: Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:35 pm
TRB wrote:
You can take a man out of League, but you can't take League out of the man!
In Andy Farrell's case, a very astute assessment.
I remember watching the England v South Africa game (RUWC group stage) when Farrell (who had been playing in the back row for Wigan) was England stand off. England were being pummelled, had an attacking play close to the South African line, and Farrell went solo - as you might in RL - to gain ground from which to start another attack. He had absolutely no players in support, and as a result, turned over posession. The commentator's remark was "you can get away with that in league, but not in union". A stupid remark, for all its implications, but Farrell took the blame in the media for the rest of the gutless bunch losing the game, and was dropped for the next game. He came back to prove his class, even though it wasn't enough in the end.
It's interesting that Scott Quinell goes down on the list of one of the union players to have made a success of league. Forwards do not, as a rule. You can switch between the backs, as the codes have done over the last few decades and more, but it's in the forwards that the major differences between the 2 codes lie.
Losing players like Smith to union is very disappointing. Union seem to be paying us back for our nicking of their top players in the late 70s/80s. What goes around comes around. We have a good product, increased attendances and a closer competition than we ever had in the "one professional club" era. We may lose a few more players in the process, but as long as the sport continues to increase in popularity, it's a long-term sacrifice worth making.