Rumours of GB returning in 2015. Tour down under. Set to be confirmed in the next week or so. 2014 - four nations - down under aswell.

Yes bring back the ashes tests, think that is what most fans want.

No we want tours as well as part of the series.

Here goes.
Scrap the Magic Weekend and do a 5/6 week tour in June/July, 3 tests plus mid week games v club sides. (Every four years)

Some clubs will have to do without some of their players for that time, but that should be what squad depth is about, and it would justify the play of system.

The difficult part would be getting the Aussies to agree with it

1) They would have to do the same every four years
2) State of Origin has become the "event" (That is only because we have been unable to mount a realistic challenge for years)

If it was planned, we as spectators would know when the tours were and could save up accordingly.

As you said Brian, the Aussies would have to agree to alter their NRL fixtures to accomodate us. That just won't happen.
We are having a great World Cup but then there's nothing here until 2016.
If we have the 4 Nations down under next year then 2015 Intl Series should be here (Nothern Hemisphere).
Don't forget we (England) are not a crowd puller down under, the last couple of Intl trips down there we have been awful.
It will be interesting to see how Wigan RL go on in the WCC.
We have to win if the Aussie crowds are to take us seriously again. Any kind of defeat and they won't turn up for England games in an Intl series.

When we went to Summer rugby tours became a no goer and there would have to be a radical change of fixture structures in both hemispheres for it to get back on the table. I suppose it could be a possibility with a mid season break in an extended season but I can't see there being mutual agreement with the NRL & Superleague. The best chance would be if some TV company would offer to throw big bucks at the idea.

We need more games to get better as a nation but more importantly we need more internationals to grow the game. If ever we needed proof that internationals are the way to grow the game yesterday did that. I went down and there was a scattering if fans in our train but I'd say 70% of that crowd yesterday were from non traditional areas which is great to see. We need to keep these internationals at the big stadiums now. The next time there is an international at Wembley I don't see how any of the 67,500 crowd would not come back and I'm sure there's at least 22,500 people who didn't go who after watching it will be thinking 'next time I'm going' because that game was unreal. As good an 80 minutes of sport as you could wish to see.

It's just a shame we probably won't play the Aussies or Kiwis over here until 2016. That needs to be looked at and changed.

Why not have tours at the end of the season? They wouldn't need to be marathon affairs. Three test matches over 3 consecutive weekends with some form of warm up game for both parties (France for a Northern hemisphere tour/a Pacific island for a Southern hemisphere tour). Admittedly, a far greater prospect of filling stadiums over here than over there and you wonder how profitable a 3 match series v NZ would be in NZ. In fact, I'll get my coat

I agree with TonyM19.

Much as I would like longer tours like Rogues suggests, because of State of Origin, it would be very difficult to get the Aussies over midway through the season.

I would scale back the ambitions and go back to Ashes tours more like we had in 2001 and 2003.

You could have a four year calendar which was like this:

Year 1: World Cup (home nations play separately, no GB)
Year 2: Ashes tour in the UK
Year 3: Tri Nations (or Four Nations) series down under
Year 4: Kiwi tour to the UK

Then you repeat that cycle but just swap the venues, ie year 2 becomes Ashes tour down under, year 3 is a Tri Nations/Four nations in UK/France etc

The format of the Ashes tour in the UK could be:

Week 1: GB v France (or GB v Fiji/Samoa); Australia v SL team
Week 2: First Test
midweek: Australia v a different SL team
Week 3: Second Test
Week 4 Third Test

That would allow for 3 tests plus 2 Super League teams to play Australia

I like the idea of the touring side playing SL clubs. Wigan would easily get 20k for a game against the Aussies, if not sell out. It'd be like an extra test match and the sport needs the money.

Pre SL, we always went on tour at the end of our season and they came over here at the end of theirs. This would be no different. In fact it would be the same as the current WC, but about half as long

It was a key part of tours and was an honour for the clubs chosen to play the tourists. IIRC Bradford missed out one time because they put out a reserve team or something like that in order to concentrate on the league.

The last tourist game I saw at CP was when Inga scored a great try opposite Renouf and there was a big crowd that day.

Playing club sides was part of the test a touring side faced. The squad had to be good enough to play the club games and also play the three tests. The club games were not warm up matches but full bloodied affairs and going unbeaten in all games club and test matches was the aim.

The fact the club games were so integral to the whole series is why I'd love it if Rouges plan could happen. I can't see it though. The fact the International game has been neglected for so long is what led to distractions such as the Magic Weekend IMO. I'd much rather watch Internationals than that.

Mind you there is another threat to any sort of International game looming and that is the idiotic proposals on the table for the 12x12 then 8x8x8 league structure. That involves 30+ games a season and that ignores the Challenge Cup. Even if time could be found for any Internationals in that fixture list the players would be knackered anyway.