Aussies & Kiwis not coming in 2023...

[graveyard johnny]

at one point I was worried I would never see us beat Aus again in my lifetime - now I'm starting to worry I will never see us play them again at all! - after all the covid problems etc we have had them on our shores for 6 weeks and not even a sniff of matching up against them - utterly disappointed by how this has all turned out after such excitement - load of rubbish 

[yipyee]

On 14/11/2022 at 09:10, 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.

Quite probably and I would refuse to play as they are no better than France and it would be sold as  B grade Internationals

[MatthewWoody]

Who's not better than France? 

[17 stone giant]

6 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

Who's not better than France? 

Let us raise our voices and proclaim, Papua New Guinea

[Tosh]

18 hours ago, mrfranco said:

Don't worry, there's a 10-year plan being released very soon...

Another one???

Theres a 10 year plan announced every 12 months!!!

[RP London]

11 hours ago, yipyee said:

Quite probably and I would refuse to play as they are no better than France and it would be sold as  B grade Internationals

one way to find out... England, France & PNG tri series.. I think you'd find the general sports fan would get behind playing a team that beat GB 4 years ago, has the game as their national sport and is quite an interesting place in general. Then we are also playing France the near neighbours.. I think you could get some good mileage out of it in the general sporting world, which is where we really need to appeal. Play the games in the right places so that people with your view arent the ones we are depending on. 

[yipyee]

6 minutes ago, RP London said:

one way to find out... England, France & PNG tri series.. I think you'd find the general sports fan would get behind playing a team that beat GB 4 years ago, has the game as their national sport and is quite an interesting place in general. Then we are also playing France the near neighbours.. I think you could get some good mileage out of it in the general sporting world, which is where we really need to appeal. Play the games in the right places so that people with your view arent the ones we are depending on. 

Or it would be seen as a B grade tournament.

GB is a joke and England destroyed PNG.

We would walk all over them, it is pointless unless we play them as part of a SH tour similar to union autumn nations series

[RP London]

6 minutes ago, yipyee said:

Or it would be seen as a B grade tournament.

GB is a joke and England destroyed PNG.

We would walk all over them, it is pointless unless we play them as part of a SH tour similar to union autumn nations series

The "look" of the tournament is totally in our hands, and we need to stop aiming tournaments at people like you (with all due respect) who will see it as this. There are great stories to be told that can be sold to other people who can be newer to the sport. As long as we have some tradition in there for the traditionalists we will get enough to 1 or 2 matches and bring some newbies in too. I got people to go to the Greece match because of the story of Greece and the fact its a world cup.. people want to see matches. 

I'm not entirely sure we did walk all over them. We had a fast start and then they came back into it when they got some possession. If we hadn't been fortunate with some calls and some poor early on defence it would have been closer. 

Also, and this is a key here.. beggars cant be choosers, if that's all we are left with then I think you can make it work quite nicely. 

[MatthewWoody]

England destroyed PNG, but this doesn't mean they'd always destroy them. They had destroyed Samoa, too. And then...

PNG are a very good side, they almost beat Tonga in the group.

[MatthewWoody]

PNG, by the way, are better than France.

[Damien]

12 hours ago, yipyee said:

Quite probably and I would refuse to play as they are no better than France and it would be sold as  B grade Internationals

I disagree, PNG are considerably better than France.

France can be played mid-season, southern hemisphere teams can't. PNG offer a competitive team that never tour here and frankly something different. There is no reason they can't appeal to fans.

Its either that or do nothing, I know which I'd prefer.

[gingerjon]

7 minutes ago, Damien said:

I disagree, PNG are considerably better than France.

France can be played mid-season, southern hemisphere teams can't. PNG offer a competitive team that never tour here and frankly something different. There is no reason they can't appeal to fans.

Its either that or do nothing, I know which I'd prefer.

A PNG 'tour' that saw them play Cumbria (as an opener), Wales, England and France (whether in a tournament or not) would be worth it for them and us.

England - men and women (and wheelchair and PDRL) - need to be playing. We can't be too fussy about the opponents TBH.

[MatthewWoody]

A PNG with games v Wales, France and then a 3 games series v England would be perfect. 
Add to this the mid season test in France and the Int season would be ok. 
Games between France, Wales and Jamaica can be easily added. The same John Kear has recently said Wales need more Internationals. 
Then, in 2024, I'll tour down under. 

*of course, in my dream world Samoa are coming back for some kind of "revenge tour", but I just don't see them refusing to play in the Oceania games, especially after what will be a long and tough (post World Cup) NRL season. 

Edited November 16, 2022 by MatthewWoody

[GeordieSaint]

I really don’t want to see a 3-game test series. It’s a thing of the past. I want to see England (and other nations) playing against each other regularly. In the small likelihood PNG come over here, play a tri-series competition against them and the French - or a Four Nations concept including the Welsh. Something different. More teams need to play against each other regularly. That’s how you generate interest and ability. Regular competition. We are so stuck in the past; it hurts. 

[gingerjon]

Just now, GeordieSaint said:

I really don’t want to see a 3-game test series. It’s a thing of the past. I want to see England (and other nations) playing against each other regularly. In the small likelihood PNG come over here, play a tri-series competition against them and the French - or a Four Nations concept including the Welsh. Something different. More teams need to play against each other regularly. That’s how you generate interest and ability. Regular competition. We are so stuck in the past; it hurts. 

One thing I like in union is that pretty much every time two international sides meet there is a trophy involved.

[MatthewWoody]

Test series are still being made in cricket and ru. Winning one is an important honour (see England ru winning the series in Australia). 
With a test series, PNG and England would have a trophy to play for. 
In a 3 games series, squads grow and come to know each other, their strength, weaknesses, etc. It's fascinating, game by game. 
In addition to this, you need to sell tickets to be able to afford a team flying here and staying on tour. England v PNG games have the hope of filling stadia, I'm not sure about PNG games v Wales or France.  

[Man of Kent]

On 15/11/2022 at 10:42, pahars said:

Considering the two best countries in the Wheelchair tournament are neighbours it would surely be fairly easy to announce a French tour in Summer 2023 (for example) this Friday at the GMEX and on the BBC. 

Do you mean a Mens, Womens and Wheelchair sort-of triple header in France next summer? Nice idea. A day/night + day of international RL on the Beeb. 

[Damien]

14 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

I really don’t want to see a 3-game test series. It’s a thing of the past. I want to see England (and other nations) playing against each other regularly. In the small likelihood PNG come over here, play a tri-series competition against them and the French - or a Four Nations concept including the Welsh. Something different. More teams need to play against each other regularly. That’s how you generate interest and ability. Regular competition. We are so stuck in the past; it hurts. 

I don't mind a 3 game series and the English, French and Welsh should be playing each other anyway mid-season. I would prefer for the end of season to be reserved for matches between hemispheres as it is the only time those matches can happen.

[pahars]

1 hour ago, Man of Kent said:

Do you mean a Mens, Womens and Wheelchair sort-of triple header in France next summer? Nice idea. A day/night + day of international RL on the Beeb. 

I was actually keeping it simple this time just announce a future England/France wheelchair game(s) at an arena or two while people are actually watching an England/France wheelchair game in an arena. 

[LongbridgeH]

On 15/11/2022 at 08:35, Live after death said:

Not in the foreseeable future. When was the last time England played Scotland in Association football, it used to be every year. But England don’t need it. Australia New Zealand don’t need England. If England gad won this world cup the Aussies would be clambering for a test series for revenge. 

Funnily enough in one of the few friendly spots within the football calendar - Scotland announced last week they are hosting England for their 150th anniversary of Scottish FA. 
 

Thats an example there of how you give a run of the mill friendly a sense of prestige. 

[LongbridgeH]

3 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

I really don’t want to see a 3-game test series. It’s a thing of the past. I want to see England (and other nations) playing against each other regularly. In the small likelihood PNG come over here, play a tri-series competition against them and the French - or a Four Nations concept including the Welsh. Something different. More teams need to play against each other regularly. That’s how you generate interest and ability. Regular competition. We are so stuck in the past; it hurts. 

Most Union fans I speak to are hating the concept of the new Autumn International Cup. 
 

The Tours of old with the 3 test matches gives chance for rivalry to be built. The ability to create a consistent buzz for five weeks. 

[GeordieSaint]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

I don't mind a 3 game series and the English, French and Welsh should be playing each other anyway mid-season. I would prefer for the end of season to be reserved for matches between hemispheres as it is the only time those matches can happen.

I am a keen advocate of us playing a UEFA Nations Cup competition mid-season. 3 weeks in June. I agree about post-season inter-hemisphere games but I’d have a multi-team competition rather than a Test Series. There is simply not enough time for each team to get experience playing against each other in our calendar to facilitate individual series. There are now more teams who should be getting more exposure to more teams each year. Breed more competition against each other more often. It’s why the 3 Nations and then 4 Nations were great concepts until nostalgia for outdated concepts like the Lions Tour got in the way. 

[MatthewWoody]

1 minute ago, GeordieSaint said:

I am a keen advocate of us playing a UEFA Nations Cup competition mid-season. 3 weeks in June. I agree about post-season inter-hemisphere games but I’d have a multi-team competition rather than a Test Series. There is simply not enough time for each team to get experience playing against each other in our calendar to facilitate individual series. There are now more teams who should be getting more exposure to more teams each year. Breed more competition against each other more often. It’s why the 3 Nations and then 4 Nations were great concepts until nostalgia for outdated concepts like the Lions Tour got in the way. 

Teams like PNG would benefit more, in terms of playing experience and money, by playing England 3 times than by play them only once and then playing France and Wales. 

[Madrileño]

4 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

 Regular competition. We are so stuck in the past; it hurts. 

This. 100%.

You only need to look at some of the fans on here. So many posts on this forum harking back to the 1990s. Absolute dinosaur mentality.

If anyone doesn't believe me take a look at the brawl thread involving Radley over the last few days. 

[GeordieSaint]

16 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

Teams like PNG would benefit more, in terms of playing experience and money, by playing England 3 times than by play them only once and then playing France and Wales. 

That reeks of a lack of ambition and strategic intent. We are so bad at strategy internationally. We don’t need to focus on one area/country. We can do so much more. We’ve a RLWC around the corner in 2025 in France as an example. We can get after developing PNG, France et al as well as ourselves in a holistic approach if we stop thinking so one-dimensionally. I do love our sport but it is so fundamentally frustrating as well.