Will you be watching the England vs France game on the 29th?

[ATLANTISMAN]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

So Club before Country to prepare for the next league game for Catalan without the risk of any getting injured in the International.

Just my opinion 

[gingerjon]

If the England lads are on £250 and the French are on the same or less then take the Catalans option every time and put club before country.

[Mark S]

They could probably earn more doing a shift for Just Eat or Deliveroo.

[eal]

I'm not sure how to watch it from here in the USA.

[sam4731]

1 hour ago, eal said:

I'm not sure how to watch it from here in the USA.

Lucky you.

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

If the England lads are on £250 and the French are on the same or less then take the Catalans option every time and put club before country.

So where have you got that figure of £250 from?

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

So where have you got that figure of £250 from?

See other topic that I started but it's from the Independent.

[Harry Stottle]

11 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

See other topic that I started but it's from the Independent.

I hadn't seen the other thread Ginger, I had a notification for this thread which I came straight to.

Thanks for that, see I keep telling everyone how impoverished our sport is, but there are those who simply refuse to believe it.

[RayCee]

On 17/06/2024 at 07:52, 17 stone giant said:

Incidentally, how long have the RFL been incompetent when it comes to international RL? Is it since 1895 or has the incompetence only begun some time since then? If we could pin point when it began, we can maybe look at ways to return to a pre-incompetence era.

I did an article about how many England internationals are played by RU and RL. RL had more in the 50's and 60's but RU took off after that whereas RL dropped slightly. This isn't to prove the RFL is to blame but the international RU product is much more varied and competitive than RLs and it has become a more important part of their game. RL is about two pro comps with the odd international. 

Anyway, if interested, it's here:

https://rugbyl.blogspot.com/2022/12/international-test-match-comparison.html

[north yorks trinity]

I've been a big supporter of international RL for 35 years and go to most home tests and several neutral games at RLWC. I'm on the RFL database and get emails from them but have just realised this game is on by reading this thread! I'd heard about it before but then forgotten and didn't realise it was imminent.  That's really hit home for me what our visibility is to the wider public - I'm generally less aware it's so poor as I  generally actively search out what is on. 

I might watch if I can get a single game subscription on SL+. The fact that no-one seems to have the answer to this speaks volumes.

[fighting irish]

Oh my god, what a depressing thread.

I'm not blaming the individual posters but the fact that hardly anyone (not even the RL nuts on here) knows this game is taking place, or where we can watch it, is very depressing indeed.

Is it true, that it's a ''curtain raiser'' for a Toulouse championship league game and that the players are being paid £250 each? Or that the French team will be without a large contingent of their best players? That just oozes prestige doesn't it?

If feels as if the RFL or RFL commercial are trying to hide the game, in case some of these embarrassing details leak out to the wider public.

God help us. Is it possible to get this more wrong? 

[StandOffHalf]

If it is televised or available to stream free of charge, most certainly.

[17 stone giant]

8 hours ago, RayCee said:

I did an article about how many England internationals are played by RU and RL. RL had more in the 50's and 60's but RU took off after that whereas RL dropped slightly. This isn't to prove the RFL is to blame but the international RU product is much more varied and competitive than RLs and it has become a more important part of their game. RL is about two pro comps with the odd international. 

Anyway, if interested, it's here:

https://rugbyl.blogspot.com/2022/12/international-test-match-comparison.html

Interesting. I suppose rugby union was late to the party and didn't have a World Cup until 1987. Since then they've been a consistent feature (as opposed to RL where it was 1995, 2000, 2008, etc.) and England generally do quite well, hence playing a lot of WC matches.

There's just so many other teams of a decent standard in union (even newish teams like Japan are sometimes competitive) that the figures are going to continue to leave league miles behind.

Not that that necessarily matters. It's about quality as well as quantity. Providing England play three or four good quality fixtures every year, that's a decent base to start from.

[JM2010]

RL has Australia, NZ, Tonga, Samoa and England who are all at a similar level which gives 5 competitive nations. Unfortunately all Englands opponents are in the SH and run by the NRL so we are struggling for scraps at the moment. Like the post above says, 3 or 4 competitive fixtures each year for England between WCs has to be the aim

[Hopie]

Apparently the game is free on super league+ so if you are planning on watching it why not test one of the other free videos to see if it works for youas you would like.

[fighting irish]

9 hours ago, Hopie said:

Apparently the game is free on super league+ so if you are planning on watching it why not test one of the other free videos to see if it works for youas you would like.

Where can we find Superleague + ?

 

[Hopie]

1 hour ago, fighting irish said:

Where can we find Superleague + ?

 

If you can't find it, I'd suggest you may have larger problems.

[fighting irish]

Just now, Hopie said:

If you can't find it, I'd suggest you may have larger problems.

What are you suggesting? 

 

[Click]

11 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

What are you suggesting? 

 

Link: SuperLeague+

I am not sure if you have to download the app, etc or not. Not used the service myself before.

[Gomersall]

23 hours ago, fighting irish said:

Oh my god, what a depressing thread.

I'm not blaming the individual posters but the fact that hardly anyone (not even the RL nuts on here) knows this game is taking place, or where we can watch it, is very depressing indeed.

Is it true, that it's a ''curtain raiser'' for a Toulouse championship league game and that the players are being paid £250 each? Or that the French team will be without a large contingent of their best players? That just oozes prestige doesn't it?

If feels as if the RFL or RFL commercial are trying to hide the game, in case some of these embarrassing details leak out to the wider public.

God help us. Is it possible to get this more wrong? 

The most depressing aspect for me is that the France v England match is supposed to be part of the celebrations for the FFRXIII 90th anniversary?

[Gomersall]

18 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

Interesting. I suppose rugby union was late to the party and didn't have a World Cup until 1987. Since then they've been a consistent feature (as opposed to RL where it was 1995, 2000, 2008, etc.) and England generally do quite well, hence playing a lot of WC matches.

There's just so many other teams of a decent standard in union (even newish teams like Japan are sometimes competitive) that the figures are going to continue to leave league miles behind.

Not that that necessarily matters. It's about quality as well as quantity. Providing England play three or four good quality fixtures every year, that's a decent base to start from.

The RUWC also has plenty of qualifiers whereas RL doesn’t use them properly IMO. That is to get more games with more meaning for more nations. IMO only the semi finalists and hosts, if not a semi finalist, should get automatic entry to the next WC. We should also know who the hosts are for at least the next two WCs. Genuine hosts not prospective ones.

[Hopie]

England will be wearing the MND kit again, its available again at full price (they sold the old stock off in the sale last year) 

https://www.eliteprosports.co.uk/product/england-rl-2024-msi-replica-shirt/

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

20 minutes ago, Hopie said:

England will be wearing the MND kit again, its available again at full price (they sold the old stock off in the sale last year) 

https://www.eliteprosports.co.uk/product/england-rl-2024-msi-replica-shirt/

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

12 hours ago, Gomersall said:

The RUWC also has plenty of qualifiers whereas RL doesn’t use them properly IMO. That is to get more games with more meaning for more nations. IMO only the semi finalists and hosts, if not a semi finalist, should get automatic entry to the next WC. We should also know who the hosts are for at least the next two WCs. Genuine hosts not prospective ones.

I'd limit it to hosts and holders, like with football. England would then have loads of meaningful games it could play between tournaments that would be a far, far easier sell to the wider public, who would understand the concept of world cup qualifiers.

[sam4731]

On 18/06/2024 at 07:28, RayCee said:

I did an article about how many England internationals are played by RU and RL. RL had more in the 50's and 60's but RU took off after that whereas RL dropped slightly. This isn't to prove the RFL is to blame but the international RU product is much more varied and competitive than RLs and it has become a more important part of their game. RL is about two pro comps with the odd international. 

Anyway, if interested, it's here:

https://rugbyl.blogspot.com/2022/12/international-test-match-comparison.html

I think the argument was that RL was always more interested in the club game whereas RU was always more about the international game, hence why domestic games went ahead alongside Six Nations matches.

The problem now is that RU is starting to take the club game more seriously with the aforementioned concurrent club/international game, I believe being phased out.

More and more countries are being brought into the professional fold with Georgia having a team in the Challenge Cup, Italy starting to make a bit of ground and the emergence of the Pacific nations (most worryingly for RL).

In short RU, especially in the NH has actually worked on its development while we have hidden away in the shadows moaning about the world being against us.