Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:05 pm  

I wonder if they showed him their turd hole of a ground. Bath W*****rs told us not to bother bringing our kids to the minis and juniors fixtures back in December (at the last minute as well - many of us were already on the way) because the Rec was "frozen". Although some people from our club were shopping in Bath that morning and saw all their kids training as normal. I guess we weren't easy enough for them to beat, or posh enough to walk on their grass.

The so called Bath minis and juniors have nothing to do with the professional outfit called Bath Rugby nowadays. The land that Bath minis play on (the Rec) is run by a charity, who dictate when conditions are fit for play.

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:44 pm  

He can hear the money jingling into his bank as we speak,,, yes he looks like robinson but has no where near the same talent as JR, personally i think he will fail at Union and would be a huge loss to league if he does go but will be back soon enough i think... some like it some dont

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:08 pm  

Apart from John Bentley there are serveral notable England RU internationals that converted to RL. - Bev Risman, (Leigh, Leeds) Mike Coulman (Salford), Keith Fielding (Salford). Barrie John Mather (Wigan & England Schools RU) If you go back futher you have Ray French (St Helens), and the great Leeds legend Jim Brough and Thomas Holiday (Oldham)

Wales RU of course produced a conveyor belt of talent and Scotland chipped in with a few as well - the great Dave Valentine (Huddersfield), Ronnie Cowan, Drew Broatch & Alan Tait etc

In addition to the dual code internationals there have been many local players who came to RL from Union and became top League players Derek Hallas, John Atkinson and Sid Hynes to name a few.

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:12 pm  

You missed George Fairburn from your Scottish converts, weren't Hugh Waddell & George Graham also Union converts?
Bobbie Goulding I think played union to a high standard as a kid, keeping Kyran Bracken out of a rep side.

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:15 pm  

With regard to Eastmond. It seems as though St Helens have missed a trick here as they should have got him on a longer contract 2 season back when he first burst onto the scene. If he leaves at the end of the season, he is out of contract so no therefore no transfer fee. Union get a prize asset for free from League.

Saints should let him go now to the highest bidder.

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:25 pm  

Old Feller wrote:

You missed George Fairburn from your Scottish converts, weren't Hugh Waddell & George Graham also Union converts?
Bobbie Goulding I think played union to a high standard as a kid, keeping Kyran Bracken out of a rep side.

Yes but I am not sure these were Scottish RU internationals though.

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:09 pm  

Juan Cornetto wrote:

Saints should let him go now to the highest bidder.

he's not forced to go though is he?

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:27 pm  

Juan Cornetto wrote:

Yes but I am not sure these were Scottish RU internationals though.

Was Drew Broatch? Genuine question as I didn't realise he had been capped by Scotland before heading South.

__________

Generally, if anything, you appear to be supporting the case for the prosecution. Given that in order to recall more than a single handful of Ex England RU Internationals you have had to go back several decades and even appear to have half included a player who first played for the full England RU side only after he'd completed his first crack at pro League.

To perhaps help the list along what can you recall of Peter Williams at Salford? I know he played for Wales in RL but I always thought he might have been an England RU International before he converted?

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:41 pm  

totalloiner wrote:

ok andy you name me five ENGLISH internationals who coverted from union to league in the 70's 80's 90's i bet you couldn't count them on one hand, because we all know they were well paid in their day jobs unlike the welsh coverts jon webb (surgeon) brian moore (solicitor) rory underwood (RAF pilot) to name just 3.

There's an interesting bit in one of the Rothmans RL Yearbooks (circa 1981, I think) about how Warrington spent months trying to woo 'Sir' Clive Woodward.

If you listen to the stories about those days when you could cop a life ban for playing League, there were a lot of coaches in northern England with massive league pedigrees coaching in the background at a lot of onion clubs and coupled with that, there were also a lot of lower league or decent amateur league players turning out for Union clubs under false names.

I'd say it is one of the fundamental reasons that when 'kick & clap' used to rave about their county championship series, there was usually a 'northern' county in there. Not because they filled their teams with moonlighting league players (that would be too obvious, even for the RFU old farts) but the players who played alongside them also had to be half-decent to get a game in a 'big' northern Union club sides.

Remember, in those days, the big Union club sides weren't like they are today ... There wasn't even a league as such (just look up the 'Northern Union (sic) Merit Table' for starters). Around here, the likes of Otley were considered to be a 'big' Union club and that was one of the reasons why they landed a game for the first 'kick & clap world cup' in '87.

Re: Eastmond to Bath RU confirmed : Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:47 pm  

Juan Cornetto wrote:

Apart from John Bentley there are serveral notable England RU internationals that converted to RL. - Bev Risman, (Leigh, Leeds) Mike Coulman (Salford), Keith Fielding (Salford). Barrie John Mather (Wigan & England Schools RU) If you go back futher you have Ray French (St Helens), and the great Leeds legend Jim Brough and Thomas Holiday (Oldham)

Ah, yes .. Keith Fielding !

Anyone remember after KF turned pro and appeared on TV's 'Superstars' alongside the alledged cream of the England Union side (which IIRC, had just won the Grand Slam) Andy Ripley ?

Suffice to say, even with twice around the pitch and a bit of touch & pass training that league was in those days, Fielding easily owned Ripley.

And at the end, Fielding went home with a fat cheque and a nice big video under his arm (which was cutting edge stuff in those days) and to keep the RFU happy, the BBC had to make such a song & dance at the prize giving about Ripley's 'amateur' status ...