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Which RLEF nations could put together a suitable national team made up of domestic players only to compete in the early rounds of the Challenge Cup?

At a guess, I would have thought Serbia, Lebanon, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Canada, USA, Jamaica and potentially Norway and Belgium. Scotland and Ireland?

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Without going all cross code, I think getting rep sides to compete in the Challenge Cup is a really good idea. It hasn't been just club sides in the Union European competitions and it hasn't affected their credibility in any way.

Emerging nations have got no chance of playing internationals against the major countries, but the development of the players could certainly be enhanced by giving them the opportunity to experience the lower rungs of professional competition.

Eventually a home-grown rep side will beat British or French opposition, even if it's initially just amateur teams in round one.

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Competing in the Challenge Cup might not be the bonus you assume.  It would involve players travelling and staying a long way from home, with one development team getting a game rather than two.

 

It would be interesting for fans of expansion, but might not be good for the club.

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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they are big boys Bob, but they can take mummy with them if they need to.

Ukr v Cze last week is my case in point.

No matter how much coaching you receive in the early days of your Rugby League career (which is where most of these guys are), you learn by doing and being done.

Ukraine played far too deep in attack but won't learn that fact until they come up against a team that pushes up in defence. Meanwhile, the Czechs will be considering where they lost the game and likely look to copy the behaviours of their opponents.

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Umm, the better team won is usually explanation enough. If your real concern is what I think it is, just a little imagination can go a long way here Midland.

How about the team they enter is a club side....

Like Serbia Lynx, Russian Bears, USA Eagles, Lebanon Cedars etc. There you go, solved. A club side selected from the best domestic players.

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This has already been tried in other sports.

 

Like Cookiepuss mentioned, Union has done this in European competitions with the Bucharest Wolves (Romanian domestic league all-star team), and a Georgian league selection competed last year.

 

The 50-over knockout cup in cricket used to feature Scotland, Ireland and Holland playing the county sides.

 

In handball, Austria and Hungary have had their Under-21 teams in the league playoffs. In Latvia, their Under-16s played a full domestic season (admittedly finishing last).

 

Anyway, don't the Forces sides and British Police already count as rep teams in the Challenge Cup? So It's not exactly a wild idea for European squads to enter.

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