B rad

Imagine Russia vs USA in current environment. Grudge match.

=========================== WORLD XIII NOMINATION FORM =========================== FULLBACK 1. Billy Slater  2. Kalyn Ponga 3. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 4. James Tedesco 5. Ben Barba WING 1. Valentine Holmes 2. Tommy Makinson 3. Josh Addo-Carr 4. David Fusitua 5. Dane Gagai CENTRE 1. Waqa Blake 2. James Roberts 3. Joseph Manu 4. Latrell Mitchell 5. Greg Inglis STAND OFF 1. Gareth Widdop 2. Luke Keary 3. Cameron Munster 4. James Maloney 5. Lachlan Lewis SCRUM HALF 1. Cooper Cronk 2. Nathan Cleary 3. Daly Cherry-Exans 4. Kodi Nikorima 5. Jonathon Thurston PROP 1. Andrew Fifita 2. Thomas Burgess 3. Jared Waerea Hargreaves 4. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 5. Jessie Bromwich HOOKER 1. Josh Hodgson 2. Damien Cook 3. Isaac Luke 4. Cameron Smith 5. Jake Friend SECOND ROW 1. Viliame Kikau 2. Tariq Sims 3. Gavin Cooper 4. John Bateman 5. Luke Lewis LOOSE FORWARD 1 Jason Taumalolo 2. Sam Burgess 3. John Sutton 4. James Trbojevic 5. Josh McGuire

You can not quote me on this because for the last half hour I have searched google and twitter and cant find anything, but I swear earlier in the week I read something about a French Rugby League tour in 2020 or 2019. Maybe it was my imagination or maybe it was a premature tweet that got deleted. On the subject matter Id like to remind everyone that Lebanon and France had a spiteful match in the RLWC 17 which Lebanon won 29 - 18. Lebanon are automatic qualifiers for the world cup, need games and are on Frances level. Be great to see them go over there for a series. If what I did hear about the tour was true, then France could take part in Oceanic pool B tournament 2020 since Australia are off leaving a position to be filled probably by Cook Islands at this point. France are technically part of the pacific through New Caledonia. Could even play home games there. PNG, Samoa or Fiji (one will be promoted) would also be on a similar level to France and would be far more beneficial then the Cook Islands to the game over all. A tour/tournament might get the players to take playing for France a little more seriously.

So Tonga will play touring GB, and Aus and NZ in the oceanic cup while Samoa Fiji and PNG will also play GB and each other. Really positive stuff to develop the Pacific Nations. Hopefully it will entice more players to put their hand up for these nations creating a even stronger international competition.

Yeah, and I would have agreed with you a few weeks back, but then a guy informed me on this forum showing that 19 of the 40 man Scotland Rugby Union team were born in other nations. If it works for them then it can work for us. But they would need to be committed. Not just show up for GB/4 Nations/World Cups. The other thing is who can realistically make the side that isn't English. Not many. Its a no win situation really. If they pick only English players then they are they criticized for calling it GB. If they pick Welsh Scottish and Irish players that are not up to it then they are criticized for not sending their best team. If they pick some heritage players then they are criticized for, well picking heritage players.

Guys like Coote, Aitken and Linnett could be in the running. I think for those guys to play for GB they should have made themselves available for the European Championship. If NRL and Super League guys are going to put their hands up for these nations in big games like 4 nations and world cups they should have to play the lessor tournaments as well.

Seems ok for me. Everyone seems to be getting games. The NRL shouldn't be messing with it because Peter Beatie is one of the guys who helped organise it. GB tour next year play all the pacific nations and NZ, all the pacific nations and Australia play against each other. That's a massive improvement for Tonga, Samoa, PNG and Fiji. Will help them build their teams since they actually have a viable rep career. Kangaroos tour GB and France the year after, while the pacific and NZ play oceanic cup again. Funds going into America and middle easts and African tournaments. (assume that means Lebanon and South Africa) Not sure about the 9s. Sounds a bit too much. Not sure what people are complaining about. GB is too soon in my opinion only because there isn't enough Welsh Scottish and Irish players who can make the team, unless they take heritage players.

http://rlif.com/article/8527/ The Rugby League International Federation Board has approved in principle a rolling calendar of matches for the next eight years. The calendar will see a mix of world events, regional events and bilateral tours starting in 2019. The meeting was held as a part of the RLIF Congress in York. A highlight of the 2019 plan is the creation of the Oceania Cup featuring Australia, New Zealand and Tonga in one group and Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea in the other group. The nations also agreed that the Great Britain Rugby League Lions will visit the Southern Hemisphere to face New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea subject to consultation with the major playing leagues and the players’ representatives. There are ongoing discussions to ensure that the programme for the women’s game and for wheelchair rugby league are advanced at a similar rate to the men’s game. The Board has also approved financial support for the Americas Championship and a new competition for nations in the Middle East and Africa, the MEA Championship. RLIF investment will be annual, commencing in 2019, underlining the strategic significance of and recent growth in these territories. Australia will host the inaugural RLIF Nines World Cup in 2019 which will see teams from across the world gather to compete in this innovative and exciting form of the game. This will feature both men’s and women’s competitions. The programme will be punctuated every four years with the World Cup and will include the repeat of the Oceania Cup in 2020 and 2022 which will mirror the European Championship in the Northern Hemisphere. With space created for the bilateral arrangement of games and tours by the individual member nations. Chief Executive Nigel Wood has welcomed the outcome saying: “The whole international rugby league world has looked to us to complete this important piece of work. The discussions this week have been extremely collaborative and positive. “This is a complex process and if we can put all the pieces of the jig-saw into place we will have a very exciting programme.” “There is some further consultation to be undertaken with leagues and playing groups together with some important commercial evaluations before we could make final announcements, however we are confident that we can complete these discussions before Christmas.” New Zealand Rugby League CEO Greg Peters said: “We are delighted to have the support of the RLIF and member nations for a significant calendar of rugby league events in New Zealand. This will be the first time in the history of the sport that this number of international games has been hosted in New Zealand. We still have work to do, however, but we are very encouraged by the commitment of all parties to work towards making this a reality.” Sandis Tsaka, President of Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League, said: “It’s a great boost for us in Papua New Guinea to have a reliable calendar of games that we can promote to our fans, players and stakeholders.” Todd Greenberg, CEO of the Australian Rugby League Commission, welcomed the collaboration shown in the discussions: “It was refreshing to see the way in which we were all able to work together, particularly the Pacific nations, to deliver the framework for this calendar.” Ralph Rimmer, CEO of the Rugby Football League, was pleased with the opportunities provided by the calendar: “These are exciting times for the sport in general and particularly the chance we have to both take a Great Britain team to the Southern Hemisphere next year and then welcome the Kangaroos in 2020. There is still some discussion to complete on 2019 but everything looks to be moving in a positive direction.” RLIF Southern Hemisphere General Manager Jeremy Edwards said: “This programme will give us all a framework that we can work with. The Oceania Cup gives the Pacific nations the ideal platform to continue the immense progress that they have made over the past few years."

What's the capacity?

I don't know about that. The grand finalist of 2017, Nth QLD Cowboys who obviously had a great team got totally smashed this year and came down near the bottom. 2nd to 13th in one off season after some of the best players in the world come back from injury. There are always teams that over perform and under perform.

Agreed

Because he was injured. https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/15314/11517818/englands-sam-burgess-ruled-out-of-autumn-tests-due-to-injury

So some French players didn't play because they didn't feel like it?

Milford played for Queensland and Samoa this year. If they are happy to let him miss mid season test (or Origin game 2) its all good.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/10/21/mate-maa-tonga-set-sights-on-winning-2021-world-cup/ "I think we have got a good crew here and I think there are a lot of good young Tongan players coming up too," he said. "There's also David Fifita at Brisbane and some other young guys coming up. If we can get them on board for the next World Cup hopefully we will have a strong team."