In many ways rugby’s 15-a-side code got a deserved comeuppance last weekend when what was expected to be England’s cruise into the knockout stages of a World Cup turned out to be a meaningless affair.

Not without reason had the rugby league community been up in arms about the decision to stage the only England game not at Twickenham in direct opposition to their Grand Final, an annual affair that was always going to be scheduled for that weekend.

It smacked of corporate bullying, was wholly unnecessary and showed up a small-mindedness within rugby union ranks.

Claims to the contrary, accusing league aficionados of northern chippiness were a bog standard tactic to be compared with the sort of accusations of class war that are cast up in a broader context when anyone of lesser means dares to challenge the wealthy, only confirming the notion that rugby union is the establishment’s sport of choice.

The very branding of the more recent of global competitions as ¬The Rugby World Cup has caused completely understandable resentment given that the admittedly the rugby league World Cup was in existence for almost 30 years before union set its version up.

All the moreso because it was known as the Rugby Union World Cup for years before a re-branding exercise took place which smacks of the nasty power games that have blighted London-based organisations for years, not least when it comes to sport with The Football Association and The Rugby Union. Everyone knows these are English bodies with authority only over English matters so why not acknowledge that in the name just as the Scots, who were involved at the start of both sports internationally, are prepared to.

We have some similar issues in Scotland, however, with many football supporters resenting anything to do with rugby rather simply accepting that a preference for one of the other is a matter of taste.

As someone who grew up in a football-oriented community and still love playing and watching that sport, worked predominantly on rugby union for 25 years and has enjoyed the speed and skill of rugby league since Wigan’s Shaun Edwards/Andy Farrell-led heyday and even before that when watching Grandstand, with my grandad as Geoff Pimblett kicked St Helens to Challenge Cup glory in the seventies, I have long despaired of the small-mindedness of these attempts to establish superiority by making others feel inferior.

So when reports were circulating last weekend that disillusioned England fans were selling off tickets for the Uruguay match at the Etihad for £2.50 while the Grand Final between Leeds and Wigan across the way was a record sell-out crowd, there was a real sense of sporting karma being at play.

The rugby union World Cup has been rightly hailed as a great success, but it could have made more friends in the north had it shown a bit more generosity of spirit and the hope is that lessons have been learned about these pathetic power games.

On which note it is a shame that the the Scotland team’s defence of its rugby league European Championship crown will take place in the shadow of the World Cup over the next three weeks as they start off against Wales in Wrexham tonight and play this season’s only home match at Gala next week, for which the Borders club which would once upon a time have banned people for involvement with league, is to be heartily commended.

Scotland's is a squad largely comprising players who qualify through parental or grand-parental bloodlines, but the sense of identity they have generated has been summed up by the fact that with major international commitments the following year, it was strongly suggested to Danny Brough, their captain, that he take a rest this autumn. He has typically chosen to play.

Those commitments, incidentally, involve participation in the prestigious Four Nations tournament with Australia, England and New Zealand next year – an involvement earned by that European Championship win and the World Cup in Australia the following year when, hopefully, the whole of Scotland will get behind them as it should be doing with the squad competing in Sunday’s quarter-final at Twickenham.