Isn't rugby league missing a trick here after the cricket ? Article timesonline.typepad.com/rugby_le ... ashes.html

Isn't rugby league missing a trick here after the cricket ? Article timesonline.typepad.com/rugby_le ... ashes.html

I don’t recall the RL equivalent of the ashes ever getting the same amount of media exposure as the Cricket version.

Perhaps it could be reinstated in the intervals between 4 nations tournaments but definitely not at the expense of it. I think developing the whole international scene is far more important then bringing back games between two nations where the game is predominantly played.

when though???


the next available time is in 2012...and it would have to be as england because wales & scotland would be qualifying for the 2013 RLWC in 2012..

The Ashes is for Lions vs Kangaroos....when will that ever occur again?

There was always twice the buzz around an RL test series with the Aussies than any World Cup, Tri-Nations or anything else they'll muster.

We shouldn't scrap it altogether. It would be a shame to lose one of RL's most historical events.

However the 4 nations is very important. I'm sure we could fit an ashes series in once every 4 years.

I'd love to see a Lions tour worked into a four year cycle:

2013 World Cup
2014 Kangaroos Tour of Europe (GB&I & France)
2015 Four Nations
2016 Lions Tour of Australia, NZ & PNG
2017 World Cup
2018 Kiwi's Tour of Europe (GB&I & France)
2019 Four Nations
2020 Lions Tour of Australia, NZ & PNG

and so on. . . . . .

that is the idea that the lions will form every 4 years.

the old fashioned roo tours were the best where club games were included as well.

theres no reason why they cant return both in the NH and SH

One problem is that the playing seasons now coincide in the two hemispheres, which would mean that clubs in the touring team's home country would lose their internationals during a tour. This would not happen - old style tours will never return.

we have a proper,well thought out international schedule right upto the next world cup

How about England tries to be competitive against PNG for a while. Then we might allow you to challenge us for the Ashes. After all, we could use the training run.

Ashes would be great.

Does anyone remember why we are playing Tri Nations and Four Nations competitions?

I mean the REAL reason, not the crap about how four teams playing each other over and over again is somehow developing international Rugby League.


The reason is this.

England can not hold up in a Test series against Australia.

You can not sell enough tickets to make it viable. Its a whitewash that damages the very shakey and well constructed facade of credibility within the game in the UK.


So what we have instead is the Four Nations, get New Zealand over to give Australia a run for its money, the Kiwis then always take about ten steps backwards when they are facing England, and then we have France who are there more for desperation stakes more than anything else.