why do we need a combined PI side?? any of them alone would give us a decent game and develop the team as a whole...

start taking 5 fijians,5 samoans,5 tongans & 5 papuans out of their respective side to play in a combined PI side then the rest of the fijians,tongans,samoans & PNG'ans will start going backwards..

sounds good - but , do we still get to go to Perpignan mid-season

ive always thought this would be a good idea. sort of England v's Europe/World, even an all-star game would be good.

It would be much better than tonking France every year. Like someone said, if you have a maximum of 2/3 players from each team and give them a weeks training together, would be a good game and a far better test than France.

B.Hodgson (Huddersfield)
Richards (Wigan)
Gidley (Saints)
Carmont (Wigan)
King (Warrington)
Dobson (Hull KR)
Long (Saints)
Vella (Hull KR)
Randell (Harlequins)
Ewan Dowes (Hull FC)
Morrison (Bradford)
Fakir (Catalan)
Stephen Wild (Huddersfield)

Hudson (Castleford)
O'Hara (Celtic)
Cashmere (Salford)
Danny Tickle (Hull FC)

Just randomly picked a team, which included a player from every Super League side, and no more than 2 player from any one team. It's probably not the best team in the world, and there not all overseas players, but it's still a decent side that would beat the French quite convincingly IMO, and would give England a far better game than the French have in the last 2 years. A good idea that should be looked into.

Those silly friendlies we have in winter could be replaced with a Yorks v Lancs 3 game series at JJB, Galpharm and Millenium stadium it would be a great time and not interfere with Club commitments

Some good ideas, but Steve Nash as skipper? He's not even making Salfords seventeen this season.

You obviously believe he will be a star within three years

There would be more people on the pitch than in the stands for that game

or here's another thought you take the top 30 teams

you split them in to 2 leagues of 15 a west teams and east teams league similar to American football

[uWest[/u

1. Saints
2. Wigan
3. Warrington
4. Leigh
5. Widnes
6. Celtic Crusaders
7. Salford
8. Barrow
9. Whitehaven
10. Workington
11. Oldham
12. Blackpool
13. Halifax
14. Huddersfield
15. Toulouse (purely because it would be unfair on the east going to france twice and Quins)

[uEast[/u

1. Leeds
2. Hull FC
3. Hull KR
4. Quins
5. Wakefield
6. Castleford
7. Bradford
8. Catalans
9. Featherstone
10. Sheffield
11. Batley
12. Gateshead
13. Doncaster
14. Dewsbury
15. York

top 4 of each in the playoffs.

This way everyone's involved and teams will get better, just a thought though before i get ridiculed into existence

I'd love to see an England vs Exiles type match.

Hopefully some of the Aussies would be up for getting one over on the English and we’d see something near to state of origin intensity which lets face it is what we are lacking.

I’d also love to see a possible vs probable’s match with possible England squad players playing against the players who currently hold their jersey

Burrow vs Myler
Roby vs Diskin/Moore
Atkins vs Gleeson
Briscoe vs Wellens
Fox vs Gardner
Mcquire vs Pryce
Westerman vs Sinfield

There would be a few interesting battles going on and players like Atkins, Moore, Myler & Fox may have a greater chance to impress with that extra bit of quality around them.

I think it'd be a shame to just include Aussies and Kiwis though.

Part of the draw would be that players opting to play for Scotland/Ireland/Wales would have the chance of top quality representative rugby at least once a season.

Assuming a 17 was split up as below, who would be picked now?

No more than 4 players qualified to play for Australia
No more than 4 players qualified to play for New Zealand
No more than 3 Samoa/Tonga/PNG qualified players
At least one Scot, one Irishman, one Welshman, one Frenchman...

Agree with what you going for.
For me if something like this is ever to happen it should be County of Origin or England vs Super League XIII

They can go in the Lancashire cup like Fulham did



The accents the same anyway

Simple Yorkshire v Lancashire instead of the magic weekend and 1 game over Eater, 2 less game so teams will have to play some opposition once (happens in the NRL I think), would be 2 good teams too.

Yorkshire: Smith, Fox, Shenton, Atkins, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Peacock, Diskin, Crabtree, Westwood, Burgess, Westerman

Lancashire: Briscoe, Ainscough, Gleeson, Wheeler, Aspinwall, Tomkins, Myler, Morley, Moore, Graham, Hock, Clough, Sinfield

tbh, that would probably make a cracking game.

All this county of Origin stuff has never worked in the past, and does not provide England with decent mid-season opposition.

The "Barbarians" style team would.

People knocked the last County of Origin game but I went to Headingley and it was superb.
Great atmosphere, but with the uncertainty and the limited number of games it wasn't as intense as it could have been.

I dont know about a Barbarians style team.....I just cant see it working.

I think people wanted it to be instantly this think to rival SOO, which was obviously never going to happen. I think if you re-introduced the lancs and yorks teams to play france, not only would it help france's development by giving them a "middle rung" in terms of opposition, but if they are attended (and I'd go to the lancs one), then sooner or later you'd start getting the inter county banter "we beat france by more than you, our county's better" going, perhaps providing the spark for a roses game.

people knocked the last few county of origin games...but they where some of the best attended best attentded origin games in the history of the roses games

Thats like saying KR fans behaved pretty well the last time they played Hull FC. Sure only three people died....but still.....

Problem with the roses game is that only the backward types who chant "yorkshire, yorkshire" at their home games actually care.

Us the right side of the pennines don't give two hoots.

I think with a decent coach France would be a much better team.

I also think Ireland can give England a decent game if they are allowed to develop and select their best side.

See England is nothing special at all, its just playing games against semi professional sides mid season and its making them look a lot better than they are.

Keep in mind that France and England were the two worst performing teams at the World Cup.

you're actually on the left side of the Pennines we are on the right side!

I like the idea of a Barbarians game and I like the idea of a War of the Roses game. In order for either to work the Rugby football league and super league would have to fully commit on a long-term basis.

Either concept should be backed and marketed as a premier event and the clubs and players should be compelled to take part.

The incumbent England manager and a selection committee should only be allowed to choose players who have participated in these games, a period at strict adherence to this rule would soon spell out to the players that they cannot opt out.

Unlike previous incarnations this war of the roses this would be staged during a period of full-time professionalism from every club and competing player and that in my opinion could make a real difference.

This type of Event is how modern-day sport's are driven and we should use these events as a trial to sell tickets via the clubs in the same way that the Rugby football union do.

The benefits to the clubs and the game could be massive if we could really get this event off the ground. Like the challenge cup final, the grand final and the Magic weekend these games could really be a vehicle for pushing the sport on to the back pages of the tabloids and into all the media.

I think the reason NSW v Queensland works is that they are huge areas encompassing the bulk of a county's populations and big cities in Sydney and Brisbane.

Lancashire v Yorkshire just looks silly as a trial for GB IMO and perpetutates the small time northern sport line that the press like to trot out.

correct me if i'm wrong but are'nt the 2 areas of lancashire (inc GMR,merseyside etc) and yorkshire (inc humberside) the 2nd & 4th most populous areas in the country??



hardly small time

Yorkshire is also the biggest county in Britain