Your disrespect for international RL is the only thing that is embarrassing here.

How many people attended the last England v France game? What were the viewing figures? When's the last time France beat England/GB?

Don't you think a few thousand scraped together to watch England stick 50 or 60 on France yet again is embarrassing to the international game? Especially when compared to the 6 Nations & Autumn Internationals of rugby union.

Genuine question - do you think that an Exiles team made up of foreign SL players would make a better team than the current French side?

Lets be honest.....we don't need Burgess, Ellis or even Widdop back to play in this game. We know what they can do (well, less so Widdop)...but there is no point in dragging them across the world for a warm up game when we could use their spaces for fringe players to gain some experience and put their names forward.

Plus....I'm sure the cost of flying them over would be massive, something the RFL should be spending less money on unless it means something. This seems to be an issue in many sports in this country....grass root clubs and supporters....and even to an extent RFL workers...struggle to get by and the elite end and want for a better word "management" of the game can pump money into flying players across the world and for fancy functions etc.....not that I'm bitter!!

They werent always so competitive in RU. And in RL certainly never will be if they arent played.

And those countries will never be able to put up a fight whilst ever any person who qualifies for Wales, Scotland or Ireland understandably switches to England as soon as we show interest because the 2nd tier nations simply never play the tier 1 nations with any regularity.

It will take games to bring in and through the players to make them competitive and we are moving further away from that.

What the people who are comparing this game to Origin are missing is that the players released for Origin dont have a 24,000 mile round trip to make and the players picked often back up for their club.

IMO Souths are correct and there is no decision to be made.

Without any shadow of a doubt.

Well done The Bunnies, what a waste of time the game is.

I thought it was Red Halls plan to expand into France via the Catalans to give the G.B / England squad a mid season International.

Not going well is it.

Maybe in five years the English lads could play a Welsh team instead, if the parent club is still afloat.

My main concern is that when the Exiles thump England will the RFL use the fact that their best players were not released by the NRL?

Whether the game is worthwhile or not, it sums up the Aussies attitude to the international game and Englands attempts to get more competitive games under their belts.

If you're a fan of Rugby League being played at its highest level how on earth can this be true??

Not at all and I think you will find the greater majority of people around these parts agree with Souths. I mean come on, why fly a player around the world to play in a game like this with jetlag just for him to fly back out the day after. He will get a better run out in the NRL tbf.

I'm not denying the logistics of it are a pain in the ar$e but my point stands that if there was any will in the NRL to improve the international game, they would not block our attempts to get our best players together in order for them to play together as a cohesive unit.

If the Ausies take this stance then I'd make any player who is withdrawn from the England squad, without good reason, unavailable for England selection for the remainder of the year.

That means Widdop, Burgess and Ellis could not play for England in this years four Ns.

I know Ellis at least would be mortified about not being able to play for England and I'd bet that Burgess would feel the same. Having to sit out the internationals because their clubs wouldn't release them won't go down too well and when Wests and Souths put new contracts in front of them they might just decide to sign for someone else.

I have no problem with players not wanting to travel all the way over here for a mid-season game, what I have a problem with is a club pressing the player to make that decision. If Burgess wants to get international caps under his belt then it should be his choice and not the clubs.

As for this doing the international game more harm than good, do you really think England thumping France/Wales/Ireland/Scotland/USA...etc is beneficial? Do the England team not need to be tested against some very good players already playing over here? There should be nothing stopping any of those nationalities getting into the Exciles squad if they want to play in it, just so happens that they are probably not good enough so won't get a chance.

England certainly need the toughest of tests before the end of year competition and in the build up to the World Cup so short of having a mid-season test against the Kiwi's or Australians this is the best and most competative way to prepare a young/new squad.