Wigan v Bath: The lessons rugby learned when League took on UnionEleven years ago, the now openly professional Bath RUFC travelled north to take on the mighty Wigan RLFC at their own game. A harsh lesson was learned on the night - but what happened next?by John Dobson on 28 April 2007
Source: Sportingo.comA big crowd crammed into Maine Road as Super League champions Wigan took on their Rugby Union counterparts from Bath in the first leg of an historic cross-code game. England RU centre Jeremy Guscott proved everything to everyone by not even making himself available for the match - played on this occasion under Rugby League rules.
Before the kick-off, many commentators were divided on what they thought the outcome would be. It took a few short minutes to become clear that Wigan were going to rack up a big score.
Martin Offiah's six-try haul grabbed the headlines and there were notable contributions from Terry O'Connor, then a young buck yet to make his Test debut, Andy Johnson, Jason Robinson and, for half an hour, Henry Paul.
With just over a quarter of the game gone, it was clear that Wigan weren't going to be majorly troubled in running in a massive score and they withdrew Paul and Andy Farrell. Giant centre Va’aiga Tuigamala played less than half a game and Wigan agreed to waive the limit on interchanges for the second half for their opponents.
Quite why they did this is a mystery. The build-up to the game was about the years of division and the Rugby League champion side making a statement against the best that the quinziste game could offer. Many in the game really wanted Wigan to run in a three-figure score. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, an 82-6 win allowing these concessions speaks even greater volumes.
At the time, the RFU had only just begun to allow anyone who had the temerity to try their hand at Rugby League the opportunity to have a go at their game. Indeed, Wigan forward Scott Quinnell had days earlier announced he was going back to the 15-a-side game with Richmond when his Wigan deal expired.
The legacy of the game was not so much in the players, though, despite Quinnell, Robinson, Edwards, Paul, Farrell, Tuigamala, Simon Haughton and Gary Connolly all ending up taking the Union dollar at some point in their careers.
What was abundantly obvious for a start was the difference in fitness levels of the respective sides. Second were the lines of running and defensive organisation, both of which come from the coaching that League players receive from a very early point in their education.And this has been the major area where Union has learned from its cousin.
The number of League coaches moving over may not be the same as the number of the players, but their influence has been much greater. Phil Larder and Shaun Edwards are probably the highest profile of these, but Joe Lydon, Mike Griffiths, Mike Ford, even Daryl Powell, are among those who have crossed the divide to earn their corn.
Initially, fitness and defence were the main areas which an ex-League coach could expect to find himself working in, but slowly they've worked up to the top. The influence doesn't stop there. Bath’s coach on that night in Manchester was a certain Brian Ashton, now heading the England Rugby Union coaching set-up. His glowing praise of the Wigan side in terms of their organisation - the one line of defence moving up and back in harmony, the dummy runners causing confusion and the ability to pass to players on the run - seemed to open his eyes to the possibility of maybe transferring some of it to his own side.
The return fixture at Twicenham saw Bath score a comfortable 44-19 win under Union rules, but it wasn't obvious at all what Rugby League could learn from the exercise. We've certainly not seen rolling mauls or contested scrums in League since then. More recent experiments in cross-code matches have followed similar patterns - the League team win the bit under their rules very easily, the Union side do likewise.
The lessons the 13-man game has taken all seem to be away from the field of play - marketing, promotion, PR - areas that the RFL have been laughably poor at over the years and still need remedial lessons in at times today.
The fact that there hasn't been a high-profile repeat probably shows this up for the novelty it undoubtedly was and the two codes resolutely maintain the differences that make them unique. It was fun while it lasted - albeit probably not for the exhausted Bath players who had chased shadows for 80 minutes at Maine Road.
MATCH FACTS: Wigan: 1. Radlinski, 2. Robinson (2T), 3. Tuigamala, 4. Connolly, 5. Offiah (6T), 6. Paul (1T), 7. Edwards, 8. Cowie, 9. Hall (5G), 10. O'Connor (2T), 11. Haughton, 12. Cassidy (1T), 13. Farrell (4G), 14. Smyth,15. Murdock (1T), 16. Quinnell (1T), 17. Johnson (2T).
Bath: 17. Lumsden, 15. Sleightholme, 12. De Glanville, 14. Waters, 11. Adebayo, 10. Catt, 16. Callard (1T, 1G), 1. Yates, 9. Sanders, 4. Haag, 18. Vander, 7. Ojomoh, 6. Robinson, 19. Butland, 5. Redman, 3. McCarthy, 8. Pearce. Ref: Russell Smith (Castleford).
