its funny to see the arrogant hypocrisy of some fans. We have fans of teams who dont even have an academy criticising Les Catalans for not supporting an entire national side.

Fans who argue vociferously that Les Catalans (and toulouse) must operate in a promotion and relegation environment despite the additional problems that would cause those sides, but those teams are still expected to do something most english clubs fail to do and prioritise youth development.

We have fans of a country who decided to put on an untelevised, barely attended, low profile warm up game held in a small stadium in a small town in the north of England that couldnt sell out despite charging a piece of gum and a button for entry, wondering why the french arent bending over backwards to beat us.

Anyway. some very slick handling there which was good to see. Bateman, Williams and Widdop all looked great.

So was it the chicken or the egg? , did France not bother because of the lack of respect with regards the venue and marketing, or a lack of respect shown by France to International RL ?

Got in after 10 minutes, game already over, left after an hour, wont be going again, if they do it again I'd suggest Whitebank stadium Oldham

we have a clear answer to that.

England v France in small stadiums

England 84-4 France at Leigh, attendance 8k
England 48-4 france at Salford, attendance 8k
England 44-6 france at Craven Park, attendance 7k
England 60-6 France at Leigh, attendance 8k

In a game treated like a proper international

England 34-6 france at Wigan, 22k
France 18-32 England Avignon 17k
England 34-12 France Keepmoat, 11k

Not conclusive, if the French want a game in France, then organise it, , a couple of 1,000 more in Doncaster, when was that Wigan game played?

French RL looks in a bigger mess than over here, they look more divided and parocial than us, but to proioritise matches against Scotland,Wales, Ireland than England ( if thats what they did? ) is poor

I doubt we can solve their issues any more than the Aussies could do ours, but if you want to blame the RFL for taking a game to a top quality RL stadium for both fans not turning up and a pathetic French performance , fine your perogative

what use is this game to them? its a warm up game. We arent treating it like its important, why would they? Its a mindset that thinks they should be grateful we have deigned to allow them on the same turf as us.

The french can't organise a game on their own. But if you want to absolve the RFL from the mess THEY organised yesterday because it was held at Leigh go ahead, the results are there for everyone to see.

Can the RFL organise a game on their own? , pointless point, the French can invite/request we play over there

They selected a top qualty stadium in the heartlands, a cheap cost given we have 3 games against a better ranked opponent in the next few weeks, so what do they want, us to use the Kiwis as warm up for them?

Better order Wembly for next year

The Wigan one was the World Cup QF 2013 and the Doncaster one a 4 Nations game of 2009.

Hardly properly comparable to a friendly on the eve of a 3 test series vs the Kiwis (including a trip down to London for game 2)

All Smokey has shown is that a WC QF will sell better than a friendly......shock horror.

The RFL can invite whoever they want. If they want a warm up game against some warm bodies then this is what they will get. If they want a true test then they need to organise one of those instead.

They selected a small stadium for an untelevised warm up game and fans like you are wondering why nobody, including the french cared. Its weird that you are surprised by it. We didnt care about the game and treat it in such a manner, why are we surprised they did the same?

It may come as a surprise to someone as parochial as you, but there is a fair old difference between a small provincial stadium like the LSV and Wembley, with plenty in between.

That thing going wizzing above your head was the point.

Good job you noticed and managed to point out some of those games were low profile poorly attended meaningless games and some were proper competitive games. It took a genius of your intellect to to decipher the subtlety of the titles "england v france in small stadiums" and "in a game treated like a proper international" without your clever interjection nobody would have seen through my fiendish plan to present them as exactly the same.

The game in Avignon was not a 4N or WC game though.

The point is that when the game is organised with some respect and as an event with importance behind it, and not just a friendly for the sake of a little run out, the French put their hands up and the fans show up.

If you schedule a game as a meaningless training run that you can't even get on the radio and bang it in a small stadium (lovely as it is, it's not big enough for a proper international) in a small town, no one will give a toss.

We could stick all of the NZ games in stadia the size of Leigh and I bet they wouldn't sell out. Not because there aren't the fans, but because the perception is it isn't that important so people aren't as inclined to go. We've been playing against NZ in 25k stadia for years and very rarely fill them, if ever; but as soon as we've taken one to an iconic ground with a big push and a huge capacity, people have begun to come for the event. They feel it isn't just a small game.

The international game is run like an afterthought.

In what context, given a 3 game test series against a higher ranked team is to be played from next week, would anybody consider this anything more than a warm up?

Either the French didnt have the players, or they chose not to play them, the 1 st I can accept, the 2 nd I cant, if it is the 2nd and we see their best play next week, I doubt theyll get an invite again

Simple answer is we play them in France, if that is they are capable of organising it?

Nobody did consider it anything more than a warm up. Hence the result and the attendance.

Why are the french expected to provide their best side, to the possible detriment of their performance in the European Championship to provide England with a better warm up? France have some fully fledged international competition coming up, why are they supposed to care about a warm up game?

If the French are incapable of providing credible opposition for England as they proved yesterday ( and as they proved in the last WC and Euro's ) they wont get acorded the respect being suggested on here

Pointless game be it at Leigh Wembley or Whitebank stadium, bring back the Exiles, certainly confirms the correct decision regarding Toulouse

Oh dear Smokey resorting to insults when people pick apart his points.....again shock horror.

Why were the games at Wigan and Doncaster presented as proper internationals? Because they were proper internationals with results important.

Again, and try a mature response instead of your default childish responses....why would you even list friendlies up against Internationals that had something riding on the result?

Truth is you wanted a stick to beat the RFL with so left out the detail of those matches. Simple as that and quite easy to see through.