mid season test with France next year

[Bamboozle]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

Hi Sam, would you bet your hard earned on them with 12 start?

I’d gladly take that bet from him.

[binosh]

Call it the Channel Challenge.

France 4 England 48

[Jparrish]

Could the French RL go the the govt and secure the bit of funding needed to host a game somewhere in France ? Get a DH in Toulose or Avignon. Besancon and others had put their names down to be a host cities could the RFL approach them direct and see if they are keen ?

 

I seem to remember and article that said something along the lines of the government " were going to make it up to them" and it would be a fraction of the WC money that was previously allocated.

[sam4731]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Hi Sam, would you bet your hard earned on them with 12 start?

That is the big question. What factors would you have to put in place to give us a competitive match?

In France. England Championship/League 1 select team, 12 point start and they're allowed to start with 15 players.

Oh and on Bastille Day of course.

[moorside roughyed]

No thanks. Went to the last one. Not good.

[eal]

How many more floggings of an under strength French side do people want to see? I don't know what options England has mid season, but France isn't a good one. Until France can get its act together in terms of putting together a full strength squad it isn't worth pursuing.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, eal said:

How many more floggings of an under strength French side do people want to see? I don't know what options England has mid season, but France isn't a good one. Until France can get its act together in terms of putting together a full strength squad it isn't worth pursuing.

Jamaica at Murrayfield 

[Bamboozle]

8 hours ago, sam4731 said:

That is the big question. What factors would you have to put in place to give us a competitive match?

In France. England Championship/League 1 select team, 12 point start and they're allowed to start with 15 players.

Oh and on Bastille Day of course.

playing the game in France is the only practical option from your list as the rest is just nonsensical obfuscation.

[sam4731]

4 hours ago, Bamboozle said:

playing the game in France is the only practical option from your list as the rest is just nonsensical obfuscation.

I'm not against playing the game in France, I'm just not sure that we should get excited when England beat France 20-12 in Carcassonne for them to get battered by the Cook Islands when the 2026 WC comes round.

France need to be competitive but they need to be competitive everywhere. By pandering to them only playing at home, we're not doing them any favours.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

I'm not against playing the game in France, I'm just not sure that we should get excited when England beat France 20-12 in Carcassonne for them to get battered by the Cook Islands when the 2026 WC comes round.

France need to be competitive but they need to be competitive everywhere. By pandering to them only playing at home, we're not doing them any favours.

We rarely play them over there?

Just out of doing the right thing it is time to go there. Like all countries, they deserve some home tests.

[sam4731]

4 minutes ago, Leonard said:

We rarely play them over there?

Just out of doing the right thing it is time to go there. Like all countries, they deserve some home tests.

Completely agree, it is about time but we should go to give them a home test, not to level the playing field.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Completely agree, it is about time but we should go to give them a home test, not to level the playing field.

Yes - no gimmicks.

Just go over there and play them. It will be without NRL players as well.

[crashmon]

2 hours ago, Leonard said:

We rarely play them over there?

Just out of doing the right thing it is time to go there. Like all countries, they deserve some home tests.

This

England need a mid season test every year.  SH will not come.   Made up teams are not fit for purpose and do nothing to help the international game.   France are the best of abit bad options we have. 

Now if this improves France as a side effect then great. But we (England) need this game every year to help grow the England international brand.

Now if wales / Ireland etc can get a side together for an international then great, but really right now France is our only option

[eal]

Why can't Wales get anything together? Do they even play international fixtures anymore?

[redjonn]

yes, we should play in France plus all SL clubs also continue to play that week end just like in RU.  The only exceptions being Catalan and Toulouse then you may minimise the impact on those two teams.

[Barley Mow]

5 minutes ago, eal said:

Why can't Wales get anything together? Do they even play international fixtures anymore?

I really can't understand it.

France don't have any internationals going on, but had programmed an international weekend into the Elite 1 calendar for the weekend just gone. France and Wales women played each other, but the men's teams didn't.

If travel and accommodation for France v Wales was too expensive (it evidently wasn't for the women), then there is Scotland which is just a coach journey away who also have no internationals this year.

[Click]

I honestly cannot see an England - France mid season 'test' working for at least 10 + years. French mid season RL won't work without the best French players being spread out across various SL teams, not just in 1. 

As much as everyone wants Catalans to be the bastion of French RL, it's top priority is winning SL games, not a meaningless mid-season international. They will never release all of their top players for a match like this, and why should they? English clubs withdraw their players when they only have 2/3 in the squad, Catalans have pretty much the entire team. 

Almost all of SL gets a rest, apart from Catalans players who need to play an additional game, which would impact on their overall season. If French players were spread out at other top SL clubs then that might not be such a huge factor to consider anymore.

[gingerjon]

13 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

I really can't understand it.

France don't have any internationals going on, but had programmed an international weekend into the Elite 1 calendar for the weekend just gone. France and Wales women played each other, but the men's teams didn't.

If travel and accommodation for France v Wales was too expensive (it evidently wasn't for the women), then there is Scotland which is just a coach journey away who also have no internationals this year.

Outside of World Cup, World Cup prep or qualification, when did Wales men last play a senior international?

[Barley Mow]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Outside of World Cup, World Cup prep or qualification, when did Wales men last play a senior international?

That depends if you count their summer international v France last year (19th June) as World Cup prep or not.

If you do, then I'm not sure when it was - pre-2018

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

That depends if you count their summer international v France last year (19th June) as World Cup prep or not.

If you do, then I'm not sure when it was - pre-2018

I’ll be generous and say it counts as stand alone but … well, that’s not great, is it?

[17 stone giant]

29 minutes ago, Click said:

I honestly cannot see an England - France mid season 'test' working for at least 10 + years. French mid season RL won't work without the best French players being spread out across various SL teams, not just in 1. 

As much as everyone wants Catalans to be the bastion of French RL, it's top priority is winning SL games, not a meaningless mid-season international. They will never release all of their top players for a match like this, and why should they? English clubs withdraw their players when they only have 2/3 in the squad, Catalans have pretty much the entire team. 

Almost all of SL gets a rest, apart from Catalans players who need to play an additional game, which would impact on their overall season. If French players were spread out at other top SL clubs then that might not be such a huge factor to consider anymore.

I understand what you're saying and I can empathise with Catalans to a certain extent, but when you're looking at it from the outside, it makes rugby league look incredibly small time, doesn't it?

[Click]

6 minutes ago, 17 stone giant said:

I understand what you're saying and I can empathise with Catalans to a certain extent, but when you're looking at it from the outside, it makes rugby league look incredibly small time, doesn't it?

I mean, Rugby League is incredibly small time. Have you seen the most recent England attendances in this country?

As big as RL is in Australia, it is still very much a minority sport in France and England.

[JM2010]

Just imagine if the RFL and the French Federation had worked together to develop the international game in the British Isles and France 20+ years ago then we might now be in a position where there could be a strong mid season NH competition and an end of season mixed SH and NH competition every year

Edited October 31, 2023 by JM2010

[eal]

I really don't see why the European Championships couldn't be played this season. The complete lack of activity from most international sides makes the World Cup and its various formats a moot point. Nobody is ever building towards anything, each World Cup is simply a standalone get together of players that never leads anywhere. People arguing over the number of sides in the tournament and development etc. are missing the bigger picture. We could have 10 or 100 teams in the World Cup, without anything decent in the four-five years in between each tournament it doesn't really matter.

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by eal

[gingerjon]

13 hours ago, eal said:

I really don't see why the European Championships couldn't be played this season.

Because the funding for it was dependent on it being a qualification tournament for the World Cup. When the World Cup was cancelled, so was the funding.

That's the reason. It may not be a good reason but that's the reason.