thats cos 9/10 of the wigan team are from the NRL

Yes and Wigan boast world class NRL players like...erm...erm...nope, actually pretty much all of their overseas 'stars' are NRL rejects.

for the sake of this argument is Richards Oz or Irish

Richards is very Irish. He only played all his rugby in australia because he was brought up there by mistake.

not necessarily. Take 1 player out of a team and putting him another and his performances could be on another level. Good team management and club mentality have an impact. Fielden for example...

Trent Barrett was contracted to Wigan for this season and where will he be playing on Wednesday night?



Thomas Leuluai (while perhaps not World Class) is a current World Champion.

And Tim Smith was tearing up the NRL before his drink problems. He was hardly a reject because of playing talent.

Thought Lee Smith did a very good Brad Godden impression when carrying the ball up against Quins.



Scrappy kind of charges. Alot stonger then he looks. i know this, but sometimes he surprises me when he bounches off bigger players, re-foots himself and sets off again.



Strong and direct in a similar way to Godden when he needed to drive it up.

Same here, I commented on saturday and have always thought that he has excellent upper body strength for his stature.

And good to see elements of the barmy army booing Lee on saturday too.....





Erm... wait.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_wasps/8113858.stmLee Smith now confirmed as moving to London Wasps RU next season.[/url



[iEngland and Leeds Rhinos star Lee Smith will switch codes at the end of the Super League season after signing for rugby union side London Wasps.



The 22-year-old, who will remain with Leeds until the end of the season, has agreed a contract that will keep him at Adams Park until 2012.



Smith has scored 42 tries in 88 games since making his Leeds debut in 2005.



"It's a massive challenge, not only as a league player moving to union, but also moving to London," he said.



"Wasps are one of the biggest clubs in the Guinness Premiership and have some of the best players in England. The opportunity to train alongside players of such calibre with a coaching team of (director of rugby) Tony Hanks and (head coach) Shaun Edwards couldn't be missed.



"I have enjoyed some great success at Leeds Rhinos and Wasps were the obvious choice with their history of success in the Premiership and Europe."



Smith, who is comfortable at full-back, wing or centre, won the Harry Sunderland Trophy in last year's Grand Final for his man of the match display in Leeds' victory over St Helens and went on to play for England at the World Cup.



Hanks added: "Lee is a quality player who will again add strength to our squad for the upcoming season.



"While still only 22, he has developed an impressive CV already with Leeds and England in rugby league and we are excited about the skill set and experience he will bring with him.



"Working alongside someone like Shaun, who has worked in both codes, will of course be a massive benefit to Lee and we look forward to welcoming him to the club in November." [/i



At least the press release makes clear, from both sides, that Smith will not leave until after Leeds' season has completed.