When was the last time Russian teams played in the Challenge Cup?
IF the US league is up and running then definitely.

no they aint, they pulled the ruskies cos of cost and cos they kept getting thumped by everyone and sundry

so because lebanon did what every other nation does they shouldnt be allowed in the comp?






you conveniently forgot the two results lebanon got over russia in the qualifiers i see

last year.

every one of the USA squad in 2009 was from the domestic competition. cant find the Russian squad anywhere, but they traditionally have always used domestic players.

even Jamaica managed to rustle up more than 4 local players for their 2009 squad.

The last WC was the best tournament I have seen. Every game I watched was a contest and even the so called "minnows" put on good performances. I'm pleased it is going to 14 as I was sad to see Lebanon miss out last time, their inclusion could have been massive in Sydney.

The highlight of the last WC was watching Samoa playing Tonga and watching the fijians and the irish play, build on that and keep the big 3 seperate.

It's the 10 2008 teams to go through automatically with Wales and Cook Islands to get two spots and the other two coming in from two tournaments with 8 nations.

That's what I've heard from [isomeone in the know[/i.

Quote: saints35 bulls0 "The 2009 Lebanon national squad (20 players) had a grand total of 4 players from Lebanon, the rest from suburban clubs from NSW. Also, Russia beat Lebanon 80-0 last time they met in 2008.'" That was only because the team couldn't get visas to travel to Russia, and ended up sending a bunch of juniors. They beat Russia 48-0 the previous year. RL is massive in Lebanon, it's played nationally and they have government recognition. I'd say if they keep up the current rate of development then it has potential to be the national sport there within 10 years. They are one of the strongest and most progressive nations we have, it would be madness to not allow them to play. I wish we had 10 more nations like Lebanon. www.lebrl.com/index.php

Quote: saints35 bulls0 "The 2009 Lebanon national squad (20 players) had a grand total of 4 players from Lebanon, the rest from suburban clubs from NSW. Also, Russia beat Lebanon 80-0 last time they met in 2008.'" That was only because the team couldn't get visas to travel to Russia, and ended up sending a bunch of juniors. They beat Russia 48-0 the previous year. RL is massive in Lebanon, it's played nationally and they have government recognition. I'd say if they keep up the current rate of development then it has potential to be the national sport there within 10 years. They are one of the strongest and most progressive nations we have, it would be madness to not allow them to play. I wish we had 10 more nations like Lebanon. www.lebrl.com/index.php

An entire squad of Lebanese domestic boys probably wouldn't be able to compete at the level they are playing, but it is important they don't drop down to maintain interest and government backing. I know what you are saying, but it's also good for the Lebanese domestic players that do come in to play at a higher intensity. Remember they are still relatively new to the game. Also, why shouldn't they field their strongest national team? I don't see too much of a problem with the team fielding ex-pats, so long as there is genuine development work and pathways for the domestic players. It's different to France artificially fielding Australians due to the residency rule, and the Lebanese don't tend to switch nations and also play in smaller tournaments, so they seem pretty committed. I think they consider themselves as Lebanese first and foremost.

There's no point having 14 teams, if half of them are going to be rubbish, and are going to get thumped every game. ALso, we cant have another 'group of death' where almost all the teams in it qualify the knockout stages because it makes the sport look like the joke it is. therefore the obvious thing is to introduce more teams that are able to compete. instead of having USA and russia get beaten 110-0, why not have the likes of an Australian Indigenous team, with the remaining Aussie's split into NSW and Queensland teams, a New Zealand team and a New Zealand Maori's team, PNG with the rest of the islanders put into a pacific islander's team, England split into Yorkshire and Lancashire, France, Celtic Nations (Wales, Scotland, Ireland), 'Australian Euopean Grandparents/passport' team under the name of Europe etc. This way we would have a truly competitive competition, which would undoubtedly get higher viewing figures, better sponsorship etc. What do you think?

Someone ban this troll.

Matt Peterson?

for the set up of the tournament with 14 sides. id like to see one group of 6 and two of 4 with 4 going through from the group of 6 and 2 from the other 2 groups to a 1/4 final i.e

group one

Eng, NZ, Aus, France, PNG, Cook Islands.

Group 2

Samoa, Ireland, USA, Scotland

Group 3

Tonga, Fiji, Wales, Lebanon,

Eng, NZ, Aus, France, finish top four in group 1 and so go on to play Samoa, Ireland, Tonga, and Fiji in the quarters,winners to the semis, and then final.

there is the issue that under that some teams play 5 games and some through, but we can have the bottom team in groups 2 and 3 after 3 rounds drop out, and the bottom teams in groups 2 and 3 after a further two rounds drop out. So in this example after all teams in groups 2 and 3 have played each other Scotland and Lebanon would drop out, and Samoa Ireland and the USA + Tonga Fiji and Wales would play each other again resulting in another 2 games each, after they have played Wales and the USA would drop out and Tonga Fiji, Samoa and Ireland would go through to the 1/4er final