Would an A v B game really be as poorly attended as a rout against Wales/France? I know which I'd rather watch.

quite agree with you there - why not a Rest of the World team to make up the four in the current Four Nations instead of PNG (or qualifying team) ?

by the way 'TO for SL',why has Carlos let so many good players leave TO for next season ? is it purely financial ? Surely this is NOT the way to get into SL ?

I still prefer the Australian/NZ tourists vs England idea

I like the Other Nationalities v England idea too, but if we're reducing the number of non-England qualified players in the league, surely the last thing we want to do is base our Test preparation on them being there?
I think a full intensity contest between two teams of players battling for an England shirt would be a draw for the public, if handled correctly. Id rather watch that than us batter France.

I would be interested in:

East v West
Lancashire v Yorkshire
Lancashire and The West v Yorkshire and The East
England v Other nationalities

I am not so keen on England Probables v England Possibles. That to me is more of a behind closed doors training game. I wouldn't know what team to support.

I know it's a bit of a gimmick but for the first year I would even consider allowing the winner of Yorkshire v Lancashire or East v West to go on to form the England team. This would give the game some meaning.

I believe that several of the above options would work if marketed properly and if rugby league fans got behind the concept.

I think an other nationalities/all stars/barbarians team playing in competitions like the four nations would take credability from the game. Playing friendlys/warm up games is fine but not in competitions.

With TO its a bit of a mystery, they do seem weaker this year which is dissapointing, you would have to guess its for financial reasons, still better to be a weaker team than send the club bust by overspending as many other clubs have done.

yes,can see that with the view to saving money in 2011 with the idea of making a serious charge for SL qualification in the 2012/13 seasons

do you know if we,TO13 still have the cushion of not being relegated by the rfl in 2011 should we finish in the bottom two ?

Oh goody , So Toulouse are likely to be weaker next season than last , but are excempt from relegation , so they bring what exactly to the Championship ?

The Origin stuff is a red herring, in my view. The Kiwis are now way ahead of us, and their players don't play Origin. The Aussies don't get their better skills and mental toughness from three mid-season matches, either. The reason they're better than us is that every week they play to a higher standard, consistently, and they have tremendous pressure from below for their jerseys, so they can't afford a loss in form. There isn't a club in SL whose fans wouldn't be able to point to two or three players they carry as passengers every week after a loss of form. For example, at Saints, Gidley's been effectively non-existent this year, yet he's been on the field every time he's been fit. Why is that ? Because either we don't have anyone better, or our coaches are too conservative to risk throwing kids in. [iAnd because it doesn't matter [/i!

Saints can still finish second top even with passengers, and even with another second-row filling in on the opposite centre for much of the rest of the season. Think about that, for a minute. Saints played much of this season with one semi-retired Aussie (Gidley) one one side, and a solid-but-unspectacular second-row (Flannery) or crocked young stand-off (Wheeler), on the other. Every opposition team knew this, but Saints still won the great majority of their games and finished second. That tells you everything you need to know about why we can't field decent backs against the Aussies and Kiwis. It's got nothing to do with whether there is or isn't a spurious extra competition in mid-season. It's got everything to do with the fact that there are no decent backs out there.

england v Other nationalities - 2 game series


and england 'A' v france and wales as curtain raisers


its not rocket science

difficult to disagree with any of that - Saints did remarkably well as you are indicating despite the failings of certain players and I would include Jon Wilkin to that list,for me a dissapointing season from a top player,not to mention the loss of Leon & Kyle for many games - we do appear to have the youth at our disposal and I too am bemused how Matt G kept his place.How do we raise the international level ? well,keeping the Gidleys & Menzies etc of this world instead of bringing in the kids through isn't helping - the old chestnut of too many overseas players is a factor of course tho' we need to regulate a bit more strictly the amount allowed at any given time - the Crusaders squads of recent years for example,have been a sad endightment of the younger british talent that is coming through the youth systems - looking at the Saints,Wigan,Wires & Leeds to name but a few) youngsters coming through means the future IS bright so,give them their chance.

Got to agree although Id prefer England A to play away in France and Wales rather than a curtain raiser

Spots v Stripes - get Cadbury's to sponsor it - apparently we'll all have taken sides and will be embroiled in the spots v stripes battle by 2012.

that's up to the wisdom of the FFR13 to try to get some decent international matches for the french fans - can't imagine we'll get too many teams willing to play a second-rate european nation on french soil except maybe the Italians or Russia maybe ?