Exiles to return?

[Hela Wigmen]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

No we don't. I have never seen us beat Australia in a test series or final or indeed in a match that really matters. I have seen us absolutely walloped on various occasions. You cant expect us to treat France in a certain way and not be surprised if some in Australia have the same view of us. Yes we are no France but we aren't in any position to get on our high horse either.

100% agree with absolutely every word of this. We have the problem. Not Australia. Us. We think we’re something we’re clearly not. 

[AB90]

24 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

100% agree with absolutely every word of this. We have the problem. Not Australia. Us. We think we’re something we’re clearly not. 

We do tend to forget that we haven't beaten the Aussies in a rugby league match in almost 15 years (2006 tri nations in Sydney was our last victory - funny thing is, during that tournament we lost to NZ twice and Aus once resulting in us coming dead last lol).

 

[Tre Cool]

1 hour ago, Hela Wigmen said:

100% agree with absolutely every word of this. We have the problem. Not Australia. Us. We think we’re something we’re clearly not. 

You seriously think France are tier 1 test nation? Get a grip.

[Hela Wigmen]

2 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

You seriously think France are tier 1 test nation? Get a grip.

Find where I said that France are a tier one nation. Hint, I didn’t. 

[Tre Cool]

Just now, Hela Wigmen said:

Find where I said that France are a tier one nation. Hint, I didn’t. 

But you think Australia don't treat us as a 2nd class team, but you think we are a 2nd class team which is why they treat us like one and you think France don't underperform and deserve to be treated as a top nation by us despite them being absolutely spanked every time they play us? Got it. Thanks.

[Hela Wigmen]

9 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

But you think Australia don't treat us as a 2nd class team, but you think we are a 2nd class team which is why they treat us like one and you think France don't underperform and deserve to be treated as a top nation by us despite them being absolutely spanked every time they play us? Got it. Thanks.

Where did I say we were a second class team? Again, I didn’t. We’ve lost 5-6 games consecutively, that was in response to you banging on about a World Cup Final three years ago. We’re a long way third in terms of the Tier One nations. We don’t beat Australia or NZ regularly enough in tournaments to consider ourselves as anything other than 3rd best. We have a chip on our shoulder and believe we’re far better than we actually are.

France don’t underperform given the circumstances. Considering they only get to play Tier One nations at World Cups every four years, back-to-back Quarter Finals and being the current holders of the European Cup is about where you can expect them to be. 

[Tre Cool]

23 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Where did I say we were a second class team? Again, I didn’t. We’ve lost 5-6 games consecutively, that was in response to you banging on about a World Cup Final three years ago. We’re a long way third in terms of the Tier One nations. We don’t beat Australia or NZ regularly enough in tournaments to consider ourselves as anything other than 3rd best. We have a chip on our shoulder and believe we’re far better than we actually are.

France don’t underperform given the circumstances. Considering they only get to play Tier One nations at World Cups every four years, back-to-back Quarter Finals and being the current holders of the European Cup is about where you can expect them to be. 

France lost all 3 group games at the last world cup mate. England got to the final and lost by 6 points to the best team in the world.  

[Hela Wigmen]

1 minute ago, Tre Cool said:

France lost all 3 group games at the last world cup mate. England got to the final and lost by 6 points to the best team in the world.  

You’re really misunderstanding this aren’t you? France are where you’d expect them to be, all things considered (poorly ran, players unavailability and so few games against Tier One nations). England/GB have regressed since 2017 (this isn’t debatable by the way, it’s factual), which has seen them lose the past five games consecutively, which ended in the removal of the head coach. England remain a Tier One nation, however, IMO, have an attitude problem and believe themselves to be better than they are and some fans blame Australia, which is weird. 

[Tre Cool]

1 minute ago, Hela Wigmen said:

You’re really misunderstanding this aren’t you? France are where you’d expect them to be, all things considered (poorly ran, players unavailability and so few games against Tier One nations). England/GB have regressed since 2017 (this isn’t debatable by the way, it’s factual), which has seen them lose the past five games consecutively, which ended in the removal of the head coach. England remain a Tier One nation, however, IMO, have an attitude problem and believe themselves to be better than they are and some fans blame Australia, which is weird. 

So you do think England are a 2nd class nation but you don't think Australia treat us like one?  Seems odd.

You do think we treat France unfairly but you also do think they are not very good?

I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make.

[Hela Wigmen]

Just now, Tre Cool said:

So you do think England are a 2nd class nation but you don't think Australia treat us like one?  Seems odd.

You do think we treat France unfairly but you also do think they are not very good?

I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make.

Find where I said these words “England are a second class nation”. Go...

Australia treat us no differently to anyone else. We, in fact, treat the rest of the Northern Hemisphere nations the way Australia are alleged to treat us.

France are about where they can be expected to be. France aren’t great, I never said they were great but I don’t think the way to make them better is for up to 47% of their matchday squad to made up of invitees from other nations, which was your crazy idea. 

[Tre Cool]

30 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Find where I said these words “England are a second class nation”. Go...

Australia treat us no differently to anyone else. We, in fact, treat the rest of the Northern Hemisphere nations the way Australia are alleged to treat us.

France are about where they can be expected to be. France aren’t great, I never said they were great but I don’t think the way to make them better is for up to 47% of their matchday squad to made up of invitees from other nations, which was your crazy idea. 

It would be 42% of their matchday squad. 

My idea helps France. 

A game against the Exiles doesn't. 

Playing just France helps nobody.

[Hela Wigmen]

6 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

It would be 42% of their matchday squad. 

My idea helps France. 

A game against the Exiles doesn't. 

Playing just France helps nobody.

8 of 17 (because, y’know that’s how many actually play) is 47%. 

It doesn’t. In terms of the arrogant English fans, it helps them because they get to see a slightly closer game but it doesn’t help France at tournaments (or to challenge the top tier two nations in Oceania) as players will not be familiar and others won’t have played tier one nations before. You also need to find some clubs that will release players to play as guests for the French. Good luck with that. 

I agree, the Exiles is a waste of time. England need a mid-season international against a proper nation, not a squad made up of players who can’t really be bothered.

Playing France helps France. More so when it’s played in France. They get a regular game against a tier one side, they may actually get their best possible side on the field too. Playing France helps England. We don’t play enough anyway, so firstly, we get a game for the fans to attend, we get a game to offer to broadcasters and we get a game to get sponsorship for. We also get a chance to try some different things on the field and get players more accustomed to playing with each other. 

[Tre Cool]

Just now, Hela Wigmen said:

8 of 17 (because, y’know that’s how many actually play) is 47%. 

It doesn’t. In terms of the arrogant English fans, it helps them because they get to see a slightly closer game but it doesn’t help France at tournaments (or to challenge the top tier two nations in Oceania) as players will not be familiar and others won’t have played tier one nations before. You also need to find some clubs that will release players to play as guests for the French. Good luck with that. 

I agree, the Exiles is a waste of time. England need a mid-season international against a proper nation, not a squad made up of players who can’t really be bothered.

Playing France helps France. More so when it’s played in France. They get a regular game against a tier one side, they may actually get their best possible side on the field too. Playing France helps England. We don’t play enough anyway, so firstly, we get a game for the fans to attend, we get a game to offer to broadcasters and we get a game to get sponsorship for. We also get a chance to try some different things on the field and get players more accustomed to playing with each other. 

You said matchday squad which is 19. And frankly if it's 6 players that still works for me.

England can't keep spanking France by 50 points every year.  It's nothing more than a training exercise for us and is demoralising for them.  

At the moment it's too hard for England to arrange regular mid season tests against Oz, Tonga, NZ for lots of reasons even blaming nobody.

There's no easy answer, but at least guaranteeing French players are in this Exiles match somehow would give them some elite game time without the inevitable whooping.

[Hela Wigmen]

7 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

 

At the moment it's too hard for England to arrange regular mid season tests against Oz, Tonga, NZ for lots of reasons even blaming nobody.

We should play France mid-season then. They’re the best NH nation aside from England and it gets England a game, regardless of the score. If the options are no game (which we’ve done for the past few years), the Exiles (been done and no one liked it) or playing a Northern Hemisphere nation then playing a Northern Hemisphere nation wins every time and that nation, IMO, should be France, the next best nation to England. 

At the end of the season though, maybe Australia or New Zealand will play England+ though, seeing as we rarely beat either. 

[Damien]

Here's a wild idea. Instead of castigating France because they aren't as good how about we do all that we can to make them better so that we do have regular competitive competition. Things like actually playing them, playing them at times when they can call on all of their best players (Tuesday nights in Leigh aren't ideal for this), playing them in France and getting Toulouse in Super League to increase the pool of French players to pick from and break the Catalans stranglehold on the national team. 

Or we can take the easy option and do a fudge like playing an Exiles team no one cares about and say pretty please to Southern hemisphere teams who now aren't really that interested because they have more appealing options on their doorstep. Then wonder why we have no one to play.

[Tre Cool]

24 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

We should play France mid-season then. They’re the best NH nation aside from England and it gets England a game, regardless of the score. If the options are no game (which we’ve done for the past few years), the Exiles (been done and no one liked it) or playing a Northern Hemisphere nation then playing a Northern Hemisphere nation wins every time and that nation, IMO, should be France, the next best nation to England. 

At the end of the season though, maybe Australia or New Zealand will play England+ though, seeing as we rarely beat either. 

Do you actually watch the game or just talk nonsense on here for fun?

Since 2015 we're 5-3 up in games against NZ so we clearly beat them pretty regularly - not rarely.

Our aggregate score against France in the same period is 204 - 20 with 4 straight wins.