Pretty stupid and regressive waste of time TBH. And if this 'tour' is taking place at the same time as the 2021 WC qualifiers as rumored then it should be scrapped immediately.

Scotland drew with New Zealand in 2016. Samoa have just played England for the 1st time mid-season and PNG have a fully professional team playing in the Australian league. The 2nd tier nations are making progress. However the scrapping of the Four Nations will mean there isn't the incentive to hold a Pacific cup or European Cup, which along with the Four Nations has helped these teams make progress. These changes are going to see 2nd tier nations playing even less games than before.

Would be nice. Would only ever be a goer in a knockout format based on rankings i.e. first round Eng and Scot get a bye in the northern comp and Aus and NZ in the southern, add in Italy (?) and Tonga to make up 4 teams in the 1st round. That way Australia might agree to play two mid season internationals instead of just the ANZAC test.

This was when union was an amateur sport. They came for the money that was on offer in club RL. It was nothing to do with whether we called the international team England or Great Britain.

It's pie in the sky stuff. It won't happen in the next 100 years.

Would like to think it might, but in all probability what it will do is produce more Sam Burgess and Sonny Bill Williams.
The "fringe" union players won't get a chance so won't bother swapping code.

I understand the big issue is getting the NRL to give up its players for 4 games a season, however I don't see why the 4/5 Nations here can't take place.

I'd also dispute that a nation like Scotland is making progress. After the World Cup no-one knows when Scotland's next top tier game will be. The same goes for every other 2nd tier nation.
Union have very much shown us how to develop an international game. We need an annual top tier comp guaranteed. Only then will 2nd tier nations have the ability to grow and develop in my opinion. And not just in terms of playing strength but also in terms of supporter base and media profile.

Brilliant move. Always loved the GB brand and know the Aussies respect it too. The second tier nations should still get their chance but we can't ignore the fact things were better when we were GB.

I agree with most comments above.

Great Britain is our point of difference. Its our brand and our identity. I think we'd sell out more grounds on British soil playing as GB than we would England. But this news is at least a good compromise. I can see the logic in retaining England as its own entity to develop the World Cup and IRL as a whole. We can't have England 'A' or England Knights playing full Tests against the other home nations. I suppose if we reverted to GB for all Tests that are not part of a World Cup, we could just omit England or the Knights from playing any proper Tests altogether, but its just messy.

BTW - the two comparative logos say all you need to know about GB vs England.

I didn't like the change to England, but it seems a bit pointless to change it now I'm getting used to it. Its also a bit more honest than GB nowadays (and what happens if Scotland leaves?). BTW I don't think the Aussies respect GB any more than England - they think we're rubbish and easily beatable whatever name is on the shirt.

It's an utterly ridiculous move that does nothing but change a shirt and a badge.

The Aussies will still call us England, like the did when we were GB.
The Irish don't want to be involved. GB isn't including any part of Ireland (and they rarely call it GB&I). They play GSTQ and wear union jack colours FFS!
GB isn't even a country.
All the work on the other home nations becomes secondary now. They are all effectively B teams.
You've basically reduced from 4 nations to 1 with no actual strengthening of the top nation as it will just be England under another name.
GB crowds in all the time I've watched rugby league have not been higher than England crowds have under the last 10 years, so this "it's a more sellable brand" doesn't cut it with me.

Basically, some old fart in power who has a yearning for yesteryear has tried to appease all the other old farts in the RL media with a yearning for yesteryear with this completely outdated concept of tours and GB.

This is the sort of backwards decision making that is really making me concerned about the future of RL in this country and the future of international rugby league. It's a good job the Aussies are getting their NRL right because otherwise we'd be absolutely nothing at the moment.

Fair enough, as a marketing move it has some appeal, there is a certain nostalgia for the GB brand. Unfortunately that nostalgia largely derives from when non-English "British" players could add real strength to the GB team e.g. Alan Tait, Paul Moriarty, John Devereux etc... How well that nostalgia will stand up to the reality of the England side touring under GB badge is another matter. As others have said we may need to look at Aussies and Kiwis of Scottish, Welsh and Irish ancestry; though there may be some good mileage in that. I suspect there may be some decent NRL players who are not going to get a gig for Australia or NZ who can't be bothered playing for a Tier 2 nation, but might see some cache in getting GB caps as there is still some nostalgia for same down under.