Spot on. The very best English 13 can compete with the Aussies & Kiwis, but with just a couple of injuries we're on a hiding to nothing.

2-3 extra games against a manufactured and supposedly challenging opposition will NOT markedly improve England, especially when you consider clubs will find ways of their internationals missing the games, and some will be genuinely injured and miss them anyway.

The NRL (and by consequence, the Kangaroos & Kiwis) is superior because they play at a higher intensity against the very best players week in, week out, almost without fail. SL does not achieve those levels. Is it the climate? Sporting technology and/or know-how? Facilities? The Aussie culture of sport? Superior coaching and tactics? A larger playing pool to select from? Are they simply bigger, stronger and more skilful?

I personally think it's a combination of all of the above and we need to address each issue step by step. Additional England games can't hurt - any opportunity to get the players together is a bonus - but let's not pretend that creating additional games in a desperate attempt to create intense and higher quality games is the answer to our problems.

Call them the All Golds - historical name of a team made up of Kiwis and Ozzies. Fits nicely and doths a cap to our heritage.

I could actually see it working if the incentive for the All Gold players was there ie winners and losers purses worth playing for and maybe even some sort of test status for the All Golds players. Play it as a 2 match series mid season with all SL suspended on those weekends, 10pound entry for any season ticket holder of a RL club and 1 pound for kids. Play it at a min 25k stadium and aim to fill it. Get BBC to Televise it and a corporate interested in national FTA to sponsor it.

Of course I doubt it will be any of this. Probably end up some low profile game played on a Weds night in Doncaster before 3000 people and canned after a year. Such is the way in RL.

No one has said it will be the answer to our problems.

The fact that you are agreeing with with me that any Chance to get the England team together is a bonus means that you are of the opinion that it is a step in the right direction.

Anyone who is arguing against it because they don't think it will solve all the problems is completely missing the point. Everything else they suggest won't solve all the problems, but each little thing will help.

thats the point though JB.....do we continue to play france and/or wales mid season and tank them by 50+ or do we want to test ourselves??

let a england 'A' team play france and wales, as curtain raisers to the england v Other nationalities game

i've listed a Other nationalities team before that contained half a dozen aussies that would still be playing origin if they still played in the NRL,a handful of kiwis that would still be getting picked for the anzac test if they played in the NRL and some freakish islanders who don't play mid season tests anyway



and to those whinging about the Other nationalities name....do some reading...ON are the joint oldest international RL team in the world...given that england played the first ever "international" against the other nationalities back in 1904...and over time i reckon the green ON jersey could become to ESL based aussies,kiwis & islanders what the blue & maroon jerseys are to NRL players...

we just need the RFL to stop faffing about and get serious about england catching up the aussies

Agree, although still not sure about the "Other Nationalities" tag. Yes, it's an old historic name in the game, but does that mean it could also be dated? I don't think there'd be any harm in a rebrand.

I think the All Golds idea is poor though. The All Golds were a Kiwi touring team with one Aussie player. This is neither a Kiwi team nor a touring team so there is no connection there.

agree with your sentiments but how many of the SL clubs would be willing to release their players for these 'unofficial' tests (certainly not Catalans !) and how is the RFL 'faffing about' ? The england coach at any given moment can only pick the players he sees good enough at that moment to turn out for him - what more can the RFL do to make the english players compete with the aussies(or kiwis) ?
As for the name of this ON side,why not simply 'ROW' ?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Nati ... eague_team thats why.....HISTORY!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Nati ... eague_team thats why.....HISTORY!

www.loverugbyleague.com/news_474 ... -test.html Quote England could face a Super League All Stars team in a mid-season fixture if clubs agree to plans put forward by the RFL. The governing body wants to revive the Other Nationalities XIII concept to provide England with tougher opposition after a series of one-sided matches against France. Under the proposals supporters would be invited to vote for which overseas players should feature in the All Stars side. A similar initiative has proven extremely popular in Australia, with thousands of fans voting to select NRL and Indigenous All Stars teams who met in a match to launch the 2010 season. The RFL has now asked the 14 Super League clubs for approval to go ahead with the plan and the match could be introduced this season. Some clubs are likely to have concerns about risking their star players in the game however it is believed that the final team will only feature one player from each club. There has been widespread support for such a fixture within the game with leading players and coaches lending their support to the concept. Many fans would also relish the opportunity to watch a team featuring the likes of Wigan's Pat Richards, Warrington fullback Brett Hodgson and new Hull KR signing Willie Mason do battle against England.'" rather it be a open selection than 1 per team though

www.loverugbyleague.com/news_474 ... -test.html Quote England could face a Super League All Stars team in a mid-season fixture if clubs agree to plans put forward by the RFL. The governing body wants to revive the Other Nationalities XIII concept to provide England with tougher opposition after a series of one-sided matches against France. Under the proposals supporters would be invited to vote for which overseas players should feature in the All Stars side. A similar initiative has proven extremely popular in Australia, with thousands of fans voting to select NRL and Indigenous All Stars teams who met in a match to launch the 2010 season. The RFL has now asked the 14 Super League clubs for approval to go ahead with the plan and the match could be introduced this season. Some clubs are likely to have concerns about risking their star players in the game however it is believed that the final team will only feature one player from each club. There has been widespread support for such a fixture within the game with leading players and coaches lending their support to the concept. Many fans would also relish the opportunity to watch a team featuring the likes of Wigan's Pat Richards, Warrington fullback Brett Hodgson and new Hull KR signing Willie Mason do battle against England.'" rather it be a open selection than 1 per team though

funny you quoting history and just yesterday telling me i was bored for starting a thread re history

you where questioning the 1895 & 1908 dates u baffoon...lol

2010 Four Nations - New Zealand
2009 Four Nations - Australia
2008 World Cup - New Zealand
2007 NZ/ENG - England
2006 Tri Nations - Australia
2005 Tri Nations - New Zealand
2004 Tri Nations - Australia

So, what would an all-star/other nationalities/all-golds/Cadbury's Smash RFL 13 look like then, player wise?

But you seem to be missing the point that everyone else is making. It is the get-together that is important. It is the players being around each other.

The game itself wont help a bit. And by staging it they are removing tests v wales and france, and limiting the get together to a very small number of people.

there are negative things in staging the game.

The game itself will be a waste of time. You'll end up with a host of players "picking up niggles" the round before and an England team playing a largely uninterested "Overseas XIII" in front of a largely apathetic crowd.

I agree with the above poster that exposing British players to a more intense Super League is the way forward. In the NRL, if you don't play at 100%, you get beat - that's the attitude we need. Personally, I would cut SL back to 12 teams (including a French and Welsh franchise), bring in a harsher quota system to weed out "journeymen" players and actively encourage better use of the limited talent pool that we have (ie, get players playing quality, rather than quantity). It's not healthy to have a competition where teams can win matches whilst playing in third gear, simply because the league is trying to stretch too few players across too many teams.

Longer term, we need to look at improving standards in the "home nations". At the moment, the Aussies are too good for us but we're too good for France, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Logistically internationals against the southern hemisphere teams in mid-season aren't workable so, IMO, getting a worthwhile "five nations" style comp should be the long-term aim.

Any Five Nations competition needs to be stuck with and funded well if it is going to work. The RFL cannot simply do it for 5 years, then think it isn't working and start something else. It needs proper commitment, there needs to be a break in SL play, and players who used to play for Scotland, Wales and Ireland in World Cups long ago need to be asked (and paid) to return to give the teams a little quality. If Ireland field a team of Plastic Paddy's and Aussies, they're fine to do so, if it means them teaching the youngsters of Ireland, and giving England a good game.

Very much agree with this

Rather than playing an ‘other Nations’ – which on paper would be a tough match but I feel would suffer through player and club apathy – we should concentrate on building competitive Home Nations fixtures, initially with Wales and France and then with Ireland and Scotland

Of course England will win these games comfortably at this point in time but the England squad will benefit through additional time together and it will raise the profile of the sport in the other nations

Australia have State of Origin – we don’t... so what! Neither do New Zealand but they don’t seem to have any problems beating Australia in high pressure matches

Continually increase the standard of Super League and allow the elite players time together as a squad with the right resources and England RL will improve

Talks of a Five Nations are laughable. France and Wales are miles behind England, and Scotland and Ireland are even further. Scotland and Ireland can barely muster a crowd of 1,000 (if at all). Stick with the European Cup and the Four Nations for this. Wales and France will be best served playing each other to aid their development as they are a similar standard. France have proven they can draw in the crowds. Having England flog them will do for little for anyone.

You could say it would expose them to 'higher intensity competition'

You could, but you could also say that it's too high and thus not beneficial. You wouldn't give your typical primary school kid quantum physics, and you wouldn't give your typical high school kid the 2x table.

the reason we play Wales and France is because its international competition. Its what we are 'building' for.


Of course France and Wales should play each other and the teams of a similar level more for competitive purposes. And they do. But they need games against us, Australia and NZ and expose them to a high level of competition. Not as some kind of bridging game like playing an England B side.

if we want international competetion England have to play Wales,France etc but not mid-season

why not something like a Yorks v Lancs or similar mid-season if we have to play anything at that time ?

Except we're not teaching children, we're talking about international RL and it doesn't work that way.

Couldn't see a thread on it anyway so please do correct me if there is... Came across these articles today about England having a summer game against a selected Super League Allstars team. www.rugbyleaguetoday.co.uk/engla ... all-stars/ & here... www.loverugbyleague.com/news_474 ... -test.html Good idea, bad idea? Personally it sounds like a promising project!

Couldn't see a thread on it anyway so please do correct me if there is... Came across these articles today about England having a summer game against a selected Super League Allstars team. www.rugbyleaguetoday.co.uk/engla ... all-stars/ & here... www.loverugbyleague.com/news_474 ... -test.html Good idea, bad idea? Personally it sounds like a promising project!

We've been far too busy talking about finances, shares, overseas players, quotas etc to keep a rugby league topic on the front page

Ahh, so they is another one lol.

They seems to be everything on here, I probably couldn't even go in the sin bin and talk about a glass toaster because its probably been covered!