Just don't bother and give the selected England squad an extra week together at the end of the season. No point giving them a match in June when the WC squad will be completely different.

I think this would be a far better option than wasting everyone's time by playing a meaningless game against another made up side.

McBanana has apparently said he is going to push for another 2 Exiles games next seasons, which is ludicrous IMO.

Yorkshire vs lancashire - 3 game series throughout season at neutral grounds.
England vs exiles at end of season for one game.
England and england knights then go on tours to places like new zealand and australia

I'd have one England vs Exiles game and go to France for a game as well. It's all well and good wanting us to have a real test via the Exiles match but we also need to keep trying to grow the game on this side of the world and the French are our best hope. They're developing some decent players, there's a good fan base and a trip to France would be a good bonding exercise for a young-ish side ahead of the world cup.

I'd do it all at the same time then, Knights to play France as a curtain raiser. If there are no changes to the RL calendar next year then there simply isn't enough time for 2 games. We should have one free weekend dedicated to an international game like this year but without the stupid cramming of a 2nd fixture in midweek.

One Saturday afternoon in June at a reasonably-sized stadium (Langtree/Halliwell maybe Hudds/KC/DW):

3 pm England Knights v France
5.30 pm England v Exiles

We need the game to have its own sponsor, a decent incentive for playing in it (ie prize money) and if possible we should be looking for the release of the NRL-based players so the squads are as strong as possible. If it is marketed well and sensibly priced, together with 2 strong playing squads then the concept will grow. The RFL got greedy trying to add a 2nd fixture this year and it backfired massively.

Not a bad idea but I wouldn't have the exiles game at the end of the season, i'd leave that for the wcc.

Explain?

One Exiles game. One game against France and one game against Wales.

Or...

Two week break. Fly down to NZ for three test series. Friday night, Weds Night, Sunday night. Could help the NZ/SoO situation also.

For once I concur

England Knights should not and hopefully will not be playing against France, or any other international team in the future. Get a grip.

I'd have 2 war of the roses and then england v exiles in the season, 2 weeks after the sl grand final i'd have the wcc.

You seriously think the Aussies would spoil their holidays to fly over here after they have just won their GF? And how do you fit in a 4 nations tournament or WC which would normally start then?

I'd have a European 3 nations with England, Wales, and France every year during the season. Winner plays Exiles....
And also have a 2 match test series with Great Britain and France and a Emerging European Cup with Ireland, Scotland and Russia or Italy

England V Wales, Wigan
France V England, Montpellier (on Bastille Day)
Wales V France, Wrexham

European Champions V Exiles

Great Britain V France (City of Manchester Stadium)
France V Great Britain (Toulouse Stade Ernest-Wallon)

One player could represent 5 times during the season in all 3 comps... Virtually the same amount for NRL players with State of Origin series, Anzac test, All Satrs Game and Country V City

Would they prefer it to pre season?

International games start a month after the season finishes.

Four Nations tournament between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales - the teams competing in the RLWC. It might encourage some SL players to switch allegiances again and get stronger teams for the rest ahead of their campaigns. It would also get England in camp much more and get some strong bonds together allow Steve Mc more time ahead of the World Cup

Put the games on a Sunday afternoon back-to-back (i.e. two fixtures one after another) and move all SL games to Friday/Saturday night. Split the fixtures across three weekends through usmmer.

English games could be held at likes of Keepmoat Stadium and City of Salford Stadium. Irish games at Thomond Park. Scotland, at some small Scottish football ground?

Home Nations tournament would be a disaster. If the Knights can put 60 on Ireland mid-season, what are England going to do?

There'd be little gain from it. Neither team would get a worthwhile challenge. At least Exiles is competitive.

As for WCC at the end of the season, would be nice but I'm still holding on to thought of an extended competition. Plus, even as a one-off, it would be hard to sell ANOTHER show piece event at the end of the season. People are already paying for play-offs, internationals and a GF in the space of 2 months (+ the CCF a month earlier).

Why not? They are the players who are seen as future internationals. They've just played Ireland and put 60 on them, what's the point in them smashing Ireland or Scotland every year? France don't provide a stern enough mid season challenge for the full England team which is why the Exiles concept was developed. Knights v France would be a decent game I reckon and would be a very good curtain raiser to the main game, why would you be against it?

As for the WCC it definitely should be at the end of the season. There is usually a warm up international game before whatever tournament is on (usually Wales/Maoris etc). The WCC could be played on this weekend. This would also mean that the WWC would alternate between hemispheres.

As we all know the RFL are onboard with this concept and are for the forseeable future. The reasoning behind this concept was to enable England to play 1 or 2 competitive matches against reasonable oppostion as the other host nations are seen as being too weak at present.

With the raise in the NRL cap the pool of decent Australian and NewZeland players is only going to shrink over the next 2/3 years. Is it not worth the RFL scrapping this concept now rather than allowing it to degrade due to lack of quality imports. And look at re establishing the War of the roses?

This was resurrected about 8 years ago i think and the interest for that was certainly higher than the interest in the Exiles game. The issue of players dropping out will probably be raised but if the RFL could get a sponsor for the contest and use that funding to pay players additional money for playing in the series as the Australians do in Origin it would counteract this problem. Also play them at better stadia Elland road and Etihad stadium for example this obsession we ahve of playing ganes ot traditional games does not generate external interest. I would also look to have a parallel series being ran between Cumbria and Cheshire if possible. These are areas of RL talent too.

IF they are to continue with the exiles games i cant for the life of me understand why they dont play a game in London what with all the Aussies and Kiwis Living in that area.

I know this concept would not enable the English team to play together but it would enable most players in contention for an england shirt to play against each other in a quality team against a quality team and see who fits best.

Constructive thoughts please......

No it should be allowed to carry on but only with full backing from the clubs and the players selected not selected for the club side 5 to 2 days before the game.

SL will lose some of their bigger name overseas players and the quality coming over will go down but they'll still be a better contest than the french or welsh, for now.

I would like to see 2 Yorkshire v Lancashire games followed by the exiles v England game in the season.

Thats Exactly what i was thinking. After the Lancashire v Yorkshire Games the England coach selects his england squad and they play a one off match against the Exiles. Rotate its venue each year between London, Manchester, Leeds

That would be great, the squads would have to be allowed to go into camps (like soo) so you don't get it when they have to pull out because they player 3 days before.

ANOTHER thread about this?!

My thoughts? You want to scrap it because the opposition will get worse, yet we haven't beaten them in a series yet. Where's the logic in that? Surely until it's not living up to its intentions (which you've stated as being to give England a game), then it should be scrapped? But we haven't beaten them in a series, so it's not a valid reason.

Why would War of the Roses achieve more?

The Exiles concept and the Roses concept are both intended to increase the ability of the national team to compete with Australia and New Zealand. Given the enormous gulf in quality between the two competitions and between the grass roots inputs in each country (The quality athletes in the UK are highly unlikely to choose league whereas they do in Aus/NZ) is there any point continuing with this aim?

Super League will never rival the NRL for the reasons I put above. So is there any point in having internationals? Does the sport really need them? Does it currently benefit from it's farcical international scene? The forthcoming World Cup has NO hype about it at all and will be another expensive embarassment.

Why not just scrap internationals altogether? Lets think outside the box for once and do something different. Representative rugby doesn't have to be based on nationality.