Aussies & Kiwis not coming in 2023...

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, corkonian77 said:

A 50 or 60 nil hammering  is not good tv.

 

England haven’t nilled France, by my very quick search, since 1946 and the last two games have seen winning margins of twenty-four and twenty points. 

England beating Samoa by fifty odd was fine for TV and the 43,000 in attendance.

England v France and England v PNG over 4/5 games would be fine for 2023. They’ve missed the boat for announcing it and piggybacking on the momentum generated by this tournament but that’s slightly unrelated. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Jughead said:

England haven’t nilled France, by my very quick search, since 1946 and the last two games have seen winning margins of twenty-four and twenty points. 

England beating Samoa by fifty odd was fine for TV and the 43,000 in attendance.

England v France and England v PNG over 4/5 games would be fine for 2023. They’ve missed the boat for announcing it and piggybacking on the momentum generated by this tournament but that’s slightly unrelated. 

Play England in France when it is hot and in front of a hostile crowd - say Bastille day.

As England will probably not have NRL players, that would be most use. A competitive game under some pressure on and off the field.

Playing at LSV in front of 6k would be pointless.

[Sports Prophet]

With a French WC in 25, I reckon you’ll be lucky to see either in 24 as well. 

At which point, if England want to play Aus or NZ on home soil, they may well be waiting until 26 or even 27.

For all the international fantasists on this forum, how many valuable options does England present for a touring squad?

SFA!

Time to get your backyard in order.

[crashmon]

If they play the France game in England it HAS to be outside of the heartlands.

Newcastle or London, but not in M62 corridor.

[Sports Prophet]

53 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

Would people in England attend a home series vs PNG? 

About 2k at LSV would be a success

[Jughead]

Just now, Leonard said:

Play England in France when it is hot and in front of a hostile crowd - say Bastille day.

As England will probably not have NRL players, that would be most use. A competitive game under some pressure on and off the field.

Playing at LSV in front of 6k would be pointless.

Or just play France. Alternate it, make it a big thing, introduce a trophy, if there isn’t one. The obsession by some on here with Bastille Day is an odd one. We were told by many on here that public holidays scuppered a big crowd for the Catalans v Toulouse game so I’m not sure why that would change if it were England v France. 

 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Jughead said:

Or just play France. Alternate it, make it a big thing, introduce a trophy, if there isn’t one. The obsession by some on here with Bastille Day is an odd one. We were told by many on here that public holidays scuppered a big crowd for the Catalans v Toulouse game so I’m not sure why that would change if it were England v France. 

 

Play it whenever - but give the French the best possible chance to win. England need pressure games if possible.

Otherwise I would rather just have a trial game vs England Knights.

No need to waste money and would be a better standard.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

1 hour ago, ShropshireBull said:

They could tbh but probably wouldn’t pay for it and without cash then we need gate receipts 

I doubt a 3 match Samoa series would make a profit. And Australia and NZ don't exist to subsidise our game, they've only just been up here this year. If there's a tournament opportunity down under we should take it... our players need the competition for their development, it would be good profile on free-to-air, and frankly touring is a great life experience for players whose lives are mostly otherwise stuck in northern England - its one reason we sometimes lose talent to Union, so it aids retention as well. 

[17 stone giant]

1 hour ago, welshmagpie said:

So a Pacific Cup in 2023 involving 4 rounds (Grant states 4 games at year end). I’ve seen 4 games in 5 weeks mentioned somewhere which would factor in a bye weekend. 

Likely to go with 2 groups of 3 with a final?

Group A: Australia, Samoa, Fiji

Group B: NZ, Tonga, Cook Islands

That would leave PNG spare to tour the northern hemisphere? 3 games against England?

Could you not add England and France to those groups?

[The Future is League]

1 hour ago, MatthewWoody said:

Against England, it'd be a massacre.

They wouldn't be playing England. It would be a 2nd tier comp. and qualifying for the 2025 world cup.

[The Future is League]

58 minutes ago, crashmon said:

If they play the France game in England it HAS to be outside of the heartlands.

Newcastle or London, but not in M62 corridor.

Play it in France

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

Play it in France

Quite - England need to be put under pressure. Not playing against tackle bags with a pulse.

Which is why playing Wales would be equally pointless.

Maybe for a WC the French would be up for it - but they have shown they simply wilt when playing in the UK. If they play better in France, then that is what we need.

When we last played there, they played really well in the 2d half - albeit they started poorly - and we were under some pressure for a while and did not cope well. 

[JM2010]

1 hour ago, 17 stone giant said:

Could you not add England and France to those groups?

It would probably be England and Lebanon based on WC finishing places.

Have the Euros, MEA and Americas underneath with potential play off qualification to the 8 team competition for the winners 

[Spidey]

England, France, Lebanon, PNG 4 Nations then?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Spidey said:

England, France, Lebanon, PNG 4 Nations then?

Play them all in France as a WC warm up.

[headtackle]

7 hours ago, MatthewWoody said:

Would people in England attend a home series vs PNG? 

As a die hard I would probably go along

With all respect to PNG they are not a massive draw. 
 

The recent one sided quarter final will not have helped in that regard either 

[Jughead]

8 minutes ago, headtackle said:

As a die hard I would probably go along

With all respect to PNG they are not a massive draw. 
 

The recent one sided quarter final will not have helped in that regard either 

A draw to who? Me and you? Perhaps not (though their rarity in terms of coming here might mean they are a draw) but we’ve just had millions of eyes watching England games over the past five or six Saturday afternoons and 100,000+ watching in non-heartland areas in Newcastle, Sheffield and London. We’re simply not giving them the option of deciding that for themselves by not having fixtures arranged. 

[MatthewWoody]

16 minutes ago, headtackle said:

As a die hard I would probably go along

With all respect to PNG they are not a massive draw. 
 

The recent one sided quarter final will not have helped in that regard either 

Let's hope! 

[Odsal Outlaw]

I was speaking to a sponsor about whether they would be involved next year.  Their response was that although they’ve had amazing coverage through the WC they are unlikely to be involved next year as it’s not clear what the events will be and that they’d been told it could also be that if they do play then England will be in the Southern Hemisphere. Classic example of us failing to build on momentum.

[Live after death]

It eas so obvious this would happen  after England failed to make the final despite having not to play the big 2. The NRL centric southern hemisphere just now see us as easy beats and not worth playing. Doubt we will see a full Kangaroo/ashes series  for a long time if not ever.

[Gomersall]

19 minutes ago, Live after death said:

It eas so obvious this would happen  after England failed to make the final despite having not to play the big 2. The NRL centric southern hemisphere just now see us as easy beats and not worth playing. Doubt we will see a full Kangaroo/ashes series  for a long time if not ever.

You really believe the Aussies won’t ever come here for a series?

[The One]

England need to get involved in whatever gets arranged over there.

[GeordieSaint]

27 minutes ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

I was speaking to a sponsor about whether they would be involved next year.  Their response was that although they’ve had amazing coverage through the WC they are unlikely to be involved next year as it’s not clear what the events will be and that they’d been told it could also be that if they do play then England will be in the Southern Hemisphere. Classic example of us failing to build on momentum.

The obvious, developmental and broad approach would be a window in the middle of next season - four team competition - but across the men’s, women’s, wheelchair, and PDRL formats. I’d also add a youth format into the mix as well. Build some momentum across all formats whilst putting some foundations in place for the game’s long term future.

[UTK]

12 hours ago, Damien said:

If Australia and NZ are committed to some sort of a Pacific Cup then there is no way that Tonga and Samoa won't also be part of that. I think PNG are most likely to get shafted, as in not invited, and will instead get the option to tour England.

Don't think PNG are going to get shafted here, only a couple of months ago the NRL and the Australian Governments Pacific Sports Program partnered to get an additional $2.5 million AUD investment into elite RL in PNG. 

The Prime Minister himself publicly backed the 18th NRL team to be PNG, spoke of wanting to ensure the return of international matches to PNG after the PMXIII game was held in Australia this year and even provided a security guarantee to ensure the Hunters final match went ahead after another QCup team refused to travel to Port Moresby. There's far too much investment and political capital involved to snub PNG from playing in the top regional competition, even if they're only in the second tier like the 2019 iteration.

Lebanon is probably the odd team out of all the SH Nations when contemplating a Pacific Cup, after the strong performances in their group I wouldn't be surprised if they're the team with the touring option. Especially as the MEA Cup isn't a long competition and they're already qualified for 2025 anyway.

[Sports Prophet]

4 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

 

I am much more interested in building the market here. Australia still owe us a tour and if they aren´t prepared to come here unless tv is paying for us to go there we should be doing nothing to help them in the NRL. 

I don’t think the NRL are asking for help from anybody are they?

Australia owes England nothing and vice versa.