My youngest has picked this sport up at university over the last couple of years sadly at the cost of his rugby career, hopefully temporarily. He's won a couple of varsities, quite good at whatever he does (O-line) & has been scouted by various teams at home & abroad, plus other, better universities offering funded Masters programs. He's turning out for a local Midlands side of a Sunday.
We've watched quite a few games & it still takes the same eons of time as it does when you watch it on TV. Decision making by the officials takes an age, & they even argue about the calibrated length of the chain. When they've got someone to operate it.
The game does have quite a die-hard ground swell of support in the UK, but I don't know what they need to do to persuade luddites like me to enjoy it. It's just not cricket. Or football, or rugby...
