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.

Exactly, international RL can never thrive until the domestic game is embraced internationally. There are currently only 2 professional leagues on the whole planet, not enough to sustain a competitive international scene. For more countries to become more competitive then there needs to be, for example, a high standard league in France, and the game also needs to kick off in other regions such as USA, Canada and SA.

Currently we have an Irish team with no Irish league or even a professional Irish club, a Scottish team with no Scottish league or pro Scots club etc etc and with them largely being made up of players who are only eligible through family/citizenship and have only put their hand up for that country because they know they wont be picked for their parent country. The same problem arises on the other side of the globe with the Pacific island teams.

RL currently is not an internationally recognised sport and until it is then not much is going to change. People dont enjoy watching sport when they already know the outcome of games, which for the large part of intl. RL is the case. We are a long long way away from getting to a stage where we can hold intl. competitions which are anywhere near the size of the ones seen in football or even RU.

I am in favour of this "Exiles" system but it only highlights the state of the sport on the international front when the only way to give the current England team a worthwhile friendly without bringing players from the southern hemisphere is to play against oversees players who are based here.

i agree in part. i have picked 3 wigan players in my selections and i know if the game against cas goes ahead we will be low on numbers, but as a one off i would much rather see a dazzling display of top players having a good matchup as a spectacle than have some ty players thrown in due to fixing the votes.

the idea is to promote this game, not ridicule it and people should vote for who they would relish to see against england, not pick a team we could wollop with an u21's side as at the end of the day what kind of international practice is that going to be for the england boys? although i'd imagine it would be no friendly, it would be a well received match with mutual respect from both camps as you would have fellow team members playing alongside each other but [ialso against[/i other fellow team members! class!

if it took off like the SOO it would be amazing.

seriously though, how good would it be to see the likes of pat, buderus, monaghan etc playing against an england team. it would be a great spectacle IMO, but adding to what has been said before the RFL needs to get the pricing structures right to make it a success. at least for voting we get £5 off - maybe they've put the standard ticket price up by £5 on the sly?!

which is exactly the point, take the rest out of the equation. its as close to a competitive and useful friendly we'd get against the aussies / kiwis etc than we would get against france etc at the end of the day and if wigan lost 5 players and saints lost 3 and leeds lost 4 etc etc to a pointless england friendly against scotland or france etc then there would be a lot more fans in uproar. its an exciting development with potential to be a success plus it hasn't even happened yet - so give it a chance first

I imagine Tommy L would love to smash a couple of his teammates!