No it should be allowed to carry on but only with full backing from the clubs and the players selected not selected for the club side 5 to 2 days before the game.

SL will lose some of their bigger name overseas players and the quality coming over will go down but they'll still be a better contest than the french or welsh, for now.

I would like to see 2 Yorkshire v Lancashire games followed by the exiles v England game in the season.

Thats Exactly what i was thinking. After the Lancashire v Yorkshire Games the England coach selects his england squad and they play a one off match against the Exiles. Rotate its venue each year between London, Manchester, Leeds

That would be great, the squads would have to be allowed to go into camps (like soo) so you don't get it when they have to pull out because they player 3 days before.

ANOTHER thread about this?!

My thoughts? You want to scrap it because the opposition will get worse, yet we haven't beaten them in a series yet. Where's the logic in that? Surely until it's not living up to its intentions (which you've stated as being to give England a game), then it should be scrapped? But we haven't beaten them in a series, so it's not a valid reason.

Why would War of the Roses achieve more?

The Exiles concept and the Roses concept are both intended to increase the ability of the national team to compete with Australia and New Zealand. Given the enormous gulf in quality between the two competitions and between the grass roots inputs in each country (The quality athletes in the UK are highly unlikely to choose league whereas they do in Aus/NZ) is there any point continuing with this aim?

Super League will never rival the NRL for the reasons I put above. So is there any point in having internationals? Does the sport really need them? Does it currently benefit from it's farcical international scene? The forthcoming World Cup has NO hype about it at all and will be another expensive embarassment.

Why not just scrap internationals altogether? Lets think outside the box for once and do something different. Representative rugby doesn't have to be based on nationality.

here we go again...

The op is saying the quality in overseas players will decrease so lets plan in advance.

How can we get get fans behind when clubs treat the games so poorly.

How can the clubs get behind this sport when the fans treat the games so poorly?

We talk about wanting international RL, but as fans we hardly back it. Whether "real" internationals or an Exiles game, attendances rank poorly compared to the club games.

Because it's not competitive?

I grew up with wembley selling out.

Really?

Well nearly

I'm not sure of the official attendances but I can remember the stadium been full.

Early to mid 90's.

Why do you think it's not competitive? Our 3-0 series win over NZ a few years back means our fans think we'll walk over them every time?

Until England start beating the Exiles on a regular basis by 30/40 points then the matches should continue, but just one match, and the pricing should be realistic and consistent, no last minute panic offers

Agree with most of that. Exiles is a well meaning but hopeless concept. The benefit of giving the England team a couple of games is negligible against the real task of raising the standards of our players, which can only be tackled directly, and is best done by making the most of the game's strength - the club game ( true both in the NRL and here ) . The only hope (and its a slim one) for our standards is that the NRL see fit to get involved in some form of expanded WCC, which needs to involve games spread through the season ( this can still be acheived with only one overseas trip, on which you play your two overseas away group fixtures). Those regular big equivalents to soccer's 'European Nights' are what will drive standards forward consistently. far more than a brief jamboree tournament at the end of the season. Eventually, if and when we're good enough, Australia might then start to show more interest in tours, etc.

...and by the way, on the subject of standards...it never ceases to amaze how many people think that lowering the cap will raise standards. The same conspiracy theorists who castigate clubs like Wigan and Warrington for so-called breaking the cap, also take great delight in pointing out how both clubs would get stuffed in the NRL.