Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Mon Oct 24, 2011 6:33 am  

I'm sort of glad NZ won (I actually wanted France to win near the end just for a laugh), but they came really close to freezing again. They played like they expected France to fall apart, and had no Plan B when they didn't.

On the comments re the other top southern sides, SA have been on a slow decline for a while because they decided a couple of years ago to come to this World Cup with an ageing (but experienced) team. As a result in a number of positions they haven't replaced players they otherwise would have. Australia were just very poor all campaign. Some of their players - notably the halfbacks Genia and particularly Cooper - really underperformed.

The final for me summed up WHY RU works at international level - because you can use safety-first tactics to keep a game tight. Whilst as a free-flowing spectacle it may not be good to watch, tight contests keep interest all the way through. In RL you simply can't do that. Sadly England will have to give on Australia the ball 50% on average.

BTW one tactic which I think a lot of RU sides ought to review is the high kick midfield. I think I saw it work twice or three times during the WC, out of hundreds of attempts.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:22 am  

Let's play adjectives.

"Well it's not beautiful, Nigel"
"It's not, Hugh"
"It doen't have to be, Nigel"
"Absolutely, Hugh"
"But it is thrilling"
"Immense"
"Awesome"
"Huge"
"Enthralling"
"Fantastic"
"Colossal"
"Massive"
"Super"
"I've loved it, Nigel"
"Loved every minute, Hugh"

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:37 am  

France captain Thierry Dusautoir named IRB player of the year.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:35 pm  

cjhatesunion wrote:

I am sorry but if that is the best that they can come up with it just shows how bias the media are towards union.

Really?
Saturday October 29 – England v Wales
Saturday November 5 – England v Australia

Which of these 2 games on the BBC will get better ratings than the 6.6 million for the Wales v France semi-final from the RWC?

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:45 pm  

You can come up with figures as much as you want GF but it is still true.

To be honest if we get half that amount I would be quite happy but we will wait and see.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:56 pm  

gutterfax wrote:

Really?
Saturday October 29 – England v Wales
Saturday November 5 – England v Australia
Which of these 2 games on the BBC will get better ratings than the 6.6 million for the Wales v France semi-final from the RWC?

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:29 pm  

cjhatesunion wrote:

You can come up with figures as much as you want GF but it is still true.

Figures are what control things like TV deals and the amount of media exposure a game will get. The BBC show 6 nations games over the weekends of the tournament and an average of 4.5 million people tune in.....the BBC will show the 4 nations over the coming weeks.......it's not their fault or anyone elses in the media that less than 2,000,000 will tune in.

cjhatesunion wrote:

To be honest if we get half that amount I would be quite happy but we will wait and see.

To be honest, unless there's a friggin major snow fall and everyone is trapped in their houses, you have no chance of seeing an audience of 3.3 million

As for your pictire Catalancs....WTF?

I have no axe to grind, but I am sick sore and tired for the woes of TGG being blamed on everything other than the apathy of the fans who are supposed to love it?

I can't wait to see the thread on the VT during the double header bemoaning the empty seats at Wembley, typed by armchair fans and keyboard warriors who couln't be arsed to part with a tenner and go to the Live event.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:38 pm  

Relax fella. It's called 'a laugh'. What I don't get is why you've started lowering yourself to the level of some other contributors by bringing up rugby league and coming out with stats and figures to make comparisons. I think you've spent too much time chewing the cud with our convict descendants over on the NRL board

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:57 pm  

Sadly when it comes to the BBC and 6 Nations they advertise that all over the place. Has anyone seen anything yet by the bbc to advertise a fact they are showing Rugby League 2 weeks running rather than Murder she wrote.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:29 pm  

gutterfax wrote:

Really?
Saturday October 29 – England v Wales
Saturday November 5 – England v Australia

Which of these 2 games on the BBC will get better ratings than the 6.6 million for the Wales v France semi-final from the RWC?

Union calc out again. Ive been having a look at the figures and I dont see union anywhere in this list.

ITV1
w/e 16 Oct 2011
Millions
1 THE X FACTOR RESULTS (SUN 1959) 10.84
2 DOWNTON ABBEY (SUN 2103) 10.16
3 THE X FACTOR (SAT 1944) 9.90
4 DOC MARTIN (MON 2100) 9.45
5 CORONATION STREET (MON 2029) 8.69
6 CORONATION STREET (MON 1933) 8.49
7 CORONATION STREET (FRI 1932) 7.76
8 CORONATION STREET (FRI 2029) 7.55
9 CORONATION STREET (THU 2031) 7.31
10 EMMERDALE (MON 1901) 6.96
11 EMMERDALE (WED 1900) 6.85
12 EMMERDALE (TUE 1901) 6.80
13 EMMERDALE (FRI 1901) 6.80
14 EMMERDALE (THU 2000) 6.71
15 EMMERDALE (THU 1900) 6.68
16 MIDSOMER MURDERS (WED 2003) 5.67
17 DCI BANKS (FRI 2100) 5.19
18 HARRY HILL'S TV BURP (SAT 1913) 4.21
19 JOANNA LUMLEY'S GREEK ODYSSEY (THU 2102) 3.88
20 THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW (SAT 2154) 3.43
21 ALL STAR FAMILY FORTUNES (SAT 1815) 3.42
22 ITV NEWS (TUE 1830) 3.25
23 ITV NEWS (MON 1830) 3.10
24 ITV NEWS (FRI 1830) 3.03
25 ITV NEWS (WED 1830) 2.97
26 WILD BRITAIN WITH RAY MEARS (FRI 2002) 2.94
27 ITV NEWS (THU 1830) 2.91
28 LITTLE ENGLAND (MON 2002) 2.81
29 ITV NEWS AT TEN (MON 2201) 2.70
30 NEW YOU'VE BEEN FRAMED! (SAT 1745) 2.52

And even the week before the highest was 4.8