wire wont miss 7 players as there only playing salford, mite be worth picking some sants as there playing bradford

I'm pretty sure a campaign on here and on facebook through the Wigan fans site could see us pick whatever team we want

Richards, Carmont and Leuluai however will rightly play though as they are the best players in those positions IMO and they have chosen to play so I hope they have good games and don't get injured. This could be a cracking game in truth.

For me this game will prove whether or not overseas players majorly raise standards. If England win easily, do we really need so many overseas players? If exiles win easily then we should relocate super league to PNG.

Just suspend the round and play it on a Bank Holiday Monday, week before have the games all on a Friday similar to Easter.

Saints/Wigan/Wire are all at a disadvantage for no good reason other than to put some money in the back pocket of the RFL.
PLUS how many people can afford two games one after another? club or country no contest for me.

Against Aus or NZ then it would be country.

Against a team of players thrown together for this fake international test, it is club every time.

How much are tickets for this game? They need to be dirt cheap to get a sell-out and build demand.

Brett Hodgson
Joel Monaghan
Matt King
George Carmont
Pat Richards
Rangi Chase
Tommy Leuluai
Willie Mason
Danny Buderus
Mark O'Meley
Clint Newton
Craig Fitzgibbon
Luke O'Donnel

David Fa'alogo
Kylie Leuluai
Tony Puletua
Steve Menzies

Shame no place for M. Monaghan but think with the limit of 3 per club I think King, Hodgson and J Monaghan will be the Wire places. Same for Ryan Hoffman with Richards, Carmont and Leuluai looking like they will get the Wigan spots.

Not for me, Wire over England no matter.

This is what is wrong with the international game. I am not blaming you in any way but if more people put the country before their club then the international game would boom.

I would personally rather see England win the WC than see Wigan win the GF.

Completely agree with you Odem. To try and fix the selections is completely idiotic. Time for some of these so-called rugby league fans to get behind the concept instead of treating it like an obstacle to their season. I want to see a team that'll tear into England and prepare us for the 4 Nations. Unlike some 'fans' i'd like the international game to succeed. And, if it means we have to play a weakened team for one weekend, then so be it.

If the international game was more highly regarded and of a higher standard rather than only 3 (well actually really only 2) teams competing for the honours, then I would agree. This is a long way off though so as it stands I would much rather see success for Wigan than England/GB.

You are probably right. RU has England, Wales, Ireland, Aus, NZ, France, SA, Argentina... all playing to a good standard. they also now have an extremely competative 7's comp.... they have built on this very well. We should be doing something similar in developing nations. There is no chance that a nation like France can match England over 80mins, 13v13.... but I think they could have a good wack against our younger players 9v9 to help develop them with shorter matches.

If Super League was as even + far as the pro salary cap people like to believe, then events like this should see all teams handicapped equally with the players contributing to both England + the Exiles coming from a variety of teams.

Whereas in reality it's going to be the case that 2 or 3 teams are severely handicapped and the rest have 0, 1 or at the very most 2 players missing.

Did you watch the 6 Nations? The standard of rugby was average at best. England, Ireland et al have no chance against the southern hemisphere clubs. The union public just get behind it - hell, they can fill Twickers for any mickey mouse friendly...

That's not strictly true, as some clubs might have particularly good players playing in the same positions. Someone's going to have to miss out.

team I voted for was:
1) webb
2) j.monaghan
3) soliola
4) carmont
5) richards
6) chase
7) sammut
8 : o meley
9) buderus
10) mason
11) hoffman
12) o donnell
13) fitzgibbon

it will be a strong side no matter who ends up picked, could see England on the wrong end of a right hammering if the exiles click.