Rugby forwards have a totally different job to Rugby league forwards. A Rugby league forward gets the ball and is told to "run that as hard as you can" then he gets to bludge. Then he only has to run up and back for 6 tackles before he gets the bludge again. Then he goes off after 20 mins. A Rugby forward is constantly running and putting his body on the line. They actually have to push in the scrum, nearly breaking their necks in the process not form up in a giant man orgy to stand there for 3 secs with his head up his mates arse. Rugby forwards have to have cohesion and are always in communication to control mauls, rucks, the scrum and the lineout. A Rugby league forward would almost never have any contact with a fellow forward on his team. Rugby league forwards are mostly bash and crash thugs meant to intimidate the opposition halves and make ground up the middle, they are only useful for a short amount of time, they are impact players. Of course the hooker is the exception to this and on occasion the lock, plus the odd second rower. Rugby union forwards rarely get subbed because once they are off thats it, They are skillful and highly fit players who have to constantly work for 80mins And believe me I am well and truly a Rugby league man but they a two different sports in regards to their forward packs.
wow how incredibly disappointing. i had a bad feeling aboout this match all yesterday in the lead up. the english played better defense than i have seen them play for over a year. the speed at which the shut down the aussie backline was truely impressive. most disappointingly of all the game was truely a poor game to watch. england played well in some important aspects of the gmae like the breakdown but quite frankly didnt play well overall. australia on the other hand were quite pathetic, we gave away a potential 18 points in penalties alone, the backs were passing terribly and not running and threatening angles, the fowards where way to slow to the breakdown, there was no support to the runners and as per usual the pick and drive and mauling skills were totally non existant. the fact of the matter is our consitency is letting us down badly and if we dont pull our ****in socks up southern hemisphere rugby is going to lose it's dominance over the rest of the world.
Matt Dunning..Skillful??Fit??? Slob??YES... But understand that both games forwards have different roles. Cant agree with you saying league forwards run once and bludge.. The average tackles and hit ups by a forward is 9runs ave 20 tackles ave No need to mention Ian hindmarsh,sonny bill etc..
I wouldn't say they get to bludge after their attacking set of 6, they are then called upon to do the heavy work in defence too. Perhaps I was a bit critical of rugby forwards, but having to constantly run back 10 meters ea ch time a tackle is made would take it's toll on the rugby forwards. I disagree however that they are more skillful than league forwards, but it's also hard to measure because like you said, the sports are different, particularly in the forwards. I still maintain that a rugby forward would find the going really tough in league if he were to change codes. More so than if a leaguie were to go to rugby. the league forward would only really have to learn the technical side of things in union.
Dude in rugby you defend behind your side of the ruck..No more than 5metres from the attacking team. No ten metres for rugby union..
On the subject of Union forwards being **** and League forwards being good its a bit of a unusual discussion if you ask me. Union forwards vary hugely from 1 to 8. The flankers are the fittest guys on the pitch in Union, every single ruck they have to be there first trying to either win their own ball quickly or slowing the opposition ball down, as well as not getting caught by the ref. The props on the other hand do the driving work, now the Aussie forwards are pretty shite at this part of the game, yesterday Sheridan was shoving Dunning around like he was a little 10yr old school kid. Ill tell you one thing, you'd be hard pressed to find a guy in rugby league who is stronger in terms of their lifts than Andy Sheridan, I think he is recognised as having the biggest bench and squat in World rugby, and on top of that he is 6ft5 and gets about the pitch well, he was one of our top ball carriers yesterday. I think it varies between Aussie and English this argument. I personally think our Union side would beat our league side however I think it would be the other way around with the Aussies (say if you played one half under Union rules and one half under league rules.) And likewise I think our league forwards are ****, and our Union forwards are quality. But one things for sure both sets of forwards are good in their own right. George Smith in his prime was freakishly good, unfortunately the Aussies spent all week telling us that Jason Robinson was our only World class back, but didnt seem to look at their own team and appreciate that George Smith is your only World class forward.
Yes, thats what I'm saying. If a rugby forward converted to league, he'd find the going touch due to constantly running back and forth while defending.
Well a flanker in union does that all game anyway. Running back and forward to ruck and defend the fringes.
Your probably right. I'm not that farmiliar with the positions in rugby. I just look at someone like Matt Dunning and can't help but shake my head. :-(
Doesnt Sheriden bench like 220Kg? It was in the Sydney paper today. Thats farken huge, it said that the strongest forward (in terms of how much they can bench) in our pack is dunning who can bench 180kg. Which is still impressive, but 220 thats crazy strong.
220 is impressive but many league players have that covered.. Matt orford benches 165kgs.Now thats pound for pound king.
while i will criticise australia and nz for there losses, i must say the game from fiji against south africa was quality, i love watching fiji play there my second fav team, they throw the ball around cahnce there arm but on sunday night they find the right mix and really played smart football and should have won the game, twice being held or thrown out of touch over the tryline, then offcourse the usual a try by south africa and it broke the camels back so to speak, some union backs in fiji are amazing to me speed, size and plenty of skills can kick and pass, and agreed there is atleast a couple of players in that team at the moment better then tuqiri.... orford lifts 165?? fuk me dead thats massive for his size....
