Permanent end-of- year International tournament.

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

There hasn't been a single statement about what IMG's strategy is or might be.

Man of Kent had one comment from a journo and Gledhill spewed some stuff on Twitter.

Beyond that, as far as I'm aware, it is all complete guesswork.

The only person who ever uses the phrase 'beg Australia' is Shropshire Bull himself. 

Everyone else just calls it playing against Australia. 

[Scubby]

56 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Steve Mascord has said England are to play in the Southern Hemisphere next year. 

If that's the case it would mean no home tests in the year after the World Cup for the second time. Do we learn anything ever?

700,000 people through the gates in 6 weeks. No follow up opportunities for 2 years.

[StandOffHalf]

2 hours ago, Jughead said:

Steve Mascord has said England are to play in the Southern Hemisphere next year. 

If that's true, it shows a staggering lack of a building-block approach post-WC.

[Jughead]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

If that's the case it would mean no home tests in the year after the World Cup for the second time. Do we learn anything ever?

700,000 people through the gates in 6 weeks. No follow up opportunities for 2 years.

 

13 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

If that's true, it shows a staggering lack of a building-block approach post-WC.

We can but hope that it’s like the old Tri-Nations where Australia would play New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere before coming up here. I know it’s clutching at straws but surely IMG would step in over something as basic as this?

[StandOffHalf]

13 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Also Australia still owe us a tour so we are going to a country that told us to get bent,  at a awful time for tv viewers and no money from the gates.  

Three noes from me.  Give us Tonga or PNG for Three games.  

Absolutely. They can hop on a plane and come up here if they really care. 

[Adelaide Tiger]

11 hours ago, Dave T said:

What is sad is that when we moved to Four Nations, it didn't necessarily have the 4th team being competitive - but surely now we genuinely could have 6 or even 8 teams that we talked about previously.

Aus, NZ, Eng, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, France, Fiji - I can;t see how that couldn't be an entertaining competitive comp.

It is really frustrating that after many, many years of having 4 or 5 teams that were of relatively equal international standard we now have the 8 above that you mentioned.

IMHO in 2023 - to capitalise on the WC - you could have an end of season tournament consisting of two groups of four (the top four ranked sides in one group and the other four in a second group).  

Have a 4N format for each group and have promotion and relegation between the groups.

This format would give you one group playing in the NH and one group in the SH.

So you could have an international calendar of:

Year 1 - WC, Year 2 - the above, Year 3 - no comp to give players a break which the Aussie clubs would push for.  Year 4 - the above.  Then repeat.

 

[jim_57]

France should be in the discussion for every major tournament between now and 2025 as well even if they’re not to the standard of the Pacific Islands.

Assuming it will be somewhat ad-hoc with the irregular break between world cups and no concrete plans it shouldn’t be too hard to get them in to some tournaments/tours next 2 years.

 

[UTK]

3 hours ago, jim_57 said:

France should be in the discussion for every major tournament between now and 2025 as well even if they’re not to the standard of the Pacific Islands.

Assuming it will be somewhat ad-hoc with the irregular break between world cups and no concrete plans it shouldn’t be too hard to get them in to some tournaments/tours next 2 years.

 

That's a very good point, I'd even go as far as saying France should be priority number 1 when considering International fixtures in the next cycle. Provide them consistent games against quality opposition to allow them to build a squad that is familiar with each other and the standard required to make a dent in the WC. Also allows the French to host some bigger matches to bring awareness of 2025 to the general population.

[RP London]

1 minute ago, UTK said:

That's a very good point, I'd even go as far as saying France should be priority number 1 when considering International fixtures in the next cycle. Provide them consistent games against quality opposition to allow them to build a squad that is familiar with each other and the standard required to make a dent in the WC. Also allows the French to host some bigger matches to bring awareness of 2025 to the general population.

yes... and the easiest solution is to have England v France in the mid season... the England side that played against the Combined Nations is not going to hump the French.. play one game in France and one in England,, 2 good games for an England side lacking their NRL players, a good run out for the French, exposure for sponsors etc etc. 

Could even put a Wales side in too but it will get humped most likely, dont have a massive issue with that but I know it could be problematic and there may be better games for them to play if we can get them arranged. 

Wont happen I know but not really rocket science.. 

[UTK]

4 minutes ago, RP London said:

yes... and the easiest solution is to have England v France in the mid season... the England side that played against the Combined Nations is not going to hump the French.. play one game in France and one in England,, 2 good games for an England side lacking their NRL players, a good run out for the French, exposure for sponsors etc etc. 

Could even put a Wales side in too but it will get humped most likely, dont have a massive issue with that but I know it could be problematic and there may be better games for them to play if we can get them arranged. 

Wont happen I know but not really rocket science.. 

Yep can't disagree with any of that, would've been very interesting to see France v that England side last weekend IMO. Aside from the opening 20 minutes the 2021 France/England clash was very tight and you could argue France were the better side for most of the game. Add the fact that the TO players in the squad are now gaining their first experience at SL level plus some of the younger Catalans players have seen more first-team time this year and the gap has probably narrowed even further since that match. 

The Wales one is obviously a bit different in terms of competitiveness but I'd wager there's some gains to be made in the talent available to them is they have consistent and respected fixtures against England/France, for example does Regan Grace/Caleb Aekins etc. play on the weekend if that game was against England instead. Now ideally that wouldn't matter and guys would be turning out at every opportunity but the reality is the France/Wales game and the European Championships are not elevated to the level they deserve by the Rugby League community (Broadcasters/Media/SL itself).

As you alluded to I won't be putting any money on any of it happening though.

[jim_57]

On 23/06/2022 at 16:46, UTK said:

That's a very good point, I'd even go as far as saying France should be priority number 1 when considering International fixtures in the next cycle. Provide them consistent games against quality opposition to allow them to build a squad that is familiar with each other and the standard required to make a dent in the WC. Also allows the French to host some bigger matches to bring awareness of 2025 to the general population.

Definitely, not much more that can be done this year aside from a warm up game in France before the World Cup, Tonga or PNG would make sense for that.

Any major tournament or tour in the next 2 years France should be involved. A minimum test per year Vs England would be a good start but certainly needs more.
 

In an ideal world 2-3 of Australia, NZ, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji or PNG could do a UK/France tournament or tour in 23 or 24. England & France can tour the Southern Hemisphere playing those sides the other year.