I wouldn't bet on it getting too much exposure - this is likely to be the England Sevens side currently playing on the IRB circuit rather than the England XV's side IMO.

My line of thinking was that with the Olympics being just around the corner the press will pick up on (soon to be Olympic) union 7s. The head of referees at RFU can break wind nowadays and it dominates Sky Sports News all day, so maybe league will benefit in a kind of 'in the background' way.

[url=http://m.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/mar/29/calum-clark-suspended-rfu?cat=sport&type=articleWords escape me.[/url

I would be interested to see Jeff Blackett's full judgement, and whether he considered Clark to have set out to deliberately and with pre-meditation injure Hawkins.



If - in Blackett's opinion - he did, then I'd say what he's got is what he deserves.



If it's a case of a player getting carried away and doing something a bit stupid, I think he's a touch unlucky at the length of the ban. Particularly given Hartley got less for an act that could have potentially blinded an opponent, not just broken his elbow.

If he did it deliberately you have to wonder why the police are not involved.



Good to hear Matt Dawson this morning proclaiming a new golden era of English rugby with the appointment of Matt Dawson. Then again he did say before every six nations game this year that the charge down kings were going to play exciting running rugby

I see that Alex Goode is predicting that today’s Saracens Harlequins game will be a “will be a record rugby attendance at Wembley” www.metro.co.uk/sport/894541-ale ... harlequins I know there was 78,000 plus at the Challenge Cup final last year, are they expecting more than that?

I see that Alex Goode is predicting that today’s Saracens Harlequins game will be a “will be a record rugby attendance at Wembley” www.metro.co.uk/sport/894541-ale ... harlequins I know there was 78,000 plus at the Challenge Cup final last year, are they expecting more than that?

Quote Dunbar="Dunbar"I see that Alex Goode is predicting that today’s Saracens Harlequins game will be a “will be a record rugby attendance at Wembley” www.metro.co.uk/sport/894541-ale ... harlequins I know there was 78,000 plus at the Challenge Cup final last year, are they expecting more than that?'" Most articles are mentioning a World Record Rugby Attendance for a club game, which even a 2 second Google search shows up as typical union hype nonsense and lazy journalism copying from a press release without checking.

Quote Dunbar="Dunbar"I see that Alex Goode is predicting that today’s Saracens Harlequins game will be a “will be a record rugby attendance at Wembley” www.metro.co.uk/sport/894541-ale ... harlequins I know there was 78,000 plus at the Challenge Cup final last year, are they expecting more than that?'" Most articles are mentioning a World Record Rugby Attendance for a club game, which even a 2 second Google search shows up as typical union hype nonsense and lazy journalism copying from a press release without checking.

seeing Wembley so packed for Saracens v Harlequins. just read a Tweet, this just about sums it up: 'At Wembly for a rugby match, Saracens v Harlequins (?)...no idea what's going on but it's awesome.'



got to wonder, where are all these 'fans' every week when they struggle to get 6,000 into Vicarage Road??

What was the pre match band today. Thats how they normally do it. Plus many free and very cheap tickets. www.premiershiprugby.com/premier ... /30259.php

What was the pre match band today. Thats how they normally do it. Plus many free and very cheap tickets. www.premiershiprugby.com/premier ... /30259.php

hosted a single Rugby Union premiership game and drew a crowd of 84,000 people. Absolutely unbelievable effort by the Union lot.



Does anybody think that the Super League will ever achieve such a crowd for a league game?



The crowd for this game at Twickenham Stoop a few miles down the road, at the RFL's chosen expansion club, hasn't announced its official attendance yet, but I'm not going to hold my breath.



Wake up.

Union is a fantastically well-run sport that unites businesses, media and the sporting public alike. I've no doubt most of those tickets were given away or sold very cheaply and that 95% of the crowd didn't care who won, but it doesn't matter, the PR bomb is delivered.

Tickets were £5, enough said!

The major difference between the two sports is RU fans back initiatives like this, RL fans p**s and moan.

This. If the RFL announced such a match, people on this forum would be up in arms about how it's too far to travel, how it will look bad on TV etc. We had people complaining about the WC opening ceremony being hosted in a 70,000 seater stadium FFS.

The end up my post was meant to 'RFL Wake Up' by the way, nobody on here.



I think the ticket prices for the game were around the same level as a Super League game (£20 for adults and £10 for kids) with it being at Wembley, I wouldn't think that many free tickets would have been given out, as you say though, it is irrelevant, as its making all the right noises on Sky Sports News, Sky News etc with the 'World record club attendance....' tag line to the game.

Living in the south, I know loads of people who have gone to this with handfuls of free tickets. But it dosnt matter, 84,000 is 84,000. Job done. The Broncos give tickets away like confetti and no one seems to care, never mind turn up. Bit depressing really.

You mean like the majority of SLE clubs are doing

Really?

Nonsense.

£10 tickets were available to watch England v Aus, our fans still failed to turn out

Actually, I think you’ve got that the wrong way round



RU organise a single game at Wembley and get 80k, the RFL organise a weekend of RL at a major stadium (Millenium, Murrayfield) and they get 20k to 35k a day for three or four games of top level Rugby League



It’s not the RFL’s fault that the RL supporters don’t turn up to watch their sport

Just had a little read into it and turns out that Aviva, the sponsors of the league were giving tickets out at every possible chance to their customers, they had Domino's Pizza sponsor a £250,000 'Kick the ball' competition at Half Time and McFly playing in the stadium before the game, I just wonder if the RFL or any of its sponsors will ever try and do something similar, or will Union always lead the way.

McFly. that answers it...

And most of the tickets they were paid for would have been to see mcfly. They always get a top band in so that can sell some tickets.