Chris Ashton, the England rugby union star, has ruffled a few feathers by claiming rugby league – in which he played for Wigan Warriors – is predictable.
Ashton claims union is a better game and says that he enjoys the 15-a-side code far more.
Here, the MEN’s trio of expert rugby league columnists have their say on his comments.
Adrian Morley
Chris Ashton is very badly mistaken if he under the impression that rugby league has become predictable.
As the Warrington captain, I can honestly say this claim is very much wide of the mark.
He only needs to watch the way we play to see just how entertaining and fast rugby league is.
We have a team crammed with quality players who play a great brand of rugby.
I just can’t watch rugby union and I don’t care for the game. I prefer to watch either an amateur rugby league match or Championship game rather than be subjected to the stop-start format of union.
Rugby league is a far better game and it’s vastly superior to union on so many fronts.
In fairness to Ashton, he is a good player and he’s done well since he went into union.
He has made the most of an opportunity presented to him but I will always be a great supporter of league.
This is what I’ve always played and in my view, our game is better than ever. Playing standards continue to rise and I don’t think any team can be labelled predictable. League is a great spectator sport, we have an excellent competition and I’m sorry but I just find union a big turn-off.
Luke Patten
Let’s give Chris Ashton credit for admitting the grounding he got in rugby league has stood him in good stead.
This is true and he deserves applause for his honesty, but I’ve never really seen him play.
Like Moz, I’m not a union fan. A rugby league player can go into union, do a lot less work and earn far more money!
That’s not bad – don’t forget we all have bills and mortgages to pay. But union isn’t for me and never will be for me.
In Sydney, we were in direct competition with union and I was duty bound to champion and talk up the league cause.
I always will, there’s no comparison. Union is over-refereed, rules are complex and only the All Blacks play a league style.
A player can make a break and then see things just break down ahead of the ensuing melee – I’d find that so frustrating.
Maybe the NRL is a little predictable but definitely not Super League. Players over here are prepared to try things.
In Australia, a couple of errors could see a player dropped and then that’s it for the season.
We see an off-the-cuff style in Super League and that’s good. I like the quick tap and credit to the referees for letting the game flow.
Sam Tomkins
Now I like rugby union, I can watch it at international level but some of the club games can be a bit dour.
Chris Ashton has done well, he’s a talented player and you can’t take anything away from him.
I agree with Chris that lads who go from league into union definitely benefit from the grounding they have had in league.
But I definitely don’t agree with Chris’s view that league comes down to five drives and a kick. League nowadays is so fast and is very good on the eye.
I certainly like to play things as I see it and have always brought in an off-the-cuff style.
I guess this may frustrate my team-mates at times with them wondering what I am going to do but I’ve always had a tendency to play it as I see it.
Good luck to Chris – he has done very well for himself and will continue to do so because he’s talented and he has the ability to score tries and to make things happen.
He went to union, has worked hard and is being rewarded, but league is a great game to play – it’s tough, fast and physical and, as my fellow columnists say, we do have a good competition and a lot of quality players are on view.
Is league as good as union? Have your say.
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Two different sports like trying to compare Cricket & Baseball apart from the ball being the same shape. Rugby Union as taken a lot more in recent years from League including most of the top ex internationals to work in top coaching jobs, these ex players should be our top coach now? The drain of talent will continue and they will be taken younger & there is nothing Rugby League can do.
Horrible game Rugby Union....Not a patch on the Greatest Game.
In Union, half the time , all we see are 10 or so players grovelling on the ground seeking the ball. Few know exactly what is happening and the referee seems to instruct th e players as to their next move. And again, how many scrums have you seen go against the head? I know ,very few! . And , in addition, the interminable kicking for touch--boring. Further , there are too many stoppages for scrums and lineouts. Wingers get far much less of the ball in Union . Also witness the many unpredictable scores in League , especiallyh the SL.Torred
union players are not very intelligent are they - they obviously dont understand the rules - just look at all the penalties they give away - or are they just cheats?
Rugby League is clearly light years bigger than RU in the north west so why the comparison?
Rugby league is my game, why cant the English league fraternity see the obvious.
Five drives and a kick, gotta laugh, Northern Hemisphere rugby union was for years lambasted for its boring ruck and kick game. Things have changed and Unions left league way behind. International Union is far better than League with competitive teams on the same level. The Super 15 also pits sides from Three countries in a great competition that not only entertains but enriches their game.
For rugby league fans our game has for a long time been an embarrassment.We now have the brains of our administration fabricating an international in the hope of creating a competitive match to prepare for the upcoming international series.The reality there is that of the players opposing us possibly only three if playing in the NRL would be even considered for State Of Origin. Very sad but reality.
New Zealand play Australia tonight and may well win again but all the players involved are NRL players, the New Zealand game is virtually non existent. The game of rugby league is designed to cater for Australians and their competition which is so far superior to any other product that it cannot be replicated and therefore has killed it as an international spectacle. Theres not that many differences in the games to make it a far better proposition if your an athletic footballer to play Union at the highest level.
Last of all, the mentality of the British Rugby league public to even go into debate on this subject is so so sad. Open your eyes!!!!
is that anything to do with doubling your wages since you switched codes Chris? Kick and clap union?? - i'd rather watch sycronised swimming...league is the better sport but because its mainly a northern sport - in this country,it remains the poorer sport. Wonder if he would have said that if it was visa versa.......i suspect so....
Why are these RL vs RU topics always in the RL section? Don't we want to upset the union folk and get their input or something?
Even the question is league as good as union lends itself to RL justifying it's quality and the sense that it is inferior in some way. A little while ago I wrote that all ex-RL players doing well will be asked some inane and largely redundant questions to make League looked bad when compared to union. It's a theme that the poor writing and even poorer research that parades as journalism in our national newspapers seem very loathe to abandon. Chris Ashton hardly made a huge impact on league and left a while ago, and whereas he has a right to an opinion he is no expert and this only leaves the question why he should need to comment or be asked to comment on RL at all. Of course anyone who likes RL needs papers and Chris Ashton to tell them what to prefer because they are obviously unable to choose for themselves being so deluded and delusional. Just wait for the news from Bath via London that Kyle Eastmond finds League too .................... fil in as applicable or answers on post to anyone remotely in Canary Wharf twickers propaganda!
I cannot give any credence to a rugby player denigrating another game . Try your hand at the highest standard rugby in the world, the Australasian N.R.L. The fact that all R.L. players who make the change to R.U. become internationals show the quality of R.L. Players. There may come a time when both games develop one unified structure. Even though in Europe this may seem ridiculous , there are very real reasons why this is inevitable. Players will then cease being so precious & the public will judge ,not a silly newspaper columnist .
Mervyn Cuthbert, Auckland,N.Z.