That’s why the World Cup is a good hunting ground as there is some international player clause I believe in the visa which means if they play a certain number/percentage of international matches the year prior they are classed as elite and get the visa easier.

I wasn’t impressed with England I thought they were poor when they rotated the bench and non of Oledzki, Ackers or Sneyd did enough to force their way into the top 17.

The only debate in my mind now is who joins Whitehead in the secondrow MaKmeeken was relatively quiet in game one and Bateman didn’t do enough for me to nail the shirt yesterday, other than that it’s the 17 that took the field in round 1 for me.

The French did what the French do showed a bit of mongrel at times and it’s s shame they are missing Fages who is a quality organiser. Having 2 off the cuff halves and 2 off the cuff 9s doesn’t provide them with someone like Fages who can move them to the right areas of the field.

I would like to see them in the quarters but I think it will be a big ask vs Samoa.

The next 3 years are huge for the French with the World Cup being hosted there next time around and hopefully the young French team can establish themselves as a more competitive force heading into that tournament.

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I think that’s because they thought that France would be easy.

What I liked is that the French held up physically especially in the backs where they are often powder puff.

On any given day I don’t think they can beat England at present but they are heading in the right direction at last.

People are just making excuses for a poor performance from England again .The pundits were saying they will not be able to switch of for 20 mins against the Australians like they did against the French.Think the Australians will be spending more time in the England 25 than the French did and will be to fast for the defence

Kyle Evans is in the Wales team for tonight's match... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63358913

Kyle Evans is in the Wales team for tonight's match... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63358913

I agree
We were playing France, not NZ or Aussie and any England side should be putting 50 on them, no excuses.
The only plus side is that, at least everyone knows there is plenty to work on, despite an excellent opening performance v Samoa.

Maybe France did manage to raise their game and good on them for doing so but, if we try to serve that defensive effort up in the QF or SF, we will be getting knocked out.

I wonder if the French will ever be decent? That had 2 Superleague clubs last year and they are still poor

I’m sure England will up the anti when they play a more robust opposition , we had a glimpse in the opening game of what we can bring to the table .Shaun Wayne will have them fired up now that the stakes are a lot higher of that I’ve no doubt . Tough task ahead but I’m hoping we can pull it off as it will do RL in this country the power of good especially as our dear cousins the RFU are having a monumental wobble (long may it continue) .Yes the whole tickets , empty stadiums hasn’t done us any favours, and the bods in charge have admitted they would have done it differently next time , that aside from now on its buckle up for the worlds best players to showcase our great sport to the masses and I for one can’t wait

I'm afraid two SL clubs (one a struggling club) are not enough to feed a national side.
The French need their own league and only then will they get stronger at National level, and in my opinion they are taking the place of our own clubs in SL.

I'm glad the group stages are almost done. Not many games worth watching due simply to the gap in quality between the top 5 nations and the rest.

The games are looking really tasty now. Tonga and Samoa should be a cracker. England's game will be tricky. Australia will beat Lebanon but Fiji won't be easy beats.

I'd like to a Six Nations Tournament, with us, NZ, PNG, Aus, Tonga and Samoa. I know the World Cup is virtually that, but to have a five-week tournament where every game is a cracker would be a great watch.

You don't get that in any World cup in any sport. There will always be minnows by the nature if the qualifying process. Problem with RL is that it's now a naturally high scoring game, so when playing minnows this becomes hugely exaggerated.

I don't know the answer, but you can't deny these teams the opportunity.

The only short term answer I can come up with is that the SL and NRL will supply these clubs with free players. For example Greece could have an extra two SL players and two NRL players. These players don't need any affiliation with the nation in question (they can have as many by grandparents as they can muster for now). The rule must be that all the squads are at least 50% indigenous, or what's the point, remembering we are trying to expand the game.

The support players will benefit by being paid and more importantly being given the chance to increase their value and exposure.

It's not perfect but even though there would be less Greek players, those who did play would benefit by being in a moderately more competitive teams. Can't kid ourselves that they would actually win many games, just compete more.

There have been too many "blow out" scores but, equally, its been great to see the likes of Italy, Greece and Lebanon playing.
The comp starts to get a little more serious now but, even so, it should be England v Tonga and NZ v Aus in the semis.

The 4 nations that we had a number of years ago was a decent idea but, it was played too frequently, and we probably need something similar but, played every 4 years (in between world cups) and then have games against one of the other "big" sides in the other years.

If its a world cup. The teams need to be affiliated to a country, whether heritage or birth. End of.

Same as every other sport world cup.

In 95 NZ beat Japan by 145-17.
Now they've beaten all the home nations except England, beaten Argentina and beaten South Africa in a massive win.

Germany beat Brazil in 2014 7-1.
It happens. Each team will have peaks and troughs over world cups
Just need to give them access to competitive matches for them to improve. Not diminish the glory of playing.

You only have to see Jamaica's try celebration to know it isn't always about the score for the minnows.

Do you really believe that in 20 years our penniless, self serving sport will produce an all Greek team that will compete.

I await you accusing me of dismissing them or something or other, but in the real world that will never happen IMHO. Hasn't happened with France for a start. Let's be realistic. If we are to produce more competitive teams, then those teams need a hard core of players who play in the top comp - even England have come to depend on that.