Quote: Southern Reiver "Wow, everyone wants the instant fix for international RL. What do you want just the three nations and nothing else or do you want the game to expand around the world? If there was some form of actual structure that every country could see - regular games and a progression against better teams to the top - or do you prefer ignore everyone apart from the one or two that might get close to each other. If you are France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Serbia, Italy or Russia what regular fixtures and tests do you have to look forward to?
Set out and keep to a clear and regular structure for international RL. Yes you will get blow out scores occasionally but with no exposure to higher levels no one progresses. And yes on some occasions or periods it will need heritage players to move a country up the tree.
Scotland have a chance to learn in advance of next years World Cup. They earned this no matter how long ago that was. Should they have that opportunity or just be ignored?
Oh and teams like San Marino in football get regular fixtures. Do all nations in RL actually get that opportunity?'"
This.
In the medium term we need to focus on France and Wales as they have the most potential. We need an annual mid-season European Championship involving England, Wales and France, if it involves Scotland and Ireland then great. I don't know much about domestic Irish RL but Scottish RL is virtually nil. So I'm not too bothered if it doesn't involve them yet.
We need the international calendar set so that we always know the schedule for a full World Cup cycle, for instance with by the time the World Cup in 2017 starts we should know the calendar up until the next World Cup in 2021.
There should be an annual mid-season Pacific Championship too involving PNG, Samoa, Fiji and NZ. To help those nations develop and keep players.
Whilst Union has other advantages the regularity and certainty of internationals is a massive bonus for them and has really helped develop nations and boosted the sports profile.
We need to do the same.
