Yep I'm afraid it does all seem a bit of a waste of time. Hate to pick up an injury.

Utterly pointless fixture.. if a free weekend is available in the super league calendar year, then give the players a break. Everyone knows it’s a tough game and players play with niggles, player welfare is a must, why risk players in fixture against a nation where the playing pool of players is small and low on quality.

I honestly could not care less about England vs France.
For me it's just a weekend without any good rugby to watch.
lucky we had state of origin men and womens to watch to make up for ir.
Only bonus is the rest and recoup for most of the squad, to get injuries and niggles rested and healed.
I would have rather watched the exiles play, i enjoyed them games.
Also wouldn't this have been the ideal weekend for Wigan and leighs missed game, regardless of who was playing for England/France, rather than forcing them to play so many games in such a short period of time, guess player welfare doesn't apply here.

I’m not going to do it but if you downloaded the super league + app you can watch the game for free. I will find something better to do.

Here's a counter argument, but don't the majority on here and in English RL generally bemoan the Antipodean view that Internationals v England/GB are worthless, a poor second to State of Origin and isn't the poo pooing of playing France tantamount to the same thing?

This lack of a cohesive international calendar is often cited as one reason that our sport is held back commercially and not taken seriously by the main stream, that and the parochial set up and demographic of SL. Abandoning it completely certainly wont fix this, but supporting the 'smaller' nations might help, admittedly the wheels of progress are slow and the same arguments have been around for far too long.

We shouldn't forget 'our' collective history and the fact that Rugby League aided and abetted by the French Unionists was banned by the Vichy Government in France. I take comfort that we are the rebellious, anti Establishment Code, whilst admitting that this will only take you so far and ultimately limit opportunity...as 'the house always wins'.

In the first instance, I get that people would presumably want to see a competitive, exciting game of rugby rather than a blow out and that's about our squad selection and management, as we too need a pathway at international level for our group of players. We are rightly worried about the depth of our playing pool does our resistance and reluctance to engage in this match send out any signals to sports minded youngsters? I'd say definitely and not in a good way.

There seems to be a sea change in how the South Sea Islanders view their international 'scene' these days. I always got the idea that NZ was the team of choice if there was one, the status quo can be challenged.

IMO the fault here is not the fixture but the marketing and accessibility to view it oh and our collective negativity.

I am a reasonably engaged club RL person and I don't know who we are playing, why it is important, where the game is held, when nor how to watch.

You must know who we are playing?

Quote ="Smiffy27"You must know who we are playing?'" Only due to this article today which says "Wane to miss France test" posted 17 hours ago. I missed the "England set for France Tests as calendar takes shape" article from 24 hours ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league I guess I could check the RFL website or others if I was so inclined.

Quote ="Smiffy27"You must know who we are playing?'" Only due to this article today which says "Wane to miss France test" posted 17 hours ago. I missed the "England set for France Tests as calendar takes shape" article from 24 hours ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league I guess I could check the RFL website or others if I was so inclined.

Bit of a strange Saturday. Can watch our reserves v. St Helens on Wire TV. Then France v England on Superleague+.

Good to see that the game is generating great support from the French people

Not seen it, forgot it was actually today but so long as none of our lads got injured that’s all that matters.

Stop trying to look edgy. Swear on your parents/wifes/kids lives you didn’t know.

Thought not lmao

In fairness you didn't give me much chance to reply. Believe me or believe me not, I care neither way.

I thought people stopped using the ‘swear on your parents lives’ saying, when they left primary school..

I thought people stopped using the ‘swear on your parents lives’ saying, when they left primary school..

I just can't get interested if we play France, Wales, Scotland etc. & no matter what effort is put into the hype/advertising. There are just not enough Rugby League players about to make up anything worthwhile. The matches are played in empty stadiums & it looks so amateur.

I just can't get interested if we play France, Wales, Scotland etc. & no matter what effort is put into the hype/advertising. There are just not enough Rugby League players about to make up anything worthwhile. The matches are played in empty stadiums & it looks so amateur.

With you on this, Smithy. Plus the fact no broadcasters were prepared to show it, speaks volumes.

I am lucky enough to remember 3 test ashes series GB against Australia in 1990. I seem to remember the first game being held at the old Wembley with 50k+ crowd (I was there) and checking now the aggregate crowd was 130k. The international game has regressed under the "leadership".

The Ashes are coming back 2025 so there is hope.

I think the interest will come back when we play the Aussies. But unless we are playing them or it is a game in the World Cup it's a struggle & always will be. I don't blame the leadership really ... I'm a keen rugby league man & so are most on here but it's obvious we don't really want Micky Mouse games.

The rlf leadership are wholy responsible for the break up of the Great Britain representative side 2008 - 2019 and the mickey mouse home nations sides and games that arise from them.

So what do you think should have been done that Superleague Clubs & the NRL would have accepted?

I'm not blaming the leadership, or indeed anyone who shares your view, the problem that I have is that 'we' need to have a plan to sustain the sport, let alone grow it and Internationals have to be part of that solution surely?

The league season is relatively short, a five month shut down that keeps us out of sight out of mind in comparison to other sports, not to mention the lack of revenue raising opportunities. I've not checked but Rugby Union seem to handle their calendar much more effectively maybe it's the establishment and the amount of free to air media representation but yes they've also got way more competitive international fixtures to call upon. That international competitiveness didn't happen overnight or by chance it was developed and supported.

I'm looking forward to Samoa's visit this autumn, do you think that this will be worth watching and more importantly is this a barometer of where we are as a sport? I fear that if this mini series fails to capture the imagination then we may have to accept that whilst we don't want "Mickey Mouse games", we are a Mickey Mouse sport.

I love Rugby League (of course) but we are a minority sport in this country. We only really play in a very small area of the Country & even in that area Tip Tap & Union gets a pick of the best sportsmen. We cannot be compared with them. I think Samoa will be worth watching but most in the Country won't care & many fans who support their clubs with a passion will not care too much either. Anyone who has the job of growing Rugby League in this country has a very tough/almost impossible job. I ask anyone who criticises ... what would your plan be? If you know how to pack a stadium to watch Eng v France RL match please step forward.

Perhaps the biggest help that can be given to internationals would be to get the tours back where international sides are playing so many clubs as well as Test Matches so interest can be generated at a local level. Whether there is a will for tours to be reintroduced is another matter but it feels that international teams are parachuted in then spirited out once the match is over.