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I am a student in America doing a research paper on "the greatest livng English rugby player." I am not very knowledgeable on the subject seeing as America is much more fond of American football than the rugby union.
If someone could reply with a few good options of the greatest living English rugby player, it would be much appreciated. If it is too difficult to judge the greatest player alive, just knowing the most famous player would be helpful.
The issue is having enough information about the individual to fill up atleast 5 pages of work. Thanks in advance.
Chris Seryak, Cleveland, Ohio
Wigan V Bradford on Friday night was more than worth the entrance money, well done you Bulls for the magnificent comback.
Point: The attendance was a pitifull 13100 with approx 900 Bulls fans. Yes everyone in Rugby League has heard the phrase "The Wigan Walk" now we have "The Bradford Boycott". I fully understand the reason's for not going to Saint Helens last year (Saints put their reserves out at Odsal)but is this going to apply to all North West sides. Please do not answer with "the game was on sky excuse"
Steve F, Wigan
The tackling from Leigh last night was diabolical. How many time did they turn their backs in the tackle? It will be a long hard season for Darren Abram I'm afraid. It would have been hard enough without that sort of defence, I use defence lightly here, and they were bereft of ideas for most of the match. God help them when they play the likes of Leeds etc, we could see a few 100+ points games.
Steve Franklin, Barrow in Furness
as a supporter for leigh i am disapointed in the loss against salford city reds tonight. it was a bad performance and if leigh want to remain in the super league something desperatly needs to be done about it. the supporters wernt so happy with turley as he lost us trys and needs to have more confidence at attacking. i was disapointed to be a leigh supporter and hope we can do better next week against wakefield.
emma , leigh
Hope this win for bradford shuts all you who ever douted them up well deserved win. slow start but we won it in the last 10 minutes. well done boys the bulls are back!!!!!!!!!!!
It shows how much Saints depend on Scully - we were bereft of ideas and leadership after he went off. Top marks to Paul Anderson and Jamie Lyon who both played well, but Saints dropped for too much ball, and often tried to pass when it would be better to stick hold. My main point, though, as it always seems to be when I post on here, is the continued inconsistency and incompetence of the referees. Karl Kirkpatrick's performance this evening was an absolute disgrace, and the poor refereeing standard in this country is becoming a major problem. At one stage a Saints player was tackled high by a player in an offside position. The result? A penalty to Huddersfield for Saints not playing the ball properly. Bizarre.
People were too quick to write the Bulls off after two games, and too quick to write then off after 68minutes against Wigan. I seen some unbelievable comebacks from the Bulls over the years (one against London in '97 I think it was), but last nights is up there as one of the best.
Lesley Vainikolo out and Bradford losing their first two matches surely means Bradford are a one man team !
If Farrel leaves to rugby union who will be the next GB captain? Most people would say paul sculthorpe but come the end of the season I think Kevin Sinfield will be #1 choice.
Salford will be a suprise team this season, watch out the reds are coming!!
Referring to Leeds rhinos win over Canterbury in the World Club Challenge, comments were made by our Australian friends that Leeds being the best team in the world was a joke, and that G.B. could never have a better club side side than the Aussies. Can I just emphasise that although Leeds are the best team officially, this has nothing to do with Great Britain, as Marcus Bai, Ali Lauititi, Andrew Dunneman, Willie Poching, and Chris McKenna are not British. Having said that, is Hazem al Masri not Lebanese???
John Adamson, Leeds
I hope Andy Farrell goes to union because he has won everything domesticaly in rugby league, so lets hope he goes to union and wins something.
I know it's only early days but i believe the Bradford team will struggle to place in the top 4 this season
Graham, Guernsey (ex-Leeds)
David Sydney: How can you say that Wigan buy average players? No player is average or else they wouldnt play in super league.
All props have to do is make yards and hand off the ball, you dont need to be a magnificent player to achieve that!
Not every single player has to be amazing on the field because they would start competing against each other. The whole team plays well together, its not individual performance that wins games!
David, Sydney. Decent players have bigger salaries and nowadays due to Salary Caps you are limited to who you can sign. Personally I think the levelling of squads in SL is contributing to a much better competition.
Just to get away from the boring league is better than union brigade & vice versa for a bit has everyone forgotten the Powergen cup?...And a chance for an upset by some of the amateur boys? I have recently watched three cracking games for "my" local team Illingworth...And am looking forward to a good day out at Rochdale!....So good luck to the Illy lads you deserve it! & all the other amatuer teams...GO GUYS!!!
Ben from Stevenage I would not take criticsm of union too personally, you obviously appreciate the worth of both codes, unfortunately league has suffered years of bigotry and people who love this game dearly still have an adverse reaction to the Union establishment
Guisset signs for Wigan!!!! after 3 months jollying it in France, he then decides union isnt for him. On a very VERY good day will guisset fit into that team but all in all a very average player. Long gone are the days when Wigan attracted the best players (both union and league) instead Betts is over the moon with this signing. Well congratulations, you have your man. Warrington were right to get him off their wage structure, too slow, too many droped balls and far too inconsistent
I see the negative comments about the Rhinos have started. Could it be because we finished top of the table last year with more points difference between top and second there has ever been in Super League? Or maybe because we won the Grand Final? Or could the fact we are Wrold Club Champions be getting on people's noses? Maybe it's due to the fact we have won both our opening games - true, not convincingley or even with a good performance but still a win's a win! now i'm not going to be totally biased here and i will mention that no matter who wins the Super League negative comments are passed along that teams way but isn't it about time we put the pettiness of all this behind us and concentrate on how each of our own individual teams are playing?
Congrats to Wakefield for winning there opening games - i hope they do really well this year, they deserve it! As for Bradford - what can i say?
Gemma Holroyd, Leeds
dave sydney i have watched wigan for years and remember the likes of sam panapa coming to the club as a journy man and he was spectecular when he was on the pitch i just hope that guisett is the same and proves every one wrong and as for forward passes anything that stops stevo from banging on about the momentum rule that doesn't exist is welcome from me
2 games into SL10 and already we've started the (annual) debate about the standard of 'refereeing'. What about the linesmen! Surely their role is to identify to the ref any infringements, e.g., forward pass, etc., that he might not have full view of. I think here lies the problem. Whether it's a case of not being able to keep up with the pace of today's game, I don't know. But I'm sure we've all seen some howlers made by the guy(s) with the flag! Obviously, this doesn't help the ref much when he has to make a call. Anybody else any thoughts?
Steve Davis, Wigan
I agree with David about Guisset, he wasn't particularly good at Warrington so what is he doing at Wigan? I'd much rather our young forwards and Danny Sculthorpe were given the chance. Of course I'll be delighted if Guisset turns out to be a barnstorming player in the mode of Craig Smith, but somehow I doubt it.
It seems to me that there is a lot of complaining that Union snipe and criticise League- yet a lot (and I mean A LOT) of messages I read on here are League fans sniping and critising the Union game. I rarely see Union fans critising League on the Scrum V boards. Maybe it's time to what seem to be age-old grudges behind us?
As a Wigan fan for many years, i am saddened to see the way that the club has had to resort to buying players such as Guisset and other average players in the last few years. If there is nobody good enough for Wigan out there then just dont buy! We have some wonderful young players who deserve every chance. Save the money then buy a decent player or prospect instead of a Frenchman who cant make it in Union!! (offence intended)
I can see no reason why the video ref can't be used to check for forward passes. I agree that the angles on T.V. can be deceiving, but with the advances in technology a little lateral thinking could solve the problem. Small lines could be painted at defined distances along the touchline, creating a series of markers that could then be used to define a parallel line across the width of the pitch. The video ref could then use this line as a guide. Like all the decisions made, it would not be an absolute guarantee but it would help.
Bye bye Andy Farrell, you have been a good servant to the game but not been so good for GB, maybe now we can kick forward with a younger GB side, leave out Long,Sculthorpe etc and build for the future!
D Pollard of Leeds thanks for the 40/20 explanation. If though the advantage is given to the attacking side when it is not clear why was Jamie Lyons try not given?. You cant have it both ways or maybe certain teams can!
Well, Noel I'm not sure what you playing rugby has to do with how England and France played unless you're saying you've just had too many blows to the head! But I've played a lot too - and yes that was a poor match, but if you judge a whole sport on that you must be short of any valid points.
Rory, London, England
Couldn't agree more about the kick and clap form of rugby; watched a game the other night and there was a kick after every fifth tackle...
Oh dear oh dear! I thought the union boys wanted to be friends and so the rhinos gave them a training session to teach the engalnd union team league's far superior skills. But now we see they want to poach our best player because they cannot produce enough good players themselves. League will always be the winner in teh long run because we will get all the money they will have to pay for him and they probably won't be able to get much out of him because he's quite old and probably won't be able to adapt to union's strange mess that they call rucks, expecially with that dodgy knee. Anyway I think Sculthorpe is a ready made successor and would be a very good captain in his place: it would take his game to the next level which would absolutely awesome
Rory,London Jason Robinson one dimensional do me a favour.His problem is that he should be played on the wing and seems weighed down by the captaincy of a struggling team.As for being one dimensional compared to the brilliant backlines of Wales and Ireland isn`t that a pretty good description of the England back division who`ve managed to drap Robinson and Cueto down to their level.They should get even better when they drop Hodgson for Johnny one trick NOT!!!!!Sorry I know this is a league board but needed to get that off me chest.
Why does D Carr of portsmouth think Bradford should be beating the likes of Wakefield. In every sport Teams have there day, perhaps the glory days for Bradford have gone for now.Wakefield are a good solid unit, with everyone at the club having equal standing and playing for the cause.No one should be surprised if they reach top 4 status this time around, they have the squad to do it. Perhaps Caisley and co are to blame for Bradfords present predicament, offering their young talent around during the summer thus leading to disharmony in the camp
The reason the Video Ref does not rule on forwarded passes (B Pritchard, Hull) is due to the differing camera angles and the inability to determine whether a pass is forward or not. This is apparent when watching the game on television, some angles appear forward whilst others do not. So long as we have the same yard stick for all teams then surley not ruling on this shouldn't pose a problem.
two things to say:
1, andy farrell if you read this you remind me of luke skywalker (never be tempted to join the dark side) stay in league you are a great ambassador for the sport.
2,great win for the tigers on sunday against fev.keep up the good work mr woods and we should be back in super league next season.
In response to Rory from London, league players are one-dimensional?! I'm afraid that looking at players like Sculthorpe and McGuire, I beg to very seriously differ! Performances in the Six Nations, would suggest the boot is on the other foot, with the exception of a few such as Henson. Speaking as someone who has played union since the age of 11, the one-dimensional play of England and France so far in the tournament has stunned me.
Jeff (London) are you kidding about Sonny Bill? He is just about the most level headed player in the game, he is in no way getting ahead of himself. Obviously you haven't seen him play much, or seen much of him when he talks.
Its interesting how much the opinion in the press has shifted regarding Widnes - last week they were a team full of old men who were undoubtedly going to be relegated - now one win and a glittering performance from Owen Craigie the editorial is much more positive.
The old men tag is unjustified - we only have 4 players over 30 - Leeds had a similar number last year and I believe they won something ¿ the average age of the squad is 25, which includes some good home-grown talent.
Most people have gone on last year¿s performance, which is just sloppy - I think Widnes will surprise a few this year and I'm looking forward to some pundits acknowledging their mistake.
By the way, well done Wakey, good on you.
Stanley Leisure, London
The 40/20 was allowed on Friday as it was deemed that McGuire's foot was still on the white line when he made contact with the ball. It is only the outside lines (side and goal lines) that are deemed as out of play, so the video referee deemed as the ball was kicked on the 40 yd line....
The red line should be completely ignored in this context, but having seen the replay dozens of times I could understand the sour grapes - a definitely hard to judge situation, but then again, the 'advantage must be given to the attacking team' where it is not clear cut.
D Pollard, Leeds
I have to show my gratitude for the way my team (Wakefield) have started this year. A superb end to last season has continued this year and Mcnally deserves all the plaudits he gets. Julian O Neill has replaced the gap that was left by Gareth Ellis and Sam Obst is in the same build in terms of an off the bench impact player as Rob Burrow does so well for Leeds.
If Jamie Rooney can keep his performances up this year then there's no reason why he can't take the GB Stand Offs jersey come the end of the season.
Roll on London!
Ian Stanley, Wakefield
I would not go as far as to say Saints are back to their best, take Sculthorpe away and they are left with nothing. Leeds however proved we are not a one man team and will continue to do so whilst Danny McGuire is out for a month.
Martin Lee, Beeston, Leeds
Jason Robinson is indeed finding it hard to break through defences now. The problem is his game is a bit one-dimensional, even if very strong in that aspect. Which really is the problem of must league players when they try to step up, and another reason for Farrell to stay put.
Rory, London, England
Why the clamour for Sonny Bill? He's hardly out of the pram and he shows it when decisions don't go his way. Fame has gone to his head and he's not old or mature enough to cope with it for my liking. Send him over here when he's grown up.
What has happened to Bradford? 12 months ago they were the best team in the world and now they've lost to Wakefield and Widnes. No disrespect to either of them but Bradford should be winning these games. Leeds lost just two games all of last season and the Bulls have already equalled that after two games. If they don't beat Wigan next week it could be a struggle not just to win SLX but to get to the playoffs.
Dave Carr, Portsmouth
I accept that teams must bring their young players through to the first team, but Wigan seem to be doing this 'on-block', they don't lack desire or effort or commitment, just experience. They shouldn't be left with the pressure of having to fill old boots to quickly - Lindsey and presumably the nod from above have failed to bring sufficient foreign quality to the squad, its about time Wigan had someone better to make player decisions - crikey how long do we have to be without sufficient props - other teams don't seem to have this problem - Denis, sort the style of play out matey, its predictable and slow, we are and look light years behind the other big teams.
No sour grapes here boys just confusion. Can anybody explain why that 40/20 on friday was allowed i am at a loss.