increase the number of players in the SLE

This idea has in a way been tried recently though. GB played SL based NZ in 2006 at St Helens. I was there and there certainly seemed to be a decent turn out for it.

Playing an All Stars team certainly provides England with a sterner challenge than France and Wales. For those two nations to develop having those two nations play each other regularly would be better until they catch up to England's standards. Certainly a round robin between them and the Knights seems like the best idea to develop England and bring France and Wales on.

I would have thought the best idea for the England first team would be to have two teams, the Reds and Whites, loosely based on Lancashire and Yorkshire, play in a round robin with the All Stars. That way they're getting more game time, more players are playing at that level and there's more players with big game experience when it comes to full England selection.

Manu, puletua, morrison, lauititi, hauraki, elima imho of course its all subjective.

edit having said that solmona can win a game with a special play, but i think as all round players the above are better.

No club bias there then

Hoffman and o'donnell for a start.

The all stars would be as one sided as well as England get swamped!!!

good....we need a mid season challenge....cos hammering france by 60+ is doing nothing for us....or france for that matter

not a chance ! the Catalan chairman would never release him (or any others)

We didnt hammer france by 60+ last time though did we? (or is my memory playing tricks?)

For me there was an improvement to france due to this game, they did seem to be getting more competative, but still in time honoured rl tradition we will dump the mid season international as it didnt work out straight away.

so england v anyonewithaforeignpassportthatfanciesago it is then

Squad: 25
Maximum from any 1 team = 3
Minimum from any 1 team = 1

Bradford - Kearney
Castleford - Chase
Catalans Dragons - Greenshields, Menzies
Harlequins - Randall
Huddersfield - O'Donell, Fa'alogo
Hull FC - Fitzgibbon, O'Meley
Hull KR - Dobson, Mason
Leeds - Cross, Webb, Buderus
Salford - Patten
St Helens - Perry, Puletua
Wakefield - Morrison
Warrington - King, Monaghan M, Monaghan J.
Wigan - Richards, Lima, Hoffman
Crusaders - Sammut

1. Webb
2. Greenshields
3. King
4. Monaghan J.
5. Richards

6. Chase
7. Dobson

8. O'Meley
9. Buderus
10. Cross
11. Hoffman
12. O'Donnell
13. Fitzgibbon (c)

14. Monaghan
15. Mason
16. Perry
17. Lima

Good luck England!

I for one would love to see that team take on England. It would be a brilliant contest!!

france & england both appear to be between a rock and a hard place but for different reasons

england is obviously too good for the french to make the game a real contest and france isn't good enough to compete at that level

french RL is improving under BG IMO (though I would prefer his back-room staff to be all french and cut out the 'jobs for the boys' ) but can never attain the heights of england level,not in my lifetime anyway - the occasional flukey result will happen but the difference in class is so obvious
It's up to france to sort themselves out with the likes of Wales etc and for england to somehow wangle annual matches with the top two
Maybe we should be more concerned about making the SL more competitive with less imports playing over the next five years and slowly encourage the english talent to come trough or,at least given the chance.

I would have England playing against an Australian All Star team, wearing green and gold, coached by Aussies etc, giving them a sense of national pride when playing England. The French can then play a second string England side as part of a double header giving them a competitive game, but also allowing England to have a look at more players. I would extend the season by a week and give all teams a week off so that all attention is on the game.

Your memory is playing tricks on you.

rlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/12/england-france-rugby-leaguerl

England hammered a dismal France and never got out of second gear. Steve McNamara will have got nothing from the game. For example, Gareth Widdop looked brilliant in that match, but was adequate at best when the real test came at the end of the year. I'm unsure what France get out the game either.

I agree with people saying we shouldn't just cast France aside. I would like to see them play a game on the same weekend, possibly before the England game, against Wales. Another poster on the Wigan forum suggested France played an 'England Lions' squad, which would be made up of fringe England players, allowing France to be competitive and to give more English players a chance.

Well technically that isnt a 60+ point victory