Ahhhhh

You were joking!!


Sorry for my previous post.

You had me there.

Or better still...why not just make the England v All Stars game a charity fund raiser for the relief fund. Maybe even Play it at Loftus road/Craven Cottage and fill the ground with Anzacs?

The season is crammed enough without ANOTHER game to mess with it......

Compared with abandoning one of 3 credible international sides in the Northern hemisphere to play a meaningless match against a team of journeymen with no reason to care about the outcome and expecting it to attract a crowd it is a genius.

It may be stupid, but it is still far more sensible than the proposed 'international'

Who is this 'credible international Northern hemisphere side' you speak of?

I do hope you are not speaking of France.

France are so poor even the Welsh beat them.

They are a recognised international opponent with their own league, a history and tradition including a World Cup win and they are one of two opponents in the NH that have professional players playing in their own country.

If PNG are a credible opponent so are France.

We need to nurture France like the IRB did to Italy, regular games against ourselves as well as Wales, Scotland, ireland, touring sides etc;

The day France become a credible opponent in an international rugby league fixture against England, Australia or New Zealand is the day my dog learns how to speak latin.

They have been before, I see no reason why they cannot be again.

Even if they don't, a match against a country is worth considerably more than a friendly against a made up team.

PNG would hammer France at the moment and even when PNG play, the fans don't turn up. 11k for Australia, 7k for New Zealand. If you think PNG V England would have attracted any more than 5k If played in NZ or Aus on its own you're nuts.....that's why there was the double header

For the international game to grow, the top 3 nations need to field second string sides against developing nations. Like it or no, France fall into this category. There is nothing to be gained from 60 point hammerings....nothing at all.
I believe this all stars game is a waste of time as well......I'd much rather see England fly to the southern hemisphere mid season for a test against NZ and a test against Australia. Scrap magic weekend to make room for it!
Let France, Wales, PNG, Tonga et al play their own tournament.....until anyone other than the top 3 have a chance of winning the RLWC it either needs to be scrapped or have a shed load of money thrown at it.

Yes they have history , tradition ,a league of their own and a WC win , which makes them the International equivalent of Oldham ( no disrespect intended ) , trying to compete with the likes of the Leeds Rhinos

They have 1 f/t pro team , with several Aussies in it that struggles to compete in SL , the rest of their international squad is made up of part time players that would struggle to get a gig at a mid table Championship club

A Championship select would give them a good test

....
.......as are a team made up of "other nationalities".....April 5th, 1904.....at Wigan...England RL's first international (as quoted on the often wrong wikipedia) was against "Other Nationalities"

France getting hammered every year by England will do nothing for them or the game.
I repeat....scrap MM........send an England squad to Australia/New Zealand for a 2 test tour in mid season.....

Do you believe that Italy or Scotland could get a result against the better Heineken Cup sides, does that stop them playing regularly against the best union sides?

We won't build the international games by dropping opponents when we think we can manufacture a better opponent out of journeymen kolpaks

This Heinekin Cup you speak of , which RL team have won it ?