.....not.
france defeated by an amateur irish outfit 22-12.

Its pathetic they're their own worst enemy sometimes. Id rather not have Ireland or Scotland in the comp tbh. There's no serious domestic RL in either country, amateur or pro. France and Wales should have had a 2 game series home and away for qualification.

You both conveniently fail to point out that the French team did not include

Remi Casty
Olivier Elima
Gregory Mounis
Vincent Duport
Morgan Escare

Quite a bit of firepower missing, eh?

the french 2nd xiii should be sticking 50+ on a team of amateurs. as for the missing stars, yet again the needs of a club exceed those of a country underlining why international RL cntinues to struggle for any recognition outside of a motorway in the UK.

I can't comment on "team of amateurs" claim since I have not seen the Irish team list.

However I do know that the missing stars aspect cannot be explained simply by reference to "club needs." Morgan Escare suffered a hip injury that took him off the field during the playoff against St Helens. Remi Casty would be in the process of relocating from Australia, at best, if he has even left. The others may also have injuries.

Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"I can't comment on "team of amateurs" claim since I have not seen the Irish team list.'" www.rlef.eu.com/european_cup/report?RLE00000568 Amateurs....... www.rli.ie/article/12463/ireland ... -announced

Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"I can't comment on "team of amateurs" claim since I have not seen the Irish team list.'" www.rlef.eu.com/european_cup/report?RLE00000568 Amateurs....... www.rli.ie/article/12463/ireland ... -announced

Well done to Ireland.
Disappointing from France.

Congratulations Ireland, great result.

I blame Agar

What REALLY hacks me off about this thread is having to agree with Gutters!!!!

If it was a SL team who sent out a "weakened" team against a championship 1 side and got turned over we would be saying "served them right" so.................................. "served them right"

France win - What's the point in them playing Ireland their light years ahead.
Ireland win - Catalans are a disgrace.
Win win for rlfans.

Well done Ireland and Scotland for this weekends results. The only disappointing thing for me is the number of quality players making themselves unavailable for this comp but more than happy to play in a World Cup.

It looks as though there will a new entrant to the four nations in 2016 as this years winner qualifies. (Is there no European cup planned for 2015? That is also disappointing if it is the case)

Does anyone have an actual team sheet for the French for the game? I'm struggling to find one

M Hadden (Antrim), C Dunne (Athboy), Mikey Russell (Barnhall), S Hesketh (Batley), W Kelly (Belfast Met Scholars), H Peacock (Carcassonne), J Murphy (Dewsbury), L Ambler, C Casey, B Johnston (all Halifax), E Cosgrove (Keighley), R Mulhern (Leeds), B Beswick (capt), M Platt (both Leigh), J Toole (North Sydney), C Mulkeen (Oxford), S McDonnell (St Helens), G O'Keeffe (Treaty City), W Hope (unattached), B Hargreaves (Wigan St Patricks) Good old Gutterfax always one not to let facts get in his way at least 11 of the squad have played in the championship this year, Matty Hadden has played in c1 along with the other lad from oxford. everyone knows who Shannon McDonnel is he along with Robbie Mulhern has been in SL environment all year. In fact this report quote Mark aston as saying the Irish only included 2 domestic players in the 13. https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/rug ... --spt.html The fact remains France should probably have won, but there is so many reasons why the players Jean cited missed out this time and so well done to Ireland who have undoubtably livened up this Euro comp

M Hadden (Antrim), C Dunne (Athboy), Mikey Russell (Barnhall), S Hesketh (Batley), W Kelly (Belfast Met Scholars), H Peacock (Carcassonne), J Murphy (Dewsbury), L Ambler, C Casey, B Johnston (all Halifax), E Cosgrove (Keighley), R Mulhern (Leeds), B Beswick (capt), M Platt (both Leigh), J Toole (North Sydney), C Mulkeen (Oxford), S McDonnell (St Helens), G O'Keeffe (Treaty City), W Hope (unattached), B Hargreaves (Wigan St Patricks) Good old Gutterfax always one not to let facts get in his way at least 11 of the squad have played in the championship this year, Matty Hadden has played in c1 along with the other lad from oxford. everyone knows who Shannon McDonnel is he along with Robbie Mulhern has been in SL environment all year. In fact this report quote Mark aston as saying the Irish only included 2 domestic players in the 13. https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/rug ... --spt.html The fact remains France should probably have won, but there is so many reasons why the players Jean cited missed out this time and so well done to Ireland who have undoubtably livened up this Euro comp

only a squad list sorry

France (from): J Baitieri (capt), J Bousquet, D Cardace, B Garcia, A Maria, E Pelissier (all Catalan Dragons), K Larroyer (Hull KR), J Fakir (Lezignan), R Marginet, F Vaccari (Palau), T Fages (Salford), J-P Baile, W Barthau, T Margalet, M Pala, M Simon (St Esteve), T Maurel, A Wood (Toulouse).

Elima's retired from internationals iirc.

Didn't England lose a friends a few years back against some random Aussie amateur team like Wagga Wagga u21s or something.

Says a lot for English rugby league

Regards

King James

Looks like the French domestic comp has fallen even further behind the championship

I always thought the French Elite was a little behind the Championship, that said my only comparison was Challenge cup games against English teams. E.g Lezignan beat Rochdale, Workington and Whitehaven off the top of my head but Pia and Carcassone got thumped by Fev and Sheffield respectively.

Again, not exactly scientific but the results suggested the top 3/4 of the elite could survive in the championship but would get touched up by the bigger names

The problem isn't Catalans being in SL (that can only be good for French RL) the problem is the terrible organisation of international RL.

There is (or appears to be) no long term plan or strategy whatsoever, there doesn't even appear to be a short term plan.

These games should have been planned and arranged at least a year in advance. Then they could've been advertised within the RL community at least.

But then even the 4 Nations is ridiculous with schedules not announced long enough in advance and no-one even knows which years it's going to be on or not. There isn't even a 4 Nations website FFS.

This isn't just an anti-RFL post either, it's game-wide and the Aussies have a lot to be blamed for too.

If the RL authorities started taking it more seriously then maybe clubs and players would take it more seriously and finally fans might too.

Having attended yesterday's game and therefore in a far better position than most on the board to comment on it, the French seemed to lack cohesion early on and seemed less up for it than the Irish. A really strange wind was blowing passes that were clearly backwards in a forward direction, forcing the receivers to chase after them (pretty much all kicks towards one end of the ground were low and short as anything high was coming back over the head.

The French got pinged quite heavily for offside and this too disrupted them. They only came to life late on in the game and pulled it back from 16 to nil back to sixteen 12. On paper they were much stronger but they didn't seem to produce on the day. A couple of the French lads couldn't control their tempers (although niggle merchant Bob Beswick seemed only too keen to get them wound up).

Both sides slowed the tackle area down and it is a little bit of a shame they were allowed to do that as it slowed the game down as well. Ireland managed the conditions better and wanted the win more.

These games are played at the same time every year, in fact, in the clubhouse there are two Jerseys showing the last time Ireland and France met at Tallaght (really nice ground) and it was on 26 October 2010. So you can pretty much predict when the internationals are taking place Him. Good turnout from locals and from a load of French students studying in Dublin gave a good atmsophere to the fixture.

Except the fixtures were announced on 1st August.
It involves different nations from the previous comp 2 years ago.

Which involved different nations from the comp previous to that, again 2 years before.

Which involved different nations to the comp a year previous to that.

Which involved different nations to the previous comp which was 4 years prior to that.

The RLEF does some great work and are doing their best. But they operate on a paltry, pathetic, woefully low amount of £200k.

Until the real RL authorities, the RFL, NZRL, NRL & ARL, take international RL seriously then we'll be left with poor organisation. Resulting in players pulling out except in World Cup years, no long term strategy & no set international calendar. Then we wonder why media, sponsors and fans don't pay it much attention.

The team was also missing Thomas Bosc. Let's not let logistics get in the way here, Catalans finished 2 weeks ago, after a mad Monday etc, won't have gone into camp until the week after. Elite 1 comp has just started and clubs didn't release their players until Monday. So a maximum 3 training sessions before the game without 5/6 of their top players over the past 5 years.

That's without me going into the unrest in the camp over pay. Don't let these issues get in the way of a rant Gutterfax.

Did your missus run off with a Frenchman? You have a real downer on the Catalans.

Regardless of if all the Catalans players were rested and regardless of when the elite comp starts, France should defeat Ireland every day of the week. France has a rich history of RL, Ireland has none.

Catalans being in SL we were assured was going to boost French RL.......so far, this has not happened. Yes, there are French players at UK clubs for the coming season and this is progress, but as it stands, France's performances at International level have not been enhanced as a result of their best players playing in the SL.

As for being down on the club? Not at all.........other than you being our hated derby rivals, I have no opinion either way. The fact is, that France were terrible at the RLWC and have now plunged even further downwards with a defeat to the Irish.

Maybe in future the french should just say TBH we can't be d,can you pick Greece or Serbia instead