To facilitate change?

In what way would it facilitate change?

This is going to be embarassing for english RL, when the best England has to offer, is beaten by a rag tag team of Australian and NZ cast offs.

We should have kept the france game so when we beat them 70-0, we can wax lyrical about how england is on the up after beating a load of part timers with a sprinkle of Catalans players.

who,if they where still playing down under,would walk in any NRL team,still be playing origin and would still be playing for australia & NZ


but you know....ENGLAND can't win whatever the result...we win and it's against a bunch of rag tag aussies & kiwis.....lose and it's HAHAHA we're crap cos we lost to a bunch of rat tag aussies & kiwis...

when the reality is that this rat tag team of aussies & kiwis would clearly be the 4th best side in the world if they where a nation...which is exactly the challenge we need so we don't end up "waxing lyrical" about smashing france....

I like the idea, i think the RL public have got fed up of seeing us hammering a poor French side year after year so we need a bigger test and this would surely give us one .

Problem is we hammer France and have some players who, in that game, look like they could be capable of tearing the Aussies/Kiwis apart but disappear when a 'bigger' test comes along.
looking good against a poor side is all well and good but we need to be testing the England squad before we face the big boys and this kind of game should give us a test.

Why are people so frightened that we might lose?

It's better for England's development to be playing in games where we have to hit a high intensity to compete. I'd be very disappointed if we just rolled them over as the match wouldn't serve the purpose it is intended to serve.

If we get hammered, then we'll just have to find ways to step it up a gear in 2012.

nice to see some others that "get it"

Precisely.

The French offer no real opposition to us, and this will be more of a test. I certainly don't share the opinion of many that we'll get battered.

A lot depends on who will be coaching the so called 'All Stars'. You would have to suggest it will be an Aussie or a Kiwi. My money is on Shaun McRae.

Justin Morgan, he's used to coaching a team of overseas players

(thought I'd get it in before Gutterboy!)

England v SL 'All Stars'

Marketed properly this could turn out to be a good yearly fixture. I'll certainly be supporting it anyway.

I'm excited.

The next post probably sums it up a bit...


The attitude that we are a great team because we stuff the French every year.
If players struggle against this "made up team" (use what ever derogatory phrase you like, probably makes the situation worse for England if they struggle), then this attitude of us being "on the up" will go, and players might actually realise that they need to pull their fingers out if they want to compete against the stronger nations... or even to get selected at all.

Of course, if we stuff them (which I don't think we will at all), then we're back to square one with the "waxing lyrical". It might not make us beat the Aussies, but it will certainly help building a better attitude to it if the game is competitive.