Stealth,

I like your team though I have a few differences, the main one being that Buderus has been announced as captain, so will surely start at hooker.

1.Hodgson
2.Monaghan
3.King
4.Carmont
5.Richards
6.Chase
7.Leuluai
8.Mason
9.Buderus
10.Leuluai
11.Hoffman
12.Menzies
13.Fitzgibbon

So many potential lineups in that squad.

I think its a stupid idea.
Why do we need to raise the profile of overseas players.

This is being talked about as our origin. How can we keep this going without bringing more overseas players?

We should get our own one going. They should let Mac pick his first team and then let another coach pick the second team.
Play them against each other and then pick the team from them.

I don't think it's trying to do that. They are trying to produce a competitive team that might give a bit of spice and biff. The ex aussie internationals will certainly raise their game. We tried the "war of the roses" and it didn't seem to capture much interest.



That might work, and would have the added bonus that after Mac Bananas' Team looses they will realise they have the wrong coach in charge of England

I don't see it as a stupid idea. It's an interesting concept with fans involvement. It's innovative and lets see how it goes. England Vs France has been a regular fixture for the last few years and has not been competitive. This is a take on an Origin style match. It will give the England squad a much needed test. We all want to beat the Aussies (and Kiwi's!) and playing France and Wales every year doesn't give us the tests we need to prepare us for the Tri-nations. The Exiles will be a very strong squad and I'm interested to see how it goes.

Why does origin in Aus work so well?
Because any player playing crap in the 3 games does not get picked for Aus.
Will the same be said here?
I bet it wont.
We need to lift the intensity of our players. We do not need to lift those of those who have left Aus/New Zealand/France and come over here for a pay day.

We've tried mid-season games against France and they've failed miserably. Firstly beacuse of the one sided nature of the games and secondly because the French have shown no signs of improvement, they even lost at home to Wales.

The Roses matches didn't take off because of lack of interest.

We're not left with many other options to be honest. Either we go with the New Zealand All Blacks style Possible vs Probables game or an NHL Ice Hockey style All Star game which is effectively the what the RFL have gone with.

One thing I'd be pretty certain about is that whoever are picked for the Exiles will be well up for getting one over one the pommie national team, which should make for an intriguing game.

I for one will be buying an Exiles shirt anyway, because if this game does bomb, and there's enough negativity on the VT to suggest it could, that shirt will be a nice one off rare shirt to increase in value over time. I might even go to the game, I fancy a Friday night on the lash in Headingley.