played this game. If union was professinal a bit longer then it would be a different story. And Bath comeon they suck then and now. They should of played my team AUCKLAND.

[stipple31]

This game and commentary is ancient. I think we can all agree that league players were better athlethes 15, perhaps even 10 years ago. not now though. Nor does it matter. Support what you want. Just know that union matters i.e. people around the world watch it; league - well you may as well be watching under water dwarf roller hockey....

[Dr84S]

I think league would win by even more now, because I've watched some union games this season and the standards terrible, they can't do basic things now like catching and passing, so many mistakes, and the fitness levels are still shit, but it doesn't show so much because it's so slow, but they would be fucked after 5 minutes playing league today.

[mjhorsley1]

league is a boring game designed for simple northeners.

[marcorossiuk]

@mjhorsley1 take that plum out of your mouth.

[Easthulla]

As this ever been played again ? Another LEAGUE v YAWNION Game ?

[Dictum1]

@Easthulla

Yeah, Sale, the RU side, beat St Helens at Knowsley Rd.

No Bath player had ever played a game of RL before that night, but that's something conveniently forgotten by ''play the ball'' wankers who also forget the ton of League players who've failed at Union since 1995.

British RL has produced only one great Union player, and that was Jason Robinson, though in time, Chris Ashton might turn out to be another.

[imnotapaedo]

@Dictum1 actually sale got smashed and wanked all over when they tried to play rugby in the first half, so turned the second half into a 40 minute exhibition of ball up the jumper rolling maul. 8 fat tarquins plodding the ball to try line then flopping over. pure box office. now if by failed at union u mean walked straight into the union international team (cos they were better then the exisitng union players) then yes u make a great point. ps u have no testicles

[Dictum1]

@imnotapaedo, Your obsession with testicles and masturbation is showing,

It sounds like you've spent top much time at the ''play the ball''....Now it's Friday night, so go do what all leaguies do on a Friday night, and watch an Asian taxi driver bang your missus, while you sit in the corner of the room lighting your own farts.

[imnotapaedo]

@Dictum1 well this ones interesting cos i gotta be honest i wasnt sure whether i could get u to reply. See part of me thought well its been 4 months since u made that comment, ur not gonna let some league bloke stir u back up now. But then i weighed that up against fact that ur 53 so the old midlife crisis has probably kicked in and ur maybe feeling a bit threatened by the younger, stronger man. Plus i thought maybe those gnawing doubts about whether u'd ever have the courage to step across the

[imnotapaedo]

whitewash n play league might start eating away at u again. Yeah so it was a 50/50 ball game. Anyway u did reply, didnt u?

[edlrpussyss]

@Dictum1 British RL has produced only one great Union player, and that was Jason Robinson, though in time, Chris Ashton might turn out to be another.

yeh great

,n uuuh how many union players have gone the other way....zip zip .......zero, in australia noone has every come from union to league except ben Kennedy who played school boy rugby,and craig innes from nz to manly sea eagles but he was a champion anyway, another question just wondering what r the prawn sandwiches like down the polo club

[jobo1954]

yawnion commentators make you laugh? Bath are to be congratulated for their persistence, doggedness and a determination not to be humiliated? Talk about making the best out of a bad situation. Mind you, they have to do that every week, having to comment on a game like union.

[jonnytheleyther]

Too easy for wigan. Far superior code of rugby. Rugby League adapted and evolved. Yawnion is still in the stone age.

[claxty]

@jonnytheleyther wonder why tuqiri, sailor, ashton, rogers, gasnier, robinson, scott gibbs, quinnell, eastmond etc etc all made the switch?? smaller fanbase, poor attendances!!! super league is muck... nrl is ok!! if this game was played now the union boys would hammer the league counterparts. Back then league was pro and union hadnt made the step, now its made the step and leaped right over league...

[jonnytheleyther]

@claxty Because yawnion has more money, the same reason Offiah, Davies, Lydon, Quinnell and the like switched from yawnion to league in the 80s. Just looking forward to the NRL clubs cherry picking the yawnion talent now they're loaded.

League would make mince meat out of the rah rahs again if theyplayed now, just like when Bradford Bulls won the RU sevens, a game they had never played before, the day after a night game

'My son's signing for a league team-because he's a talented rugby player'

[chanctonbury63]

@jonnytheleyther Dont agree w that, however I would have a lot more time for League if we played the way Oz do. Far more power, pace, looking for space, meaner attitude. I love watching Ozzie Rugby League. English League is a pale imitation and that is clearly reflected in the results over the years. All the best from a Union man.

[OneBigRetard]

@jonnytheleyther

Er.

Pro 90 years vs Pro 1 year!

[terrortorn]

@OneBigRetard Err don't confuse being paid with being professional. RL in the UK has only seen widespread, true professionalism since the early 1990's. Even then most players worked for a living. What you are seeing here is the difference between a sport that practices passing, tackling, running and scoring tries and one that applauds kicking out on the full, burying the ball underneath a mass of bodies and rely on scoring via penalties.

[OneBigRetard]

@terrortorn

Err... Bollocks.

Yes, Rugby Union hates running and scoring tries so never applauds that.

So you are saying that the difference in physical conditioning was not much greater in 95 than it is today?

Besides professionalism meant that lots of top union players were playing RL in this fixture. If this was to happen again, the differences would be reversed. No way could Wigan RL last 1 scrum.

[terrortorn]

@OneBigRetard No it's not bollocks. I'm saying that RU clings on for dear life to any lifeline that apologises for U in the face of its obvious flaws. You have an unevolved game and the lack of real oval ball skill is your penalty. U does not come close to the demands of RL. You average 32 mins of play per match and drown in hyperbole. How can this compare to RL. You don't hate tries, you can't score them, there is a difference. There is a reason you are called the schoolboy game.

[OneBigRetard]

@terrortorn

And there is a reason why it is much much bigger. Chess to draughts. RU is a multi dimensional sport. RL is not. But yes, it has great physicality, skill levels etc. No doubt. But that was not the argument. The difference then was huge, now, not so much.

Besides, look how many folks on that Wigan team came to union one way or another.

[terrortorn]

@OneBigRetard Oh dear the Stuart Barnes school of Union aggrandsation. The definition of multi dimension Union is that your skills range from woefully inadequate to bog standard basic, allowing for "specialisation" in union of the inadequate ball players to be forwards. RL is one dimensional as all players are required to have the highest competence with the ball no matter the position they play. The reason U is more widespread is that RL admin is incompetent and RU admin is corrupt.

[terrortorn]

@OneBigRetard They went to Union for the money. And only the money. Don't confuse complex with flawed. There is nothing Chess like about U. Deciding whether or not to kick out on the full, collapse a scrum or fall on the floor and drop the ball is not strategy. You are stuck with the development of U and your multi failed attempts with ELV's to tinker with the rules to make it watchable. The gap is still huge, Union can never be intense enough to compete.

[playthatgeetar]

@terrortorn Spot on mate. The reason why it is bigger is that it is the sport of the establishment, the ruling classes. But just because we are not as popular doesn't mean we are not way way superior morally and in sporting terms. Union - the sport of the shamateur and the physical coward (remember how Guscott didn't want anything to do with this game?). Kick and clap.

[terrortorn]

@playthatgeetar I do remember that. Also the more you look at Union without the hyperbole and spin and without the sheer brass neck of self aggrandisement you can see why they needed to marginalise RL. We dislike them because of century's of prejudice and influence against RL and they hate us because we show them to be second rate. "Kick and Clap" is an unflattering claim to be found true.