minor rule change

Until the professionalisation of rugby union, rugby league players have sometimes been regarded as more adept at a range of skills or roles in the game, whereas rugby union players are more specialised. For instance, props and hookers in rugby union tend to be among the physically strongest players with high levels of scrummaging and mauling skills, but (traditionally) with limited speed and ball-handling skills. In rugby league, props and hookers may be no slower or less adept at handling the ball than other players, but would not have the specialist skills of their rugby union counterparts. Similarly, locks in union tend to be very tall, as this helps at lineouts; while this is not a necessity for league second rows and may even be a disadvantage. Scrum-half is also a more specialised position in rugby union: the number 9 initiates most moves by his or her team and must be an excellent passer of the ball, whereas in rugby league it is common for any player acting as 'dummy half' to do so. However, since professionalisation, the fitness and skills of all players in all field positions in rugby union has increased greatly, so that top-class props and second-row forwards must now show considerable athleticism.
During the amateur era, many rugby union players crossed over and played professional rugby league. These days the flow at the top-flight is usually league to union. There has been some expansion of rugby league at lower levels with small numbers of union players are converting to league, but, with the exception of Crusaders (based in Wrexham, Wales), there are no major top-flight rugby league clubs in Wales, Ireland or Scotland, and Harlequins Rugby League (London) is the only top-flight English club outside the heartland of rugby league in the North. Players who achieve the feat of international rugby in both codes are known as dual-code internationals.
Both rugby union and league have club competitions and internationals, but international rugby union is on a much larger scale. The Six Nations, in which the home countries plus Ireland, France and Italy compete, is a huge television and commercial attraction, with cumulative crowds of over 700,000 per annum and an international TV audience measured in hundreds of millions. The Heineken Cup, involving French, British, Irish and Italian clubs, is extremely popular. The Rugby World Cup is now one of the biggest sporting events in the world, after the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. The Southern Hemisphere nations of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa compete annually in the Tri-Nations, which is held every year. Argentina, another powerhouse of the game, is planning to join the Tri-Nations in 2012. The club game in the Southern Hemisphere consists of national competitions in all three countries, along with the Super 14, a franchise based competition which is competed in the Tri-Nation countries, with four or five franchises per country. The smaller Southern Hemisphere states, of the Pacific Islands, play their own tournaments, the Pacific Rugby Cup for clubs, with two franchises from Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa each; and the Pacific Nations Cup, between Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Japan, and sometimes the Junior All Blacks (the New Zealand 2nd XV), The New Zealand Maori (a team of New Zealanders of Maori descent), or Australia A (the Australian 2nd XV). Argentina does not participate in any annual competition at either club or international level.
Rugby league international competitions are generally on a smaller scale, and attract smaller global interest, and unlike in union, most competitions are dominated by Australia. Nevertheless, within their heartlands, rugby league continues to remain popular and forms part of the culture of Australia, Northern England, the North Island of New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and parts of southern France. In response to Rugby Union's successful Six Nations tournament, Rugby League established, in 2005, originally a Tri-Nations and now an annual Four Nations tournament (with the exception of World Cup years). This post-club season competition rotates between northern and southern hemispheres and automatically includes Australia, England and New Zealand. Since 2009, the southern hemisphere Four Nations includes the winner of the Pacific Cup, and the alternating northern hemisphere competition includes the winner of the European Nations Cup. The most recent fourth nations to qualify for this tournament in the northern and southern hemisphers, have been France and Papua New Guinea, respectively. Rugby League's World Cup, most recently played in Australia in 2008, in fact pre-dates the Rugby Union World Cup. The next Rugby League World Cup is scheduled to be played in the United Kingdom in 2013, with at least 16 nations set to qualify. Rugby League, while globally well behind Rugby Union in terms of player registrations, is growing, and is considered to be the fastest growing sport in France, Wales, and outside of its heartland areas in Australia, England and New Zealand.
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