Only one way to find if it would work ?

England are never going to consistently compete with Australia while there is such a gulf in the quality of players. Notwithstanding the fact that this game would be of no higher standard than an average SL match, you can expose players to whatever intensity of competition you want but that won't make them any more likely to compete with a group of far superior players, who are also exposed to intense competition. The players aren't 'under prepared', they are not good enough and with the best preparation in the world would still not be good enough. The only thing a match against an 'Other Nationalities' team would achieve would be to further damage the credibility of international RL and reduce the number of decent level internationals that France and Wales are exposed to.

Spot on. The very best English 13 can compete with the Aussies & Kiwis, but with just a couple of injuries we're on a hiding to nothing.

2-3 extra games against a manufactured and supposedly challenging opposition will NOT markedly improve England, especially when you consider clubs will find ways of their internationals missing the games, and some will be genuinely injured and miss them anyway.

The NRL (and by consequence, the Kangaroos & Kiwis) is superior because they play at a higher intensity against the very best players week in, week out, almost without fail. SL does not achieve those levels. Is it the climate? Sporting technology and/or know-how? Facilities? The Aussie culture of sport? Superior coaching and tactics? A larger playing pool to select from? Are they simply bigger, stronger and more skilful?

I personally think it's a combination of all of the above and we need to address each issue step by step. Additional England games can't hurt - any opportunity to get the players together is a bonus - but let's not pretend that creating additional games in a desperate attempt to create intense and higher quality games is the answer to our problems.

Call them the All Golds - historical name of a team made up of Kiwis and Ozzies. Fits nicely and doths a cap to our heritage.

I could actually see it working if the incentive for the All Gold players was there ie winners and losers purses worth playing for and maybe even some sort of test status for the All Golds players. Play it as a 2 match series mid season with all SL suspended on those weekends, 10pound entry for any season ticket holder of a RL club and 1 pound for kids. Play it at a min 25k stadium and aim to fill it. Get BBC to Televise it and a corporate interested in national FTA to sponsor it.

Of course I doubt it will be any of this. Probably end up some low profile game played on a Weds night in Doncaster before 3000 people and canned after a year. Such is the way in RL.

No one has said it will be the answer to our problems.

The fact that you are agreeing with with me that any Chance to get the England team together is a bonus means that you are of the opinion that it is a step in the right direction.

Anyone who is arguing against it because they don't think it will solve all the problems is completely missing the point. Everything else they suggest won't solve all the problems, but each little thing will help.

thats the point though JB.....do we continue to play france and/or wales mid season and tank them by 50+ or do we want to test ourselves??

let a england 'A' team play france and wales, as curtain raisers to the england v Other nationalities game

i've listed a Other nationalities team before that contained half a dozen aussies that would still be playing origin if they still played in the NRL,a handful of kiwis that would still be getting picked for the anzac test if they played in the NRL and some freakish islanders who don't play mid season tests anyway



and to those whinging about the Other nationalities name....do some reading...ON are the joint oldest international RL team in the world...given that england played the first ever "international" against the other nationalities back in 1904...and over time i reckon the green ON jersey could become to ESL based aussies,kiwis & islanders what the blue & maroon jerseys are to NRL players...

we just need the RFL to stop faffing about and get serious about england catching up the aussies

Agree, although still not sure about the "Other Nationalities" tag. Yes, it's an old historic name in the game, but does that mean it could also be dated? I don't think there'd be any harm in a rebrand.

I think the All Golds idea is poor though. The All Golds were a Kiwi touring team with one Aussie player. This is neither a Kiwi team nor a touring team so there is no connection there.

agree with your sentiments but how many of the SL clubs would be willing to release their players for these 'unofficial' tests (certainly not Catalans !) and how is the RFL 'faffing about' ? The england coach at any given moment can only pick the players he sees good enough at that moment to turn out for him - what more can the RFL do to make the english players compete with the aussies(or kiwis) ?
As for the name of this ON side,why not simply 'ROW' ?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Nati ... eague_team thats why.....HISTORY!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Nati ... eague_team thats why.....HISTORY!

funny you quoting history and just yesterday telling me i was bored for starting a thread re history

you where questioning the 1895 & 1908 dates u baffoon...lol

2010 Four Nations - New Zealand
2009 Four Nations - Australia
2008 World Cup - New Zealand
2007 NZ/ENG - England
2006 Tri Nations - Australia
2005 Tri Nations - New Zealand
2004 Tri Nations - Australia

So, what would an all-star/other nationalities/all-golds/Cadbury's Smash RFL 13 look like then, player wise?

But you seem to be missing the point that everyone else is making. It is the get-together that is important. It is the players being around each other.

The game itself wont help a bit. And by staging it they are removing tests v wales and france, and limiting the get together to a very small number of people.

there are negative things in staging the game.