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2021 World Cup expanded to 16 nations

jannerboyuk

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Toby Chopra

Toby Chopra

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Remember when Sri Lanka were terrible at cricket? They got better by playing the top sides, not avoiding them.

Remember when Sri Lanka were terrible at cricket? They got better by playing the top sides, not avoiding them.

Partly. But mostly by improving their domestic coaching infrastructure, and then having their best players spend time in England, India, Oz etc. Good national teams come from having a good core of players. Finding a way to channel developing talent into better environments, or improving the ones at home. The odd extra international fixture is just the icing on the cake

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Northern Eel

Northern Eel

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Partly. But mostly by improving their domestic coaching infrastructure, and then having their best players spend time in England, India, Oz etc. Good national teams come from having a good core of players. Finding a way to channel developing talent into better environments, or improving the ones at home. The odd extra international fixture is just the icing on the cake

Fair point, but it works both ways. Getting players in the spotlight can often lead to their big break when otherwise their performances drop under the radar.

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roughyedspud

roughyedspud

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With scotland being in the 4nations this year i think we'll see increased investment from sport scotland & RLEF/RLIF which will enable the SRL to run a proper 6-8 team domestic league and junior programs..

Thats what i hope anyway...wales got a boost from their government sports body after they played in the 4nations in 2011..their sport wales funded performance centre opened a year/18month after.

OLDHAM RLFC

the 8TH most successful team in british RL

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Yakstorm

Yakstorm

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Here's hoping. Scotland was fairing a lot better before the RFL pulled out funding halfway through the 2013 RLWC.

It meant instead of capitalising on some of the interest generated from a positive Bravehearts performance at the tournament (and there was some - just nothing massive), the SRL was instead handing out redundancies.

Whilst I get why the RFL didn't want to fund the other home nations anymore and wanted to direct these funds to areas they look after the manner it was done undid so much work that had been completed in the region.

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Wellsy4HullFC

Wellsy4HullFC

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So do I.

Do you not get better at something if you test yourself and set the bar of expectation high?

If you test yourself at a reasonably high expectation, yes.

Having developing nations playing against the top 3 will not help them at all. The gap is too wide. They will learn nothing and it will disengage the players and audience.

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John Rhino

John Rhino

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Whilst I get why the RFL didn't want to fund the other home nations anymore and wanted to direct these funds to areas they look after the manner it was done undid so much work that had been completed in the region.

Agree, but is this the full story? Did Sport England object to their money being spent there? Did Scotland want to go on their own?

I know a lot of people like to bag the RFL but because they are relatively poor they are often subject to forces outside their control. I know for a fact they were very proud of the progress made in Glasgow.

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bowes

bowes

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Agree, but is this the full story? Did Sport England object to their money being spent there? Did Scotland want to go on their own?

I know a lot of people like to bag the RFL but because they are relatively poor they are often subject to forces outside their control. I know for a fact they were very proud of the progress made in Glasgow.

The RFL scrapped the vast majority of the staff working outside the heartlands in England as well

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Yakstorm

Yakstorm

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Ny understanding is that the RFL wasn't using Sports England money outside of England.

That said, understandably once the SE funds were significantly reduced the RFL suddenly had to find funds for a number of development officers and other officials who previously had been funded.

As I said I get why the RFL did it, I felt that they could have taken steps to reduce the pain. A phased staff reduction / hand over approach may have given the SRL an opportunity to keep some programs going.

Instead the SRL staff were sent a letter in October/November telling them that they were no longer employees of the RFL, whilst the SRL were told that they were now being funded by the RLIF but wouldn't find out their grant amount until December, thus ensuring their best staff had well moved on.

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TheReaper

TheReaper

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I think four even groups of 4 would be best. Too much engineering of who's in what pool makes it look like a joke. if you have the top two from each qualify then you have your quarters, then semi's and a final. By the time you're down to number 8 there's room for upsets.

 

I don't care where the extra spots go as long as Canada qualifies.

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Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann

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I don't have an opinion on the pool structure issue.

 

But on the relevant teams I would think the following countries would be good participants because they will have professional or semi-professional clubs playing in Australia/NZ, or in England and France, or else will have a strong domestic amateur competition:

 

Australia

New Zealand

England

France

Wales

PNG

Fiji

USA

Lebanon

 

France, Wales, PNG and Fiji would likely compete for the remaining semi-final spot after the big three of Australia, New Zealand and England qualify.

 

 

Then there are four nations that have will considerable numbers of heritage players in the NRL or SL:

 

Samoa

Tonga

Ireland

Scotland

 

Samoa and Tonga would also compete for the fourth semi-final spot.

 

 

That leaves 3 spots available for competitors from:

 

Canada

Jamaica

Cook Islands

South Africa

Serbia

Czech Republic

Ukraine

Russia

 

I would hope to see Canada, Serbia, and Cook Islands to qualify from this group (tiny Cook Islands would be a heritage based team).

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Wellsy4HullFC

Wellsy4HullFC

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I don't have an opinion on the pool structure issue.

But on the relevant teams I would think the following countries would be good participants because they will have professional or semi-professional clubs playing in Australia/NZ, or in England and France, or else will have a strong domestic amateur competition:

Australia

New Zealand

England

France

Wales

PNG

Fiji

USA

Lebanon

France, Wales, PNG and Fiji would likely compete for the remaining semi-final spot after the big three of Australia, New Zealand and England qualify.

Then there are four nations that have will considerable numbers of heritage players in the NRL or SL:

Samoa

Tonga

Ireland

Scotland

Samoa and Tonga would also compete for the fourth semi-final spot.

That leaves 3 spots available for competitors from:

Canada

Jamaica

Cook Islands

South Africa

Serbia

Czech Republic

Ukraine

Russia

I would hope to see Canada, Serbia, and Cook Islands to qualify from this group (tiny Cook Islands would be a heritage based team).

No Italy?
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Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann

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Why do people think Wales and France are better than the PI nations?

 

It depends which PI nations you are referring to.

 

PNG is very important because it has a pro club (Hunters) plus a nation of participants at an amateur level. Fiji will soon have a pro-club, plus already has many outstanding native born or heritage players in the NRL.

 

France has a pro club (Catalans), and lots of semi-pro clubs (Toulouse and the Elite clubs). Wales has a semi-pro club.

 

Tonga and Samoa have nothing domestically. They are purely "heritage player" nations. That is why France and Wales should be given more respect than those nations, no matter how well the Tonga and Samoa heritage players perform.

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bowes

bowes

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It depends which PI nations you are referring to.

 

PNG is very important because it has a pro club (Hunters) plus a nation of participants at an amateur level. Fiji will soon have a pro-club, plus already has many outstanding native born or heritage players in the NRL.

 

France has a pro club (Catalans), and lots of semi-pro clubs (Toulouse and the Elite clubs). Wales has a semi-pro club.

 

Tonga and Samoa have nothing domestically. They are purely "heritage player" nations. That is why France and Wales should be given more respect than those nations, no matter how well the Tonga and Samoa heritage players perform.

Tonga and Samoa have domestic leagues. In fact Tonga has about twice as many clubs as Wales

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damp squib

damp squib

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I don't see the relevance of the strength of the Welsh and French domestic scenes to my comment that both would struggle to beat the majority of PI nations.

I don't think anyone suggested otherwise. The point was that they should be prioritised due to their domestic strength over heritage teams. I was not aware that Tonga and Samoa had domestic teams.

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