In terms of France's performance, it's not been the world cup they'd have been hoping for, but there's been definite improvement since the last tournament, they're still way off in terms of ability, but their attitude has been excellent.
In Kheirallah, Fages, Albert they have the makings of a great spine, Albert to me looks the best young half in the Northern Hemisphere.
Hopefully with Catalans now elite academy, and Toulouse's improvement we'll start to see more centres, and athletic forwards coming through. Mind you, if Catalans continue playing over a dozen overseas players each week they'll never get the chance.

There is definitely some fantastic talent in France, Catalans can't play all of them so I'm surprised more clubs in England haven't taken some of them on. Hull have started with Miloudi and if he can sort his attitude out then it may see us look to France a bit more

I was talking to someone who knows the PNG scene well yesterday, and apparently not having to travel and being based at the Hunters training facilities with the Hunters coach has been brilliant for all the young PNG players - even many who aren't in the cup squad, but are jt training with them.
Having guys like Mead, Lam, Martin, Page, Olam etc sharing their knowledge and skills every day, with no distractions like travel and new training venues has been like the best training experience possible.
The PNG Hunters should go to a new level next year.

Understand the view of mixing it up but with it being in England they'll want Eng vs Aus because it gets the biggest crowd. Games vs NZ do well but not quite the same.

Sorry, but outside of SL and the NRL, France has the best set up and yet they yet again flatter to deceive.....France finished 2013 with a win, this time they finished with no wins and a loss to a 2nd tier NRL side in Lebanon.
I'm not sure what the answer is because if Catalan stop fielding overseas players they will certainly be relegated........

The answer is to get a Toulouse team in Super League, with mostly French players, and six Antipodean imports, including Mark Kheirallah, Jonathan Ford, and Samuel Rapira, and 3 others of NRL standard including a prop and a back rower.

If that is insufficient then invite Avignon or Paris to prepare a team for Super League.

SO...JUST SO i GET THIS RIGHT.
1 SL side in France can't field French players because they aren't yet of the quality needed to keep them up and your solution is to get a second French side and split that small pool between 2, but limit them in terms of overseas players?

Yeah Right!

Catalan were a gnats hair away from relegation in 2017.....Toulouse in SL isn't going to change that!

One thing that could help them is to get a top coach in for the next WC. Recent appointments of Agar and Goulding were lacklustre, Catalans managed to get the likes of Trent Robinson and Mick Potter who did good for them. A similar appointment should be made for the national team.

Toulouse is already a good team with its mostly French players. It just needs 6-7 NRL quality players to lift themselves to SL standard. That then gives the younger French players weekly experience of professional rugby league opponents (rather than the mostly part time semi-pro teams they face in the Championship) which will raise their level of performance. You need 35-40 professional players of quality to be competitive internationally.

If in Super League then Toulouse could compete for the signatures of good French SL players like Gadwin Springer and Eloi Pelissier.

The best French players today were Super League players.

Good? They finished 5th in the 2nd tier



...same for fax, Fev, London, Leigh etc......



Really? Yorkshire and Lancashire have had 100 years and more and still look like novices beside the Aussies...

....or 3rd generation players from Sydney


still ot enough for 1 side, let alone 2

...and yet they made cumbersome england look good!

The French have some really basic problems - a ridiculous error rate and they generally lack size and physicality all over the park. Surely they could get some bigger bodies from lower grade RU if nowhere else?

www.thenational.com.pg/aston-ope ... g-players/ Article from The National (PNG) saying Sheffield Eagles and Ireland coach Aston made an offer to consider any PNG players who want to try playing in England.

www.thenational.com.pg/aston-ope ... g-players/ Article from The National (PNG) saying Sheffield Eagles and Ireland coach Aston made an offer to consider any PNG players who want to try playing in England.

A terrific gesture by Aston, which will do the world of good for Sheffield if he can snare some new players. We need some other club coaches to show the same attitude, especially some from Super League. Those who were on hand in PNG -- Brian McDermott and John Kear -- had a front row seat to check out the Kumuls talent.
.

Paris, seriously

Perhaps we should be more concerned with "diluting" SL further still with "overseas" clubs, reducing our own chances of ever winning either the 4N or World Cup.
The expansion clubs should be welcomed but, in addition to the current SL clubs and not replacing current top flight.
Not only will this help keep current fans on board but, should either the FRench or eventually North America ever decide to go it alone, we may still have a competition over here

ireland may very well feel hard done by but maybe if the players who turned out for the world cup turned out for the european cup and won it then they would have been seeded like scotland were who won the euro cup and qualified for the four nations.

dont think mcillourm, amor or mcarthy scarsbrook put their hand up for ireland back then.