The whole representative calendar is buggered at the minute, and it really needs a proper strategy from the RFL to sort it out. Especially as the lack of an international game is one of our biggest barriers to being competitive with other sports for media & sponsorship attraction.

So how about this:

EARLY SEASON-COUNTY TRIANGULAR TOURNAMENT

Yorkshire v Lancashire v Cumbria

not representing the modern unitary authorities but the traditional counties. So Wigan, Warrington, St Helens, Widnes & Salford are the Lancashire clubs; Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Castleford, Hull FC & Hull KR the Yorkshire ones.

Play the games at the biggest grounds to hand we can manage (Etihad/OT/Anfield, Elland Road, Brunton Park), each team getting one home and one away game.

Gives an early season opportunity for the best players to stake claims, gives a nod to the heritage of the game and gives Cumbria a guaranteed rep fixture annually which can be used as a platform for going on towards SL (Carlisle probably needing to be the base for a Cumbrian side).

MID SEASON - FIVE/SIX NATIONS

England v Wales v Scotland v Ireland v France (v Italy)

England games are too often one-sided because no-one wishes to play for the likes of Ireland in largely meaningless fixtures, and because the ones they get currently are two spaced out to be contract saleable.

An annual tournament in the height of summer between teams viewers naturally have an affiliation to is something we can sell to broadcasters and sponsors much more easily than we can sell Saints v Wigan or FC v KR. Also with no soccer or Union on it provides the perfect opportunity to get high-level RL onto terrestrial TV once again.

Would need to be played at venues that suggest RL deserves international recognition (i.e. not the CoS or LSV), the England team should be based in London and have one home game in the North.

END OF SEASON-GB TOUR

Providing the very top level games regularly to incentivise players to stay in their rep teams and not all jump ship to England, an annual autumnal 3-Test Tour, alternating home/away and Australia/NZ. Take these games across GB (London, Cardiff, Edinburgh/Dublin).

That said, I doubt there's anyone within the RFL with the stones to take that forward and make it work.

Edit:

Oh, and fwiw if anyone wants to say that certain sides will just always be uncompetitve, a reminder that of current SL & NRL players there are huge numbers eligible for those sides. Even Ireland (Scott Grix, Blanch, Gleeson, Bridge, Richards, Simon Grix, Finn, Amor, McIlorum, Prescott, McCarthy, Harrison, O'Loughlin, Beswick, O'Carroll, Allen, Finnigan) could be reasonably competitive.

Sinfield would be playing for Lancashire, and I still think it would be a great headline game for Magic Weekend.

The Lancs v Yorks thing doesn't really seem to light our fire.
Why? Well, player move clubs a lot more, so to a larger extent,players move between lancashire and yorkshire with more regularity. So the likelyhood is that you'd be watching as many players on the opposition side as your own.
The other point is that clubs loyalties (from supporters) seem to get put infront of enven interest in England.
They also played the last ones midweek.

I think we could get the counties thing going, but we'd have to start it sublely.

Remember when cumbria played England a few years back and a bunch of part timers gave the national squad a real game?

We've covered the fact that the population of cumria is too widely dispersed to support a SL franchise, but they could well develop a good representative side that would be good opposition for the likes of France, PNG, Tonga, Samoa etc.

I also think that it would be beneficial for France to play against not only cumbria, but yorks and lancs. That way, France would get more by playing a competive game and the England guys would be able to try out more players.

So say France have a international series of
vs Lancashire
vs Yorkshire
vs Cumbria

France lose to Lancashire but beat Yorkshire. Scandalous. Next come the jibes about one county being better than the other. Next year the opposite happens and all the poop gets thrown the other way, by that point you may have a genuine interest in the roses game, rather than forcing it.

France are an international RL side, they play international RL not made up english rep sides.

Wouldn't be dramatically different from England playing the Exiles IMO.

Couldn't really have Cumbria if there is going to be Lancashire v Yorkshire. It would have to be Cumberland as Barrow-in-Furnes is in Lancashire.