Except Samoa proved it's not impossible to close the gap.

Though I would be focussing out efforts on France and Wales rather than Scotland.

But we have to get the international structure and calendar sorted. That Wales play a game in Wakefield is just crazy. The late nature of the fixtures being arranged not only holds back the likes of Wales from building their profile in their country but also affects the ability to get players to commit to play internationals and the ability of them to build on the playing side.

Get a regular, set in stone, international calendar with annual games and you'll see the 2nd tier nations rise.

Wasn't Jamaica v Wales a Jamaica home game though?

It would have been if they'd taken international RL seriously and qualified.

Indeed.

Official alleged attendance of 5K (which looked like 3K tops) tells you everything you need to know about the fans of SL.

They aren't genuinely interested in international RL. Their interest only extends to the club they support and England, but only if some of their club players have been selected.

Better get those promo codes organised for 2021 and sell it off cheap in order to avoid embarrassing attendances.

Tickets for a just fiver again, just like in 2013

Well I think the organisers will be happy if we emulate 2013. Wasn't it the highest attended and most profitable World Cup ever?

International RL should take France seriously, France has a full time pro league, junior teams and leagues amature leagues, an elite super league team, can provide a side solely of home grown French speaking born n bred players. Scotland has none of the above, wales have more of a right to be in there than Scotlan. Yes Scotland qualified from euro cup two years ago, but what have they done since, do peaple in Scotland even know they have an R L team.

It should be France full stop, every year and they will improve and increase there standard.

Catalan have been in Super League for over 10 years and several French players have moved to other SL clubs and the NRL and they are still rubbish. Employing coaches with bad records such as Bobby Goulding and Richard Agar hasnt helped matters.

The 4th placed 4Nations spot should always be the best team from the previous year (why we used Scotland's 2014 performance instead of Wales 2015 cup win baffles me however...) Automatically picking France would demoralise Scotland, Wales and Ireland and no completion for a place would most likely hit France's performance too.

As for last nights game, it should have been played in Scotland, even if we only got say 2k up there it would be better promotion that 5k in the already RL mad East Hull.

"International RL should take France seriously" oh dear. wow. Should Football take San Marino seriously?

given that it was the French that pioneered the RL World Cup - then yes, they should be taken seriously.
However, so should Wales, Scotland, Ireland and any other expansion team.
Qualification for the 4 nations should be based upon results in qualification tournament and not handed out by right.
tbh the difference between wales, france, scotland etc is marginal (they are all 50 points behind the major nations), the real issue is that all 3 of them should be closing the gap and they arent.

Regarding the Aussies were in town so you should go watch the game argument. I just don't see it as entertainment watching such a one sided game and a team just running in try after try with nothing coming back from the opposition. Was always going to be the case.

Well each to their own and all that but I would have thought that the so called RL mad place of East Hull would have liked to go see the best RL team on the planet. I clearly thought wrong. To be honest I don't quite fathom why this game wss played in an old stadium when we have so many grounds more suited to international RL.

Maybe it was the cheapest?

No it shouldn't, Scotland qualified to be the 4th team in this 4n

France realistically are the only nation with the infrastructure to be able to close the gap, at least in the next ten years and they have to be playing at the top level. It was not that long ago that NZ were well behind Aus and GB they got better due to the Warriors being in NRL and playing regular against Australia, which is why they surpassed Gb/England.

Wales are the next best in terms of infrastructure and an RL tradition. We should be aiming at getting then up to speed within 10-15 years.

Yeah Coz that's a like for like comparison.

Maybe if the best team had have turned out a few more may have gone to watch. No Thurston, No Boyd, No Inglis. Then the folk that did go only got to see Cam Smith play half a game.

France should be the fourth nation for sure.

Any nation that can produce the likes of Eloi Pelissier, Theodore Fages, Fouad Yaha, Anthony Gigot, Julien Bousquet, Remi Casty, and Morgan Escare deserves more respect than a heritage player filled team like Scotland.

Wow, everyone wants the instant fix for international RL. What do you want just the three nations and nothing else or do you want the game to expand around the world? If there was some form of actual structure that every country could see - regular games and a progression against better teams to the top - or do you prefer ignore everyone apart from the one or two that might get close to each other. If you are France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Serbia, Italy or Russia what regular fixtures and tests do you have to look forward to?

Set out and keep to a clear and regular structure for international RL. Yes you will get blow out scores occasionally but with no exposure to higher levels no one progresses. And yes on some occasions or periods it will need heritage players to move a country up the tree.

Scotland have a chance to learn in advance of next years World Cup. They earned this no matter how long ago that was. Should they have that opportunity or just be ignored?

Oh and teams like San Marino in football get regular fixtures. Do all nations in RL actually get that opportunity?

Maybe people are bored of seeing France conceed 100 points?

Regards

King James

As someone who watches games at the ground regularly there was about 5000 plus there but people were leaving around me from half time onwards I went really to see Australia when they stopped trying the game got boring

It's a shame said nation are pathetic when it comes to competing with the big three.

This.

In the medium term we need to focus on France and Wales as they have the most potential. We need an annual mid-season European Championship involving England, Wales and France, if it involves Scotland and Ireland then great. I don't know much about domestic Irish RL but Scottish RL is virtually nil. So I'm not too bothered if it doesn't involve them yet.

We need the international calendar set so that we always know the schedule for a full World Cup cycle, for instance with by the time the World Cup in 2017 starts we should know the calendar up until the next World Cup in 2021.

There should be an annual mid-season Pacific Championship too involving PNG, Samoa, Fiji and NZ. To help those nations develop and keep players.

Whilst Union has other advantages the regularity and certainty of internationals is a massive bonus for them and has really helped develop nations and boosted the sports profile.

We need to do the same.

...Which has never happened in their history?

And when will these set-calendar festivals of international RL in Europe and the Pacific take place?

Tagged on after the conclusion of the SL and NRL seasons perchance?

If so, don't bother. If Rugby League cannot prioritise internationals ahead of their domestic competitions, they may as well forget it.

Other sports like Rugby Union play important internationals DURING their respective domestic seasons which have the effect of complementing one another by creating and maintaining media interest throughout the season.

Pay more attention in future.