[Durham Giant]

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:46 pm  

we know one thing.

Whatever 17 England put out in a game it can only include any one of the following three Westwood, Hock and McIlorum.

If all 3 played the combined penalty count to the opposition would mean England would have no chance

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:55 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Meanwhile, over in the Onion department:

Scotland 22-51 New Zealand
England 54-12 Fiji
France 33-6 Australia

Do these one-sided processions signal the imminent demise of rugby union, too? No? Funny, that. There's something very weird about your average League depressive.

There is something about how fans of our game view it as fans often see things as a glass half empty rather than a glass half full.

The France Australia result is quite telling though as Union is very much on the downhill slope in Australia. Participation in Rugby League is five times that of Union in terms of the number of registered players and League viewing figures outstrip Union by miles.

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:05 pm  

Budgiezilla wrote:

waste of time, should have played 3 games v Exiles instead (but guess they are all back home)
RL AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE = A JOKE

God i'm sick of people whinging and moaning about this series. The majority of northern hemisphere international rugby union is a joke (teams are average at best) but that didn't stop huge crowds watching all those beatings dished out over the weekend.

And, McNamara's going to be in charge for the World cup so we all better get used to it and just get behind the team...

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:10 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Meanwhile, over in the Onion department:

Scotland 22-51 New Zealand
England 54-12 Fiji
France 33-6 Australia

Do these one-sided processions signal the imminent demise of rugby union, too? No? Funny, that. There's something very weird about your average League depressive.

The win for France being very much the exception, that result could and probably will be reversed next time they play, and even though the All Blacks are universally recognised as the best in the world , they have only won 1 WC in recent years, and of course there being 5/6 countries in the top level with another 6/7 just below them that can take the occaisional top scalp

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:23 pm  

I suppose the argument would be should England have taken a break as Aus and NZ did or was it important to give the players a chance to form a group and a chance to gel.
For me I think it was worth it even though it was very one sided but I suppose time will tell

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:56 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Meanwhile, over in the Onion department:

Scotland 22-51 New Zealand
England 54-12 Fiji
France 33-6 Australia

Do these one-sided processions signal the imminent demise of rugby union, too? No? Funny, that. There's something very weird about your average League depressive.

Not with crowds like this.

Scotland 22-51 New Zealand 67,144
England 54-12 Fiji 82,000
France 33-6 Australia 80,000

Not to mention the close games that also had big crowds

Ireland 12 - 16 South Africa
Italy 28 - 23 Tonga
Wales 12 - 26 Argentina

Meanwhile in RL

4,014
8,963
7,921

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 10:49 pm  

Let's not play a Northern Hemisphere Three Nations again until there is a least one more French club in Super League (i.e. Toulouse) and one Welsh club from South Wales in Super League (Wrexham is a backwater even for Wales)..

Also, let's hold the pool matches in bigger stadia, like KC, John Smith's and DW Stadium, in England, Stade Ernest Wallon in France, with the final at Old Trafford or Wembley. Nigel Wood suppresses attendances by holding matches in geographically remote and tiny stadia.

Until we can satisfy the professionalism criteria of having more French clubs and at least one Welsh club in Super League, and until we can at least half fill the above mentioned stadia for the relevant matches (including 40,000-45,000 for the Final) then the whole series is a great embarassment to our game, and a source of mirth for journalists and rugby union fans alike.

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 10:56 pm  

I've always been a keen advocate of getting big RL fixtures onto free-to-air TV, but I wish the BBC hadn't had the rights to this tournament.

Aside from personally seeing the opening game in Lens as a success because of the size of the crowd in a non-RL area, even that didn't look great from the point of view of the casual viewer because the stadium was far too big for the size of the crowd, and then the quality of the grounds of the other two group games just made the games look amateurish.

Tonight's game was obviously a better venue, but the positioning of the cameras meant that viewers were looking out over three tiny stands, one of which was only 1/3 full despite all of this week's claims that the game was practically sold out (all week terrace tickets were showing online as unavailable so this was particularly disappointing).

As far as the entertainment value goes, this is probably the dullest rugby league tournament I've ever seen. So sad, because I really want this sport to succeed and took a friend from Northern Ireland to his first ever game tonight, but trying to make out that this is an elite even in the sport's calendar was an impossible task because it was such a non-event.

I think the best thing we can do with years like this when there isn't an option of an Aussie or Kiwi tour is to play these games at the biggest grounds possible but actually make it part of Super League/CC clubs' season tickets - every fan gets one free ticket to the game of their choice, first come, first served, and tickets can still be purchased for those who don't qualify for a freebie.

Rather than selling tickets at £6 each like most of tonight's tickets will have been on the BOGOF offer, playing the games at somewhere like the Reebok Stadium or Elland Road (or maybe somewhere slightly more unusual around the fringe of the heartlands like Bramall Lane or Goodison Park if they can be secured at the right price) would make the perceived value of the event higher to the recipient, and could justify charging £15-£20 because people will be more attracted to a big event.

Playing at more reputable venues will then make the sport look more prestigious to casual observers.

As one friend has pointed out to me today though, at least a big positive from this tournament is that to those flicking through the channels without a particular interest in the game, they will have at least seen England totally dominating and may give the team greater stock ahead of the World Cup. We live in hope!

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:05 pm  

ECT wrote:

Meanwhile in RL

4,014
8,963
7,921

That's because the RL fans are too busy sat at home talking about how bad the crowds are.

Re: Your Summary Of The Autumn Internationals? : Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:09 pm  

headhunter wrote:

That's because the RL fans are too busy sat at home talking about how bad the crowds are.

But unfortunatly what most of us expected did happen, a lacklustre competition with a predictable outcome, just the way it is