CHRIS HEWETT
GUEST COLUMNIST

DEVOTEES of the union game have spent decades laughing at the idea of the “other code” staging a World Cup. Their ribs continue to be tickled: like Eric Morecambe’s unequal struggle with the Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor and Alan Partridge’s major-league confrontation with the East Anglian farming community, the best jokes grow funnier with the passing of time.
If we are being generous of spirit, we can just about acknowledge that the current gathering of the Rugby League clans has had its high points. But, as the composer ...