the NRL all stars game is played pre season.

Why don't we just allow France or Wales (or France and Wales) to play permanently in the Four Nations, make it a 6 Nations, England, Australia, New Zealand, France, European Qualifier, Pacific Qualifier.

why are ireland and scotland not being mentioned as opponents for france and wales ?.

The Four Nations is predictable enough. Why make it an even more drawn out, meaningless excercise to get to an Auz v NZ final?

A game like this should be held before the season starts.

Why? Because the NRL does? What other All-Stars games are at the start of the season?

that would be unfair to Huddersfield Giants, Harlequins RL and other sides that are inside their overseas quota allowances taking 75%- 40% of their overseas players



What about.......and this is just an idea.......£15 a ticket and try to fill Wembley Stadium? Live on the BBC, bank holiday weekend in May/June......2pm Kick off, allowing for the northern exodus by rail and road from 5pm. Market it to the Anzacs in London.....I could see 70,000 or even 80,000 tickets being sold and a bit of national exposure.
As it is, the RFL will play it in a 25k seat northern arena and it will be a nothing game televised on SKY only.....a nothing game with no real benefit to anyone.

That's slightly too ambitious for a new fixture that we don't know is going to be a success or not.

Like I've said, I reckon the safest bet would be Elland Road. If that's successful, we could try another year in London.

i'd wouldn't argue with that really,but i might try wigan or huddersfield.

or i'd take a chance and go for bramall lane.great stadium,could be a very intimidating atmosphere if they could fill it.

what...like getting the London Monarchs American Football Team to play at Wembley? They'd never fill it would they?
I agree, it would be a risk, but the only benefit to the game as I see it would be as a publicity stunt. The All Stars will be made up of overseas players that clubs are happy to release...players that will be used to playing at SL speed with SL intensity.....it's nothing more than a practice match for the England squad IMO.


ANZACS are a funny bunch.....they might turn up to watch the game, they might not, but I can assure you far less will roll up north on trains to watch it. 2pm KO, at Wembley, in May/June.......plenty of time for the heartlands fans to get home by train/car.....and a better chance of getting a decent crowd. Safest? No....but worth the risk IMO.
The RFL have identified a million RL fans in London......that's what they claim. Let's see if they can find them and if 15 notes a ticket is attractive enough

What actually would be the point of playing this game?
England gets spanked proving Australia could beat us with a 4th or 5th string team for what reason?

Oo that promoted me to a bronze member!

LOL

To facilitate change?

In what way would it facilitate change?

This is going to be embarassing for english RL, when the best England has to offer, is beaten by a rag tag team of Australian and NZ cast offs.

We should have kept the france game so when we beat them 70-0, we can wax lyrical about how england is on the up after beating a load of part timers with a sprinkle of Catalans players.

who,if they where still playing down under,would walk in any NRL team,still be playing origin and would still be playing for australia & NZ


but you know....ENGLAND can't win whatever the result...we win and it's against a bunch of rag tag aussies & kiwis.....lose and it's HAHAHA we're crap cos we lost to a bunch of rat tag aussies & kiwis...

when the reality is that this rat tag team of aussies & kiwis would clearly be the 4th best side in the world if they where a nation...which is exactly the challenge we need so we don't end up "waxing lyrical" about smashing france....

I like the idea, i think the RL public have got fed up of seeing us hammering a poor French side year after year so we need a bigger test and this would surely give us one .

Problem is we hammer France and have some players who, in that game, look like they could be capable of tearing the Aussies/Kiwis apart but disappear when a 'bigger' test comes along.
looking good against a poor side is all well and good but we need to be testing the England squad before we face the big boys and this kind of game should give us a test.

Why are people so frightened that we might lose?

It's better for England's development to be playing in games where we have to hit a high intensity to compete. I'd be very disappointed if we just rolled them over as the match wouldn't serve the purpose it is intended to serve.

If we get hammered, then we'll just have to find ways to step it up a gear in 2012.

nice to see some others that "get it"

Precisely.

The French offer no real opposition to us, and this will be more of a test. I certainly don't share the opinion of many that we'll get battered.

A lot depends on who will be coaching the so called 'All Stars'. You would have to suggest it will be an Aussie or a Kiwi. My money is on Shaun McRae.

Justin Morgan, he's used to coaching a team of overseas players

(thought I'd get it in before Gutterboy!)

England v SL 'All Stars'

Marketed properly this could turn out to be a good yearly fixture. I'll certainly be supporting it anyway.

I'm excited.

The next post probably sums it up a bit...


The attitude that we are a great team because we stuff the French every year.
If players struggle against this "made up team" (use what ever derogatory phrase you like, probably makes the situation worse for England if they struggle), then this attitude of us being "on the up" will go, and players might actually realise that they need to pull their fingers out if they want to compete against the stronger nations... or even to get selected at all.

Of course, if we stuff them (which I don't think we will at all), then we're back to square one with the "waxing lyrical". It might not make us beat the Aussies, but it will certainly help building a better attitude to it if the game is competitive.