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Rugby League is a better game to play and watch says Gavin Henson

The Future is League

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burnleywelsh

burnleywelsh

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, hindle xiii said:

Henson - I better say something nice about my new employers...

...

"If rugby league is clever now it could steal a march on rugby union because at the moment I think it's the better game to watch and to play in." - Pfft, noobs.

To be honest, I don’t think that Henson is in this for the money. I don’t think that he’s reliant on his ‘new employers’ to feather his nest. He seems quite genuine in his admiration of Rugby League.

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Big Picture

Big Picture

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, burnleywelsh said:

To be honest, I don’t think that Henson is in this for the money. I don’t think that he’s reliant on his ‘new employers’ to feather his nest. He seems quite genuine in his admiration of Rugby League.

Of course he's not in this for the money, RU pays a lot better than RL these days so there wouldn't be enough money involved for that.

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DC77

DC77

Posted
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6 hours ago, The Future is League said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/56460162

"Union has lost its way a bit. I enjoy watching the internationals but apart from that it's a tough game to watch."

 

Its been that way for over 15 years, so he’s underplaying it. I barely missed an international (5/6 nations, Lions, tri nations) for well over a decade when the game was an excellent product and stuck with it while O’Driscoll was still around as he was capable of producing the odd moment of magic in spite of the bruising, attritional, gym monkey dominated drudgery around him.

 

"If rugby league is clever now it could steal a march on rugby union because at the moment I think it's the better game to watch and to play in. It's a big time for rugby league and I think they could capitalise."

I think he’s right in that it could capitalise, but not the current game. RL is not as far down the road as RU is in terms of being attritional but it’s not the wide open, attacking game it was. I think a big error has been adopting a more physical and risk averse Aussie style. You might be more competitive with Aussies (0-6 2017 RLWC final) but you won’t garner any new viewers (0-6 2017 RLWC final). Aussie tastes are not British tastes. Aussies routinely beat the bejesus out of British players (as they also did to Irish players in the International Rules series), they love a scrap, “the biff”, the emphasis is on physicality, whereas the British RL players (and Irish Gaelic players) prefer a more skill focused game. RL needs to ditch the Aussie wrestle, the watertight Aussie defensive focus, and go back to the more attack orientated open British game that can be seen from old clips online. Cater to British tastes and then it will really capitalise on all those who have ditched RU or are close to doing so.

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DC77

DC77

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Not this tired old line again.

He ain’t wrong though.

Watched that fantastic Rob Burrow show which was repeated on Sky Sports tonight. He was making line breaks galore, something that just doesn’t happen in RU anymore. 

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Cumbrian Mackem

Cumbrian Mackem

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, DC77 said:

He ain’t wrong though.

Watched that fantastic Rob Burrow show which was repeated on Sky Sports tonight. He was making line breaks galore, something that just doesn’t happen in RU anymore. 

You’re right of course but what does it matter? Smacks of just trying to appease league fans.

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Eddie

Eddie

Posted
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1 hour ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

You’re right of course but what does it matter? Smacks of just trying to appease league fans.

He‘s got no reason to appease League fans.  Is it that hard to believe he genuinely means what he’s saying? 

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Bedfordshire Bronco

Bedfordshire Bronco

Posted
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10 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

That’ll be his shirts taken down from the walls at his old RU clubs then 😅 

Yep I was thinking about how clubs will respond and having a chuckle too

His approach has been fantastic for us as a game and fantastic in general. It can do nothing but good for WWR, Welsh league and the game on general to have these headlines 

 

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Hopping Mad

Hopping Mad

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, burnleywelsh said:

To be honest, I don’t think that Henson is in this for the money. I don’t think that he’s reliant on his ‘new employers’ to feather his nest. He seems quite genuine in his admiration of Rugby League.

According to the podcast, Henson runs a pub now. West Wales asked him if he'd be an ambassador for the club. He told them he'd much rather play the game.

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ELBOWSEYE

ELBOWSEYE

Posted
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1 hour ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Heard it so many times before from both sides. League players going to union and union players going to league.

He's 39 and has no need to appease league fans, no body expects anything from him at his age, so if WWR and Welsh rl can gain anything from him good for them. He's getting publicity for a CC tie that would normally not put the smallest of blips on a radar. There is nothing only good publicity from this. 

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