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!

Don't forget Martin Johnson will be watching

You do realize that when you pick your team of 13 players the other 9 to make up the 22 man squad are picked by the coach and his assistant. (Bluey and Matterson) Therefore if no Wigan players are picked by you for the 13 they can pick them. At the end of the day the Exiles team starting 13 will be picked by the coach etc. So you could still have your quota of 3 Wigan exiles playing. Plus your English players.

Exactly. I think regardless of any tactical voting that goes on by fans I would be very surprised if there aren't 3 wigan players in the final 22, especially with 7 to chose from.

Besides, the tactical voting will all negate itself.

It would probably have been an unviable option with it still being a regular SL weekend but I would have liked it to be on the Saturday and have the England Knights v France as a curtain raiser to the main game. Would obviously mean clubs have even more players missing and require postponing and rearranging of fixtures but it would be good for this new set up to get a game under their belt.

Is there a limit of Wigan players that can feature in the game before we get a week off? Because obviously we may have 3 in the exiles team and at least 3 in the England team (Lockers, Both Tomkins and Prescott off the top of my head are in the squads) and that would mean that most of our team are playing in another match when they should be playing for us. And lets be honest we ARE going to have at least 3 in that exiles team because 3 of them are convincingly winning (or second) in their positions on the current results. Tommy looks guaranteed to feature.

How would playing a weakened England team against a poor quality French team help us beat the Aussies and Kiwis and the end of the season?? Ridiculous suggestion! The French, along with every other developing RL nation has to help themselves surely. You are almost suggesting a handicap system where a team is picked based on the quality of opposition. So Wigan could help Crusaders develop by picking a weaker strength team to play against them and letting them think they are better than what they actually are could they?

From Andy Wilson

I picked who I think should play regardless of club. I'm sick of England getting battered and if this helps us catch up then I'm all for it. I went for:

1 Kearney
2 Joel
3 King
4 Soliola
5 Richards
6 Chase
7 Leuluai
8 Puletua
9 Michael
10 O'Meley
11 Hoffman
12 Fitzgibbon
13 O'Donnell