Good to see the return of some International RL this week. The more the better.


Obviously starting with the big one, Aus v NZ in Brisbane on Friday.

Then the doubleheader in Gold Coast on Saturday:
Fiji v PNG
Samoa v Tonga

South Africa play Niue also on Saturday in Campletown.

I think the Phillippines have played this week too.


Any other fixtures I've missed? Is there anything going on from the RLEF?

Well, other than the 4N tournament with France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales in Oct/Nov there are also a few fixtures involving Ireland during the season.

Home game v Belgium in July, second home game against tbc (provisionally Germany though that may change) in August and two away games in Aug (Serbia and Malta). On top of that the 2 origin fixtures (NI v RoI, seniors and U19s) at the end of July.

I think there are quite a few WCQ at the end of this season for the lower graded nations in the build up to the final qualifiers in late 2016 so a fair bit going on. Don't think this time of year suits our game in the Northern Hemisphere from having internationals in-season but definitely more going on these days than at any other time in the game's history.

Touch RL World Cup on at minute as well
Also in the fixtures this weekend are women's NZ v oz and u20 NZ v oz.

3 games this weekend are available to watch (legally) online

[url=http://www.sportsstream.co.uk/australia-v-new-zealand-01052015-live-streaming/Australia v New Zealand[/url

[url=http://www.sportsstream.co.uk/fiji-v-papua-new-guinea-02052015-live-streaming/Fiji v PNG[/url

[url=http://www.sportsstream.co.uk/samoa-v-tonga-02052015-live-streaming/Samoa v Tonga[/url

The first 2017 World Cup qualifying match is next week between Latvia and Spain. www.rlif.com/rugby-league-intern ... world-cup-

The first 2017 World Cup qualifying match is next week between Latvia and Spain. www.rlif.com/rugby-league-intern ... world-cup-

Looks like ticket sales for the England game at the Olympic Stadium are going very well, with part of the upper tier now open.

Australia v NZ game is still on according to NRL officials, but less than 2 hours out from the game there is a tropical storm lashing the ground and half the playing surface is covered by inches of water.
There is also a travel warning, telling people to stay at home unless absolutely necessary.
Probably just normal Friday night weather for you guys.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CD5xOypUUAAJIu5.jpg The lights are on, but no one is home.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CD5xOypUUAAJIu5.jpg The lights are on, but no one is home.

game postponed till Sunday

Soft sods. Only a bit of rain.

100mm in 60 minutes (that's 4 inches in the old money)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CD59OU2W8AAGHil.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CD59OU2W8AAGHil.jpg

The "RL fans only buy tickets when they're cheap" brigade will probably jump on this, but I got an email yesterday offering half price tickets for all 3 games against NZ. Use the code BEINSPIRED - I'd already bought tickets for the Olympic stadium game but will probably use this for the DW and KC games

Called off due to lightening and water logged pitch. Both teams got to the ground. Will now be played Sunday afternoon, forecast is much better and should get 40k now.

If it attracts people to the game I'm all for it, they've just announced 15k tickets sold with 6 months to go before the game, I'm pretty sure we only got just over 20k in total for each game the last time NZ toured the UK. It's clear that hosting games in big London grounds draws the crowds.

Lebanon vs Malta this weekend too, with a player from Hemel Stags making the trip to Sydney for the game to play. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/lebanon-m ... ician-cup/

Lebanon vs Malta this weekend too, with a player from Hemel Stags making the trip to Sydney for the game to play. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/lebanon-m ... ician-cup/

Well I thought the Fiji v PNG game was very high quality.
PNG played as well as I have seen them play, and really stretched Fiji at the end there.
As a Knights fan I was really happy to see how well the Saifiti twins went.
A year ago they were 20kg heavier and playing lower grades for a 4th tier country side, and now they are holding their own for long minutes against players who aren't very far below firstgrade standard.

18-16 to Samoa at fulltime.
A very competitive game. The lead changed hands about 5 times.

Two very high quality international games.

Two superb games on show this morning. A tragedy that these games aren't on SKY, they deserve a much bigger audience.

5 people died.

What if PNG had been able to include the following players?

[iDavid Mead

Nene Macdonald, Thompson Teteh, Menzie Yere, Gary Lo,

RayThompson
Paul Aiton

Charlie Wabo

Mark Mexico, James Segyaro, [/i

Those Albert brothers for PNG are the sort of players they need to develop.
In the past they haven't had enough big guys because of the poor nutrition in the country, but those guys are young giants.
Wellington Albert had the problem of not being able to get size 17 boots in PNG.
They both started in the Hunters last year, and have both been signed by Penrith this year.

The Hunters experiment has really worked, and next year we see a Fiji based side, coached by Petero C, join the NSW cup. Three of his Fiji based squad played in this game, and I thought the big number 17 looked great.

Samoa and Tonga have great sides because they have so many grandparent rule players in the NRL and ESL, but PNG and Fiji are really doing it from the ground up, developing local players who move on to the professional ranks.

Fiji & PNG should be playing international tours to the UK playing against England sides from the championship or uncapped Super league sides, France,Scotland, Wales & Ireland if it can be funded Im sure it would get reasonable crowds, or played before 4 nationa games. Samoa & Tonga should be playing. England, NZ & the Aussies but you have to get the NRL to approve that & there lies our problems.