5 week..

Week 1 - Samoa vs New Zealand, Tonga vs England
Week 2 - Tonga vs New Zealand, Samoa vs England
Week 3 - Tonga vs Samoa, New Zealand vs England 1st Test
Week 4 - Samoa vs Tonga, New Zealand vs England 2nd Test
Week 5 - New Zealand vs England 3rd Test

Would Fiji, the semi finalists from the World Cup, seriously agree to this?


But if we're going to have a Pacific Island team, then we need clear cut pathways for developing players. This means the following for any Pacific Islander:

Top level: Representing Pacific Island team.
2nd level: Representing home country in 5/6 nation league. (Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands and the rest maybe. Include PNG at a push)
3rd level: Representing club in country's own domestic league pyramid.

The idea stinks of a concept similar to West Indies cricket, and they hold a domestic competition involving Caribbean nations. You cannot expect players to make the jump from Fijian, Tongan or Samoan domestic rugby league and then compete internationally against Australia, New Zealand and England for a PI rep side. They need that stepping stone representing Fiji, Tonga or Samoa etc in order to develop and compete at a much higher level.

But the Pacific Islanders are a passionate lot. Would they take RL seriously when their national team is in a second tier competition, not even taken seriously internationally? With the nations having been granted independence less than 50 years ago, I doubt they like to be forced into a merger with other nations, even on a sporting level.

Overall its a stupid idea. But the head of the RLIF is an Aussie, and allow their media to write the rulebook for them. So please, for the love of God, if this ridiculous idea goes ahead then we need a sustainable development pathway.

we are'nt going to have a pacific team so don't worry about it

Bingo!

Why not an actual, proper lions tour,

GB playing Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, PNG, in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and PNG, with a three match series against the Kiwis and if they want a game against a PI select side.

I can see the complaints about the amount of matches the players need to play, but take a 40 man squad and give everyone a go. 8 games over 6 weeks, would give a great boost to the game in the PI's and im sure the players wouldnt mind too much

what about PNG, how do they prep for the WC?

I was responding to roughyeds post.

Instead of a Four Nations down under with PNG,replace them with a Rest of the World 'Select' team ? ie a composite of Froggies,PNG,Jocks,Taffs & Paddies etc with Iestyn or Bobbie or A N Other as coach/selector ?

next

At least a Select ROW team would provide more credible opposition than the dross served up by PNG or any proposed southern hemisphere mix !

Come again?

A Rest of the World side containing players from PNG, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Fiji, Tonga, France, Samoa and Cook Islands will better against Australia, New Zealand and England.

The Pacific Islands have as much in common as Jamaica, Barbabos, Guyana, Trinidad, Antigua etc, all of whom have domestic competition but combine to represent a "made up country" who have given a far greater contribution to their sport than the individual parts would have been able to.

Wouldn't mind seeing us play a 4N against NZ, Pacific Cup winners and Euro Cup winners completely based in NZ. Could make an interesting tournament.

Failing that, why not a tour of the SH nations? Eng, Fra and Wal fly down under. Take a huge England squad so they can get a number of games in.

5 weeks down there, schedule something like:
Eng vs Samoa
Fra vs Tonga
Wal vs NZ
Fiji vs PNG

Eng vs Cook Islands (mid week)
Fra vs Fiji (mid week)

Eng vs Tonga
Wal vs Samoa
Fra vs NZ
Fiji vs Cook Islands

Eng vs PNG (mid week)

Eng vs NZ (1st Test)
Fra vs Samoa
Wal vs Tonga
PNG vs Cook Islands

Eng vs Fiji (mid week)

Eng vs NZ (2nd Test)
Wal vs Fiji
Fra vs PNG
Samoa vs Tonga

Wal vs Cook Islands (mid week)

Eng vs NZ (3rd Test)
Fra vs Cook Islands
Wal vs PNG
Samoa vs Fiji

Austrailia don`t control the game, they never have...Father xmas told me so many years ago, about 1970....and then it went tits up....Skippy sprouted balls and the rest is history.