I'm not sure if you can compare New Zealand/Australia to England/France. New Zealand were always competitive against Australia. They've just come through a period of tremendous talent coming through and stepping up on the international stage.

France on the other hand have never been that competitive with England. The last match finished as a 60-6 hammering and England never got out of second gear. How does this mid-season game improve the French national team, not to mention the international scene? I don't see what on earth they get out of it. Their players get smacked and lose confidence. Spectators lose interest in a match that isn't competitive. French RL would struggle to drum up some interest in a situation like that.

Although, I agree with what posters have been saying about not casting the French aside. We shouldn't. A poster has talked of France playing an 'England Lions' squad made up of fringe England players - Lee Mossop, Liam Farrell for example. I personally would like to see them play Wales on the same weekend, possibly as a build to the England/all stars match. At least in both scenarios the French team could be competitive and gain some confidence. The French will get more out of a competitive match than a slamming to England IMO. People want to see competitive matches. If I was a french supporter, I would be far more inclined to watch our national side be competitive in a match against England Lions/Wales than see us get slammed against England in a non-contest every year mid-June.

I think this would be a great idea. Not only would it spread the potential problems of injuries around the league fairly, it would force creativity in the selection process rather than the obvious 'top player' selections.

About time this got organised. The last few mid season internationals have been a waste of time. This would be the nearest to origin games we'll get over here.

A maximum of up to 2 players from each club for both teams is the only way this is going to work if its going to be on the same weekend as a round of fixtures, however it kind of defeats the object of the game which im assuming is to strengthen England RL by giving them bigger tests before facing Aus/NZ.

A weakened England Team;

Tomkins - Wigan
Fox - Hull KR
Shenton - Saints
Bridge - Warrington
Cudjoe - Huddersfield
McGuire - Leeds
Robinson - Huddersfield
Graham - St Helens
Sinfield - Leeds
Burgess - Sydney
Westwood - Warrington
Ellis - Wests
O'Loughlin - Wigan

Scruton - Bradford
Smith - Salford
Lynch - Bradford
Purdham - Quins

vs a Weakened 'all stars' team:

Pattern - Salford
Monaghan - Warrington
King - Warrington
Delaney - Leeds
Richards - Wigan
Leuluai - Wigan
Dobson - Hull KR
Perry - St Helens
Buderus - Leeds
Mason - Hull KR
O'Donnell - Huddersfield
Puletua - St Helens
Fitzgibbon - Hull FC

O'Meley - Hull FC
Fa'alogo - Huddersfield
Feka - Salford
Randall -Quins

Not as exciting...

I dont want WIGAN calling off games due to this international game as we will end up playing another midweek game on top of that cas game that hasnt been arranged yet 2 months on from the fixtures being in the clubs hands.If we are taking the international game serious cancel a weekend so all you have is the focus on the england game.

The interesting thing for me is the England Knights squad which will be announced shortly. It appears that this will be a squad between academy and full International level, I'm guessing 19 - 22 year olds.

They should be able to pick a team from that age group to compete against the full French squad.

got to agree with this, you could have a tri nations between england nights, france and wales which would be a very good little comp.

Well not really seeing as they couldn't even win the Euro Cup. They're e, just face it.

2008 - LAST in the World Cup and in the game I went too they were dreadful.
2009 - Hammered in the 4 Nations
2010 - Lost to Wales in the Euro Cup

For all those complaining that their team will be losing players, isn't this making for a good opportunity for young players to break through and make a name for themselves? It would be interesting to see what team we would put out if we had lost Leuluai, Richards, Tomkins x2, O'Loughlin etc...

To be honest, I think we would cope better than most other teams even though we are likely to lose a lot more players. How will Cas/Hull KR handle losing Chase and Dobson for instance?

Roberts
Goulding
Gleeson
Carmont
Charnley
Deacon
Finch
Fielden
McIlorum
Coley
Hansen
Hoffman/Tuson
Farrell

Lima
Prescott
O'Carroll
Logan Tomkins

Not a bad side at all imo

Looking at it like that, it's amazing that we would still have Mossop, Pryce, Marsh etc left over, meaning we could lose Roberts and Goulding too and still wouldn't really need to dip into totally inexperienced players.

I like this idea but I don't really see why they didn't have the foresight to plan it in advance so that there was a gap in the fixtures when it takes place so though no club is particularly disadvantaged. I can see this game really being one to watch if everyone is available for selection.

1. Pattern/Roberts (form a massive factor, one coming over from the NRL, the other coming off the back of an injury)
2. J.Monaghan
3. King
4. Soliola
5. Richards
6. Chase
7. T.Leuluai
8. Perry
9. M.Monaghan
10. O'Meley
11. Lauititi
12. Hoffman
13. Fitzgibbon

14. K.Leuluai
15. Buderus
16. Lima
17. Solomona

That team is roughly equal to England, and may even be better if the backs see plenty ball.

assuming we dont have 4 or 5 injured players ?

Becasue the RFL price everyone out of it.
Match days are expensive enough, but when there are special series and RFL arranged and related stuff it gets really stupily expensive.
need to keep the prices down then more people will come.

What? And everyone else is 100%? Are you the most miserable man in Wigan? You make me look happy. OK then...

Roberts
Pryce
Marsh
Carmont
King
Finch
Mellor
Prescott
Logan
Coley
Mossop
Hansen
Farrell

Tuson
Deacon
O'Carroll
Davies

Id take that side over most in SL

^ Assuming it isn't our internationals/All Stars that are injured.

Really, it's one round, I think we should be comfortable enough in our squad to play another team (minus their best players) for one round.

Exactly. That side above is missing Richards, Goulding, Gleeson, Fielden, Tommy, Sam, Joel, McIlorum, Hoffman, Lima and Lockers. If we can turn a side out like the one above then we should be able to cope for one game. Some players may even double up ala last season.

Why? Why will the "overseas all stars" put any passion or commitment into this game at all? Why will the English players?

As a fixture is means absolutely nothing. It is a contrived match with no history. The result will be meaningless and won't prove anything.

It's got to be the worst idea in the history of the sport.

As to the match v France being cancelled well we had better be expecting the Aussies to refuse to play us soon then. Playing France even if of little worth to us shows the game has an international base. Cancelling internationals for contrived fixtures does not. In RU Italy were whipping boys for years. They still are to a degree but they still kept coming back for more and more importantly no one was daft enough to ditch games v Italy because they were one sided. They could see the bigger picture. No surprise the RFL can't.

Dave

I think you underestimate professional sportsmen's attitude.


They said that about State of Origin.

I think I know exactly what professional sportsman's attitude is i.e. it's a job. And it takes a lot for it not to be just a job such as really meaningful games such as Internationals v Oz and domestically things like Grand Finals and in Oz the SoO.

These games they want to win. Made up games won't even come on this radar.

We could not even sustain a War of the Roses as the players never bought into the concept to treat it seriously enough. I really can't see selection for the overseas all stars being something overseas players here will strive for.



You aren't seriously suggesting this could ever be on a par with SoO?

We actually have an agenda in this country to [ireduce[/i the number of overseas players in the league and with recent changes to tax laws, the diminishing value of the pound v Oz dollar and the fact their salary cap allows them to pay more than ours it is going to be very hard to attract quality players over here in future IMO. It's a side we can have only of there are enough decent overseas players around and that is not guaranteed year on year.

Like Millennium Magic the RFL are barking up the wrong tree once more.

Dave

[urlhttp://www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-warriors/warriors_back_all_stars_concept_1_2918819[/url

Does Madge not know that DaveO says it will be a flop?

I just hope it's played at Widnes, Warrington or Leigh instead of Headingley.

Make it £10 a ticket and play it at the HJ, you might get close to a full house. Winning team share the gate receipts? 7k a man prize money might add an extra incentive.

Just a thought, with the new salary cap increase and all the other financial nonsense meaning less of the quality Aussie/Kiwi's imports coming over, is this a game they are hoping to promote now and turn in to an event people want to really participate in and feel excited about in a hope of attracting those that might not want to come at a reduced wage in an inferior league in the future ?