There wasn't a lot of point in that, imho.

We've seen that as soon as a couple of catalan players get injured the french team suffers the same (or more, since they don't have half a dozen Aussies knocking about).



It didn't do England or France any good from a point of preparation for the end of season game. To be honest, that French team would have been better off playing an NL england side. I've long been an advocate that they should be playing against games Lancashire and Yorkshire instead of just getting their ar5es handed to them by england once a year.



I would love a more vibrant international scene, but can't help think that our imability to compete with Austrailia combined with the low number of international teams is what's killed our enthusiasm for it. I think we need to be more creative with our international fixture list. I think we need to sacrifice some of our annual tonkings at the hands of the aussies for some more modest fixtures to allow England to develop as a team.



One year, I would like to see an end of season internatinal calander in the spirit of the following.



NL England Select vs France

France vs Lancashire

France vs Yorkshire

England vs France

England vs Pacific Island select (Fiji, Samoa, Tonga & PNG).



I'm not sure whether the Pacific Islands team would be doable, but even if you got one of the teams over to play it would be worth it imo.



Giving Lancs and Yorks fixtures is a way to test out some extra players (like, say, Ben Harrison) without dropping established players who've done nothing wrong (eg Morley & Westwood). I also reckon it would've got just as good a crowd as the England game at Leigh if it were Lancashire as people would go to see their club players representing. I bet if you played a Yorkshire game at Hull it would be the same.

england v Other nationalities and england 'A' v france......simples

I a proffesional era, I can't see you getting an "Other Nationalities" team together. You can't motivate the players with national pride and I don't reckon the RFL or whoever will be able to stump up much of a match fee for them. They won't risk an injury just for the fun of a run out.

so all the aussies and to a lesser extent the kiwis that by coming to play in super league giving up any representative career they might have had down under would'nt relish the chance to play a international for the 'other nations' against england....?





i think you'll find they'll be falling over themselves to be involved....it would be a bloody good side too and a far greater test for us than france....the likes of buderus,king,fitzgibbon,o'meley etc..would all still be playing origin if they stayed at home...

I'd love to see it as a spectical and i agree it would be the best test available in the Northern Hemisphere, but i don't agree with it being that easy to get the players involved.

It would be quite easy to find out though, all the RFL has to do is visit the clubs and ask the relevant players.

International RL is embarrassing. The game srae one-sided and the public are not convinced either - here and in Australia.



Even with Aussie imports the French are rubbish, and they are showing no sign of improvement. Time to let them sink and die. French RL is no better than it was 25 years ago.

well good morning sunshine....

Of course it is.

Frances problem ultimately is that England are moving so much faster trying to catch Australia they can't keep up with the resources available to them

heres a quick,off the top of my head,Other nationalities team





1. brent webb

2. scott donald

3. matt king

4. matt gidley

5. amos roberts

6. brett kearney

7. matt orford

8. kylie leulaui

9. danny buderus

10. mark o'meley

11. craig fitzgibbon

12. tony puletua

13. dallas johnson



14. ali lauititi

15. Iafeta Paleaaesina

16. joel clinton

17. Thomas Leuluai



that side would pose far bigger problems than france could ever cause

If I was an aussie player and the RFL said, 'fancy playing in a nothing game to make England better so they can catch Australia?'



I'd say, no ta.

thats cos your a miserable sod....

I wonder how much it would cost the RFL to insure some of the premier players in SL against injury in what would amount to a meaningless friendly?



You've then got the issue of clearing a free weekend in the calendar, as you can't expect clubs to play without their England representatives and any they have called up to an Other Nationalities team.