Let's develop the England Women and PNG Orchids rivalry

[flyingking]

It was an amazing display by the Orchids today, who incredibly only played their first match two years ago! England women have now played the Orchids three times in the last two years and all games have been competitive

World Cup 2017 England 36 PNG 8,               1st Test 2019 PNG 10 England 24       2nd Test PNG 20 England 16

This is the basis of a genuine international rivalry, it would be brilliant if we could develop it further. My preference would be to play a double header before one of the Ashes tests, perhaps the one at Elland Road for say the Daihatsu Shield. I choose Daihatsu (but it could be others) because there is a natural fit between the toughness of the vehicles and how hard the Orchids hit, with the sponsor covering the cost of bringing PNG over. This game would also have the advantage of convincing fans that it would be worthwhile to buy tickets for the Women's World Cup, which otherwise is going to be a tough sell. Even better, have a warm up double header at York, the week before featuring England, PNG, France and Canada which can act as a test event for the 2021 World Cup.

[Moove]

Do the England women's team already have fixtures lined up next year? Would be great to have the PNG team over or maybe even the Jillaroos for an ashes test series of their own.

Would be good to build demand for the women's game in its own right ahead of the world cup though. We do tend to rely on double headers a lot but I think we'd be capable of getting decent crowds at the likes of Cas, Wire/Saints, Leeds etc without a main event to follow. A warm up double header somewhere like York does sound good though.

[DC77]

Rugby league needs to be promoting the women’s game to the heavens. Having watched all forms of women’s sport over the past year, with the sole exception of tennis (which has been developed over a century) women’s rugby league for me has been the most impressive spectacle. You are not meant to compare the men’s with women’s, but it’s very hard not to given the profile of men’s sport. The only major gulf between women’s and men’s RL is the physicality, and in the case of the women’s game this is a positive. There’s little or no wrestling, and play flows more. RL also has an advantage in being predominantly a handling game, as opposed to kicking, as everyone has basic handling abilities. The women’s football has a long way to go to be up to the standard of other developed women’s sports (most notably tennis) with passing often breaking down after three/four kicks, wayward/lack of power generated in shots being an issue, and as for the goalkeeping....first thing that should be done is lower the crossbar as it’s ridiculous having the goal the same size as men’s with male players being over half a foot taller. Women’s rugby league doesn’t have such issues. 

It’s great that all forms of women’s sport are now being given their long overdue platform, but the sport of rugby league to me is the one that could benefit most of all of them.