a chance at what?? getting hammered by 50+?


at least playing this 'other nationalities' team theres a chance we could get beaten...and thats the whole point of playing them

And hopefully improve them at the same time, meaning the fixture has a point.

This all stars game is a pointless fixture.

the media in australia said that about state of origin in 1980

indeed what nation wouldnt be pleased, proud in fact, to get the chance to earn 3 internationals against the big teams once ever four years, oh and world cup too. Its a wonder governments dont give more money to our 2nd tier nationals when they get the chance to play England, NZ, and Australia twice every four years, but only one or possibly two of them. The rest cant, they can just be happy playing against each other.

how will they catch up if they arent allowed to play us?

France lost their last competitive game against us 34-12 with an attendance of 11'529 in Doncaster. Something was building. Maybe right now it wasnt an Australia test for England, but who cares, France and Wales were benefiting.

Indeed sometimes the media gets things right and sometimes they get them wrong.

I still see this game as pointless though, dont get me wrong its nice in 'fantasy rugby' kind of way but the week could either be used to play a lesser nation and improve them, thus benefitting the international game more, or be used as a week off mid season to make player burnout less likely at the end of the season, which would also help the international game.

Cant really see it drawing the crowds in either.

increase the number of players in the SLE

This idea has in a way been tried recently though. GB played SL based NZ in 2006 at St Helens. I was there and there certainly seemed to be a decent turn out for it.

Playing an All Stars team certainly provides England with a sterner challenge than France and Wales. For those two nations to develop having those two nations play each other regularly would be better until they catch up to England's standards. Certainly a round robin between them and the Knights seems like the best idea to develop England and bring France and Wales on.

I would have thought the best idea for the England first team would be to have two teams, the Reds and Whites, loosely based on Lancashire and Yorkshire, play in a round robin with the All Stars. That way they're getting more game time, more players are playing at that level and there's more players with big game experience when it comes to full England selection.

At least back it up...who's better then?

Manu, puletua, morrison, lauititi, hauraki, elima imho of course its all subjective.

edit having said that solmona can win a game with a special play, but i think as all round players the above are better.

No club bias there then

Hoffman and o'donnell for a start.

The all stars would be as one sided as well as England get swamped!!!

good....we need a mid season challenge....cos hammering france by 60+ is doing nothing for us....or france for that matter

not a chance ! the Catalan chairman would never release him (or any others)

We didnt hammer france by 60+ last time though did we? (or is my memory playing tricks?)

For me there was an improvement to france due to this game, they did seem to be getting more competative, but still in time honoured rl tradition we will dump the mid season international as it didnt work out straight away.

so england v anyonewithaforeignpassportthatfanciesago it is then

Squad: 25
Maximum from any 1 team = 3
Minimum from any 1 team = 1

Bradford - Kearney
Castleford - Chase
Catalans Dragons - Greenshields, Menzies
Harlequins - Randall
Huddersfield - O'Donell, Fa'alogo
Hull FC - Fitzgibbon, O'Meley
Hull KR - Dobson, Mason
Leeds - Cross, Webb, Buderus
Salford - Patten
St Helens - Perry, Puletua
Wakefield - Morrison
Warrington - King, Monaghan M, Monaghan J.
Wigan - Richards, Lima, Hoffman
Crusaders - Sammut

1. Webb
2. Greenshields
3. King
4. Monaghan J.
5. Richards

6. Chase
7. Dobson

8. O'Meley
9. Buderus
10. Cross
11. Hoffman
12. O'Donnell
13. Fitzgibbon (c)

14. Monaghan
15. Mason
16. Perry
17. Lima

Good luck England!

I for one would love to see that team take on England. It would be a brilliant contest!!

france & england both appear to be between a rock and a hard place but for different reasons

england is obviously too good for the french to make the game a real contest and france isn't good enough to compete at that level

french RL is improving under BG IMO (though I would prefer his back-room staff to be all french and cut out the 'jobs for the boys' ) but can never attain the heights of england level,not in my lifetime anyway - the occasional flukey result will happen but the difference in class is so obvious
It's up to france to sort themselves out with the likes of Wales etc and for england to somehow wangle annual matches with the top two
Maybe we should be more concerned about making the SL more competitive with less imports playing over the next five years and slowly encourage the english talent to come trough or,at least given the chance.

I would have England playing against an Australian All Star team, wearing green and gold, coached by Aussies etc, giving them a sense of national pride when playing England. The French can then play a second string England side as part of a double header giving them a competitive game, but also allowing England to have a look at more players. I would extend the season by a week and give all teams a week off so that all attention is on the game.

Your memory is playing tricks on you.

[urlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/12/england-france-rugby-league[/url

England hammered a dismal France and never got out of second gear. Steve McNamara will have got nothing from the game. For example, Gareth Widdop looked brilliant in that match, but was adequate at best when the real test came at the end of the year. I'm unsure what France get out the game either.

I agree with people saying we shouldn't just cast France aside. I would like to see them play a game on the same weekend, possibly before the England game, against Wales. Another poster on the Wigan forum suggested France played an 'England Lions' squad, which would be made up of fringe England players, allowing France to be competitive and to give more English players a chance.

Well technically that isnt a 60+ point victory

From a club point of view i hope chase doesnt get picked, no sense risking him for no reason.

Unfortunately, this is the attitude which will only see this venture fail. As a supporter of a club who pays the players wages though, you are well within your rights to feel like this.

My concern would be that it turns into the situation England football have with friendlies. Clubs will see this as an opportunity to allow star players to recover from the inevitable 'knocks' they routinely carry through club games, so many would play for their clubs the previous Sunday, pick up a minor muscle injury and be running around again the week following the 'All Stars' game.
And as I presume the game would not be recognised as a full international, players would not even recieve a 'cap' and the game would technically be 'non-competative'?

Could this not be incorporated into say a 3 week mid season break? With this game played on the Wed of the middle week to give these players a weeks "camp" before the game to prepare, then well over a week after the game to recover.

it is a nice 'fantasy rugby' even t. It would be better with some kind of club split but its a nice event. Thats all. It should complementing international football, not replacing it.