Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 What with the latest news of another world class league player switching codes got me thinking to the time when the boot was on the other foot with league clubs snapping up top international union players but more interestingly the players that got away for example one of the greatest rugby players of either code Christian Cullen had his sights set on a career in the ARL before union went professional. There was also all blacks legend tana umaga who signed for Newcastle knights before returning home to NZ because he was homesick. There’s also ex league junior Jonah Lomu who switched to union in high school I believe. Also nearly signed for Leeds and Sheffield after the 1995 union World Cup?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Moore Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 4 minutes ago, Cumbrian Mackem said: What with the latest news of another world class league player switching codes got me thinking to the time when the boot was on the other foot with league clubs snapping up top international union players but more interestingly the players that got away for example one of the greatest rugby players of either code Christian Cullen had his sights set on a career in the ARL before union went professional. There was also all blacks legend tana umaga who signed for Newcastle knights before returning home to NZ because he was homesick. There’s also ex league junior Jonah Lomu who switched to union in high school I believe. Also nearly signed for Leeds and Sheffield after the 1995 union World Cup?? I could be misrembering this (at least in part because its before 0900 on a Sunday morning and I'm being sung at by a 2 year old) but I'm pretty sure in Dean Bell's autobiography he mentions that when he's discussing the Leeds caching job Leeds are very confident that they'll be signing Lomu. Always thought Cullen would've been a sensation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 minute ago, Tom Moore said: I could be misrembering this (at least in part because its before 0900 on a Sunday morning and I'm being sung at by a 2 year old) but I'm pretty sure in Dean Bell's autobiography he mentions that when he's discussing the Leeds caching job Leeds are very confident that they'll be signing Lomu. Always thought Cullen would've been a sensation. I always thought it was Sheffield and Leeds that offered £1 million for lomu. Seem to remember that it was pretty much nailed on that he’d be switching codes after the 1995 World Cup. As for Cullen talk about a player who was made to play rugby league. Greatest fullback in either code for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrewxi Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Leeds close to signing Will Carling. Jeremy guscott had offers from saints, wigan and bradford I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 minute ago, thebrewxi said: Leeds close to signing Will Carling. Jeremy guscott had offers from saints, wigan and bradford I think. Lucky escapes for all involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrewxi Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Just now, Cumbrian Mackem said: Lucky escapes for all involved. Yes, but they were both household names when I was growing up. Much bigger than any league player at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 minute ago, thebrewxi said: Yes, but they were both household names when I was growing up. Much bigger than any league player at the time. Of course but they would have been expensive flops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Seem to remember former wales union centre from the 90’s Leigh Davies close to signing for St. Helens. Think they must have lost interest after signing Scott Gibbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Kevin Sinfield Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Was Jonah Lomu a better and more destructive winger than say Wendell Sailor or Lesley Vainikolo, or was he just more high profile because he played union instead of league? Edit, looking up some International stats. Jonah Lomu 37 tries in 63 Internationals in Union. Wendell Sailor 21 tries in 21 Internationals in League and 13 tries in 37 Internationals in Union. Lesley Vainikolo 14 tries in 12 Internationals in League and 0 tries in 5 Internationals in Union. Ryan Hall has a better record than all 3 of the players above with 36 tries in 40 Internationals. That’s 2 more International trues than Martin Offiah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 8 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said: Was Jonah Lomu a better and more destructive winger than say Wendell Sailor or Lesley Vainikolo, or was he just more high profile because he played union instead of league? Edit, looking up some International stats. Jonah Lomu 37 tries in 63 Internationals in Union. Wendell Sailor 21 tries in 21 Internationals in League and 13 tries in 37 Internationals in Union. Lesley Vainikolo 14 tries in 12 Internationals in League and 0 tries in 5 Internationals in Union. Personally for me he was both. He would have been awesome in league. Maybe even converted into a centre like tuigamala. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Kevin Sinfield Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 minute ago, Cumbrian Mackem said: Personally for me he was both. He would have been awesome in league. Maybe even converted into a centre like tuigamala. I’m sure he would have made a great rugby league winger. I think he’d have been very similar to Lesley Vainikolo in League, as a winger it’d seem very unfair to have either as your opposite number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronicler of Chiswick Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 46 minutes ago, Cumbrian Mackem said: Lucky escapes for all involved. Certainly with Will Carling. The Harlequins supporters where I used to work in Twickenham couldn't stand the man, if I repeated what they said about him the mods would give me a compulsory holiday from this forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 10 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said: I’m sure he would have made a great rugby league winger. I think he’d have been very similar to Lesley Vainikolo in League, as a winger it’d seem very unfair to have either as your opposite number. Obviously lomu was bigger but not sure he would have been faster. Wasnt Lesley a school boy sprint champion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 minute ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said: Certainly with Will Carling. The Harlequins supporters where I used to work in Twickenham couldn't stand the man, if I repeated what they said about him the mods would give me a compulsory holiday from this forum! Extremely arrogant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Moore Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 hour ago, Cumbrian Mackem said: Lucky escapes for all involved. Agree on Carling, not on Guscott. Quick, evasive, good hands, and a lot better at the physical side of things than he ever got credit for-showed up really well in New Zealand in 93 for the Lions, and again in South Africa in 97. Very good game sense as well. Not the Cullen level of lock, but I'd have been more surprised if he'd failed than if he'd succeeded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronicler of Chiswick Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 31 minutes ago, Cumbrian Mackem said: Extremely arrogant? That would have been a compliment from them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrewxi Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 39 minutes ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said: Certainly with Will Carling. The Harlequins supporters where I used to work in Twickenham couldn't stand the man, if I repeated what they said about him the mods would give me a compulsory holiday from this forum! Lady Di fans I guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrewxi Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 19 minutes ago, Tom Moore said: Agree on Carling, not on Guscott. Quick, evasive, good hands, and a lot better at the physical side of things than he ever got credit for-showed up really well in New Zealand in 93 for the Lions, and again in South Africa in 97. Very good game sense as well. Not the Cullen level of lock, but I'd have been more surprised if he'd failed than if he'd succeeded. Who remembers Jim Fallon? He was same era as guscott at Bath. Always liked him as a player. Seem to remember him getting a lot of stick from the fans, and even his coaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 6 minutes ago, thebrewxi said: Who remembers Jim Fallon? He was same era as guscott at Bath. Always liked him as a player. Seem to remember him getting a lot of stick from the fans, and even his coaches. Great player. Remember my mam being a huge fan of Jim’s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Moore Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 5 minutes ago, thebrewxi said: Who remembers Jim Fallon? He was same era as guscott at Bath. Always liked him as a player. Seem to remember him getting a lot of stick from the fans, and even his coaches. I remember Jim Fallon. Played for England A before he went to Leeds, in hindsight was a bit of a "Tesco Value Lomu" in Union. Stuart Barnes said something along the lines of if you gave him a clear run in he'd cut inside and look for someone to run over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooleboy Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 hour ago, Cumbrian Mackem said: Lucky escapes for all involved. I thought Will Carling would have made a good RL Centre, he was very good at tackling and had a sound all round game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tms Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 round about 91 92 FEV agreed terms with welsh international winger Ieuan Evans the club got him a job with a local brewery Bentleys Yorkshire Beers in Woodlesford his wife a job in a local school and the use of a mortgage free house only thing missing was his signature on the day he was due to sign told the club would be staying in wales to is credit apologised and told FEV the then amateur WRU gave him a package for him and his wife including a one off money payment and jobs with income double of yorkshire what a shame still think he would have been a big hit in RL similar to offiah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cumbrian Mackem Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 9 minutes ago, POR said: round about 91 92 FEV agreed terms with welsh international winger Ieuan Evans the club got him a job with a local brewery Bentleys Yorkshire Beers in Woodlesford his wife a job in a local school and the use of a mortgage free house only thing missing was his signature on the day he was due to sign told the club would be staying in wales to is credit apologised and told FEV the then amateur WRU gave him a package for him and his wife including a one off money payment and jobs with income double of yorkshire what a shame still think he would have been a big hit in RL similar to offiah Never heard that before. Interesting. how old would he have been in 91-92? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said: Was Jonah Lomu a better and more destructive winger than say Wendell Sailor or Lesley Vainikolo, or was he just more high profile because he played union instead of league? Edit, looking up some International stats. Jonah Lomu 37 tries in 63 Internationals in Union. Wendell Sailor 21 tries in 21 Internationals in League and 13 tries in 37 Internationals in Union. Lesley Vainikolo 14 tries in 12 Internationals in League and 0 tries in 5 Internationals in Union. Ryan Hall has a better record than all 3 of the players above with 36 tries in 40 Internationals. That’s 2 more International trues than Martin Offiah. Lomu made his name trampling over much smaller players towards the end of the RU 'amateur' era. Once other players caught up physically the impact certainly wasn't the same. The 1995 RU World Cup was real men against boys stuff where much more professional Southern hemisphere countries played much more amateur northern hemisphere countries. He was in many ways the prototype for all the big Kiwi and Pacific Islander wingers that were to follow, in both codes. Lets not forget that he also started off a League player too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooleboy Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 hour ago, POR said: round about 91 92 FEV agreed terms with welsh international winger Ieuan Evans the club got him a job with a local brewery Bentleys Yorkshire Beers in Woodlesford his wife a job in a local school and the use of a mortgage free house only thing missing was his signature on the day he was due to sign told the club would be staying in wales to is credit apologised and told FEV the then amateur WRU gave him a package for him and his wife including a one off money payment and jobs with income double of yorkshire what a shame still think he would have been a big hit in RL similar to offiah All true POR, except the Brewery was William Youngers who were suppliers to Featherstone at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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