Well "harder" is not a term I would use. Both have pretty hard nuts. Brad Thorn was the best crossover merchant. He could apply his "hardness" to both league and union very successfully. He could also play in the forwards in both sports which is an entirely different style of play.

BTW they do play league in Melbourne schools, but no one cares

http://www.hallamssc.vic.edu.au/en-AU/content/rugby-league

I'll certainly record it. Hope it's a good game.

It could be tight, which means tries could be rare, which means fighting for penalties. Bit like most state or origins

I thought same, also think Aus have every reason to feel confident about this fixture, catching up. Obviously with Pocock fit.

It's interesting how many players struggle to move between league and union. At that level of skill you would have thought it would be easy

However:
Burgess can become a decent union player but as it stands he has been rushed into the highest level too quickly. No problem with him playing for England but Lancaster built his whole back line around him - and we have seen the results. He needs to give it time

Folau has been a great union convert IMO. Sure at the moment he is struggling but he has proven that he can play top-level union

All good rugby teams need bench players that can come on in the 2nd half and make an impact and SBW fits this bill. He played really well against the Bokke. Someone's got to do it

Definitely where I'm from, it's that, and the piss drinking/shitting in ashtrays antics of the public schoolboy players that switches people off. That may well have little truth attached to it but it's a reputation that's stuck in my part of the world

I dunno where the posh thing comes from TBH.

I'm from the SW coast, Bournemouth and all the boy schools played rugby whether they were grammar school, posh school or council house kids school. They also played footie and cricket. Had swimming lessons and learnt to play tennis.

My school played hockey. Ugh! Posh? No. Council 'ouse every one of us.

Husband is from the Midlands. Lowhill ,Wolverhampton actually which was a vast council house pit where others could fear to tred and it was the same for him. Husband was actually spotted & had trials . Reason he didn't progress wasn't about who he was. It was about parental time and money. Had he lived closer to the training place he could have got there. As it was it was not a goer .

The RFU clubs in Bournemouth were & are a right mix. Blokes joined to play rugby and it really didn't matter what their background was.

As far as Rugby League goes, that is the domain of the North of England. Not really played in the Midlands , nor the SW.

Sonny Bill is apparently seen as an impact player for the last 20 mins or so, unless injury brings him on earlier.
He tends to replace Nonu who is more seen as a battering ram of sorts.

Yep but at present they really keep league players out of the way. Centres, wingers, fullbacks.

I'd really like to see them roll Burgess out at No 6 or even a lock like the AB's did with Brad Thorn.

Wingers and Fullbacks need to kick in Union and League wingers generally can't or at least the convert attempts can't.

The offloading centre like SBW and Burgess is a bit one dimensional and centres, especially the inside centre needs to be a second fly half in union.

Apologies, I obviously didn't mean zero schools in Melbourne offer RL but just a mere handful and you can bet your bottom dollar that if the private schools offered it Hallam wouldn't be state champs. It's grown a bit since the Storm were based in Melbourne (with all their Queensland and NSW players). Apart from private schools in Melbourne I've seen very, very few schools with rugby goal posts on their sporting fields.

Interesting that Hallam has an AFL for girls academy!

I've only ever seen the ashtray trick once and that was in a quick stint back at league after I finished school.

The guy was sick for a week after that. Fair play though ..... it was a good effort.

For those who like to frame rugby boys as some type of upper class breed only accessible by those with money and a silver spoon, well think again.

http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-union/rugby-world-cup/rugby-world-cup-final-2015-all-smiles-for-wallabies-selfie-as-they-prepare-for-world-cup-final-20151026-gkj5cj.html

Pocock got arrested a few years ago for chaining himself to a digger or something at an anti coal mine protest.

As for the private school thing, I think you would find most in the Wallabies did not attend private schools, but who cares anyway. School is a school and private schools offer more than public. If you can afford it why wouldn't you?

Anyone who does this is a ****ing idiot, fact
Did I say they were all snobs? Or did I say that's the reputation they had in my part of the world? Shouldn't be a hard one it was only afew posts ago

You are right, but the private school thing is often where this discussion leads and it was mentioned previously by some else.

The point is the Wallaby team are wide and varied in their backgrounds. Something you can't attribute to most league teams.

Pocock may be a great flanker but he is an uber wanker

Be surprised if most who came through the australian junior ranks didn't...is a private school thing here...