Comparison of rugby league and rugby union

[8] In 1906, All Black George William Smith joined with Albert Henry Baskerville to form a team of professional rugby players.

George Smith cabled a friend in Sydney and three professional matches were arranged between a New South Wales rugby team before continuing onto the UK.

The meeting resolved that a "New South Wales Rugby Football League" (NSWRFL) should be formed, to play the Northern Union rules.

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa joined the IRFB in 1948, France in 1978 and Argentina, Canada, Italy and Japan in 1991.

Rugby union is trying to negotiate its own escape from amateurism, with some officials admitting that the game is too slow, the laws too convoluted to attract a larger TV following.

[17] The laws of rugby league football have been gradually changed with the aim of creating a faster,[18] more spectator-friendly sport.

[19] Player numbers were reduced to thirteen a side, creating more space for attacking play, and rucks and mauls were replaced with a play-the-ball restart.

[20] Changes to the laws of rugby union have been less extreme, although there have been adjustments in scoring as the game became more try-orientated rather than focusing on goals.

The playing positions are divided into "backs"—generally faster and more mobile who score most of the points, and the larger, stronger "forwards" who are involved in the more physical aspects of rugby and generally do more tackling.

[33] As the ball is in play more and there are fewer players (13 compared to 15) to cover the field it has been implied that rugby league is the more physically demanding sport.

[36] A study commissioned by the IRB found that between the years 2002 and 2004 possession was retained by the attacking team in 13 out of 14 tackles in rugby union.

[36] Collins has argued that the six tackle rule in rugby league offers a more even distribution of possession despite fewer opportunities to contest it.

However, in rugby league, if a tackling player has both hands on the ball carrier, he is allowed to use his legs to bring him to ground.

A player tackled just short of the try-line in rugby union can legitimately reach across it and place the ball down for a try.

Due to the increased prevalence of infringements during contesting of the ball, penalties are a much more common occurrence in union than in league.

In league, the kick is stylised as its purpose is to restart the game and to move to the run and tackle main play as quickly as possible.

In union, where every phase of play has some element of competition, the trivial need to release the ball at any kick can result in a fumble that may give the opposition a chance to either contest possession or, if "knocked-on", will cause them to be awarded a scrum.

The reduction in the importance of the scrum and the removal of the line-out from rugby league, has meant it is a faster free flowing game.

In rugby league any player can act from dummy half, however, in the professional modern game it is a specialised job for the hooker to instigate and direct the forward platform.

He must also be able to probe with a running and varied kicking game from dummy half while still possessing strong and effective tackling.

[46] A push into converting union players to rugby league, such as All Blacks John Gallagher, Frano Botica, Matthew Ridge and Va'aiga Tuigamala, occurred during the late 1980s and into the 1990s.

In 1909, when the new "Northern Union" code was still in its infancy, a match between the Kangaroos and the Wallabies was played before a crowd of around 20,000, with the rugby league side winning, 29–26.

The Navy won the union game, 9–3, on Christmas Eve but proved equally adept at league recording a 24–3 win on 28 December.

Unlike Bath, who were to all intents and purposes still the amateur side they had been, Sale had the benefit of almost a decade of professionalism to improve both strength and fitness that was necessary for them to adapt to the constant tackling required in rugby league.

In 2024, the '745 game', under compromise rules, was played at Headingley to honour former rugby league player Rob Burrow and former rugby union players Doddie Weir and Ed Slater who developed Motor Neurone Disease and to raise funds to aid research into this condition.

[52] In England, rugby union is widely regarded as an "establishment" sport, played mostly by members of the upper and middle classes.

In Wales, rugby union is associated with small village teams which consisted of coal miners and other industrial workers playing on their days off.

The same perceived class barrier as exists between the two games in England also occurs in these states, fostered by rugby union's prominence and support at private schools.

The oldest international rugby union competition is the Six Nations Championship, the men’s version, starting in 1883 with games played between England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

In 1996 the Southern Hemisphere teams of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand started their own annual international competition known as the Tri Nations; it adopted its current name of The Rugby Championship when Argentina joined in 2012.