I'd imagine that it's on the Sunday rather than Saturday because the Union World Cup Final is on the Saturday and so the League game would get entirely ignored.
The 5pm is probably for the TV.

Can't see Benji being selected; he's surely burnt his bridges.

I think the series will go well although the game in London needs promoting.

Are there any discount codes for tickets?

Problem is union make the game a big event big stadiums the rl seem embarrassed about pushing anything as a big event play at little grounds get the little sport mentality we should have gone Wembley old Trafford Olympic stadium people enjoy big events loads of tickets sold in the south for the last world cup,pope on a rope the diddly Dee's sold out Wembley playing the shop lifers the other day for a forgone result 90,000 at top dollar

And again in English please?

They are already cheap enough

Illiterate Racist prick!

Benji is back in the mix - Kieran Foran is injured.

I think I've said before on here that we need to stop comparing our sport to union internationally. We are a different sport and it just so happens that our game has developed so that internationals get attendances around the 25,000 mark. If we get 40,000 for the Olympic Stadium game and 25,000 for each of the other games that still means an average of 30,000 across the series and that it much larger than any other RL internationals get so that is a huge success (aside from maybe the ANZAC test which gets similar amounts). Just because union would fill an 80,000 ground doesn't mean we have to; sure only 25,000 will be at two games but I would like to wager that the majority of those are hardened fans of the sport. In comparison lets take the Millenium Stadium; Wales fill that for union ball at 75,000 but when you look at their 4 domestic teams which get about 8,000 or so each then that is only 32,000 rugby fans, who are the other 33,000 pretend fans that go? They are only going to be part of the event rather than going to watch a game of rugby, just like the world cup at the moment. So what I'm saying is I would rather see a small stadium full of proper fans than the illusion that union put on.

The administrators are probably thinking that it is better that the series is played in realistic stadiums and look full on TV than in mega stadiums that are half empty. Granted, for the sake of putting the other argument across, they could have thought slightly more ambitious; with the success of magic weekend in Newcastle that could have been an idea with the Olympic a similar size. Also Elland Road has had a good record with RL internationals. With the Olympic, those stadiums would have been a good spread across the country and even if weren't full we would have seen an average of like 40-45,000 fans but you know that could be an idea for next time.

it's only £20 anyway isn't it?

agree with everyone who has commented on RL "hijacking" the RUWC and marketing our games, especially the London game, what an opportunity to miss out on ( presuming we have), thousands of casual/neutral fans attending a 'rugby' game at the Olympic stadium, and possibly enjoying the occasion, then notice posters/flyers etc around the area advertising England v NZ and that tickets are available, a lot of them possibly won't know the difference but will just think it's a rare chance to see an England rugby game live!

or maybe get some people on the streets, in the tube stations etc handing out flyers/promotional stuff etc, im pretty sure a lot of us would have offered if the RFL asked?

the counter argument to that is that a lot of those people might be attending a game for the first time and actually enjoy it and decide to go again, and/or seek out their local teams and plough money into that club.
we should never be just happy with getting 25,000 people, we need to be getting as many people as possible to attend games, whether they are regular supporters of the club game or just casual spectators.

I know what you mean Yorksguy but I'd rather see a higher attendance with some "hangers-on" there than a lower attendance that's full of die-hard fans.

What will determine RL's future is its ability to sell itself to those who aren't die hard fans as they're the ones with the extra cash and the ones the advertisers and sponsors want.

I don't agree with the suggestion of someone earlier in the thread that we should play all 3 games at huge stadiums. If we played the 3 tests at Wembley, Olympic Stadium and Old Trafford then you'd see 3 very empty looking stadiums probably only a third to a half full each time.
For starters, we can only do 1 of the 3 in London. As much as I want us to target London the core of people going to the games will be from the north and most are relatively cash-poor. They aren't going to make the trip to London twice in 2 weeks. The point about London is to make sure as much as possible we have some event in London every year that attracts people from there. Unfortunately club games won't do it, Londoners in general aren't bothered about Leeds v Hull KR even in a cup final. The only club that has any traction there is Wigan, which is why I'm delighted they're starting to have a go at London, it just needs more help from the RFL.

Ideally id have the other 2 tests at slightly bigger grounds but unfortunately there aren't many that are just the right size in the heartlands. Elland Road is just the right size but it's both a pain to get to and not a great viewing experience for most people over 5 foot tall.

But if we hold 3 Tests at Wembley, the Olympic Stadium and Old Trafford it'll look very bad and you run the risk of it being embarrassing with maybe only 20-25k in Wembley. Plus it always depends on stadium availability. Which is what people forget when comparing us to Union. They have their own stadium that, on top of earning them millions a year on non-match days, means they can have games whenever they like.

another suggestion that i would have, but doubt it would be feasible, is to stage an annual game, be it a one off test, or as part of a series in London, so people in London know they have an even to go to every year, yes they have the cup final, but maybe they don't feel part of it if they don't support one of the teams.

by staging an international game, be it England, or even an ANZAC test.
maybe try and get a venue that would be like a "home" in london, obviously we have wembley but we need to build the interest and get people going to games before we can fill wembley, somewere like the olympic stadium or white hart lane/stamford bridge would be ideal

FOR god sake stop talking sense you will never get a job wive the RFL