Quote: Bovrick "How would people want eligibility to go for something like this? Most of them seem to be birth I guess so far (ish). Would that be the best way, or would say Debut Youth/SL game be better? Allow players to self select? Also would it be a pure England team thing (with the potential to put down Wales etc as a result like SoO does) or would you want to allow other nations in? If it was just England, I'd want to make them free rep weekends and have the European Cup on at the same time with Wales v France v Scotland v Ireland to make sure they get the games in too...'"
The majority of the England team are born in the two counties, so that eligibilty won't be a problem, however players like Mossop and Chase will have to choose there county if we did play this series. Chase would probabley choose Yorkshire as he has played all his rugby there and is settled there, however Mossop might choose Wigan as the majority of his team mates would qualify for Lancashire, and he plays his rugby in Lancashire. But it'd be up to the player I guess to see where his loyalties lie.
It would be interesting...... Also we could poach the best Welsh/Scottish/Irish players to play for England, like the Aussies do with a lot of Fijians and Tongans, to improve our national squad and pool.
I really do believe this is the way forward if we are going to be competative and consitanly beat Australia. Finally, I think with big game players rested for the battle of the roses, it will give younger players a chance to shine in roles they woulden't usually get due to senior international players taking there place. For example Ste Ward could start at 6 for Leeds, when Sinfield plays for Lancashire, Murphy could replace Charnley on the win at Wigan when Charnley plays for Lancashire, this can only be good for youth developement as well