22 OCTOBER 1994, Page 34

Nice try

Sir: Frank Keating's claim that rugby league is superior to rugby union is an aber- ration he is entitled to (Sport, 15 October). But when he tries to ground his opinion on the fact that three times as many tries are scored in the league game as in the union one, he trips over his bootlaces well short of the line.

Cricket would be a better game if more runs were scored. More runs are scored in Glenlyon cricket than in ordinary cricket, because the bowler has to wear a diving- helmet and leg-irons. Our local version of the game is therefore the better one. And if Frank Keating hopes to squash the analogy by pointing out that spectators also want to see those run-scorers dismissed, what I say is that they also want to see those try-scor- ers thwarted. In rugby union they get three times as much as that.

Denis Young

The Old Manse, Glenlyon, Perthshire