Havn't seen this posted. Sorry if it already has. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 890012.stm

Havn't seen this posted. Sorry if it already has. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 890012.stm

This was a perfect opportunity to give a meaningful home match to a Pacific Island nation, and instead it's being wasted by playing a pointless game against a joke team. No wonder players are turning their backs on their native countries. Sometimes I wonder if the adminstrators actually want our game to establish itself in the Pacific.

It's good for England as it is just a warm-up game but we could have given great experience to Fiji, Samoa or Tonga.

Well I'd imagine a game against a team that played at the 2000 World Cup and the curtain raiser to the 2008 World Cup (I know for some reason we played the first game, but the Aussies call this one the curtain raiser against the Aboriginals) would be a better game than against a Newcastle residents side that we played before the 2006 Tri-Nations.

Those sides have games already lined up IIRC.

Is it just me who's a tad worried that NZ Maori will actually hand our backsides to us on a silver platter?

I'd be worried about a team of NZ Mary's beating us under McNamara.

Looked for a whole year for a NZ Maori top, find one. FAR too big for me :'(

A game against Samoa, Fiji or Tonga would have been more of a challenge for our boys considering we'll be taking on Australia and NZ in the following weeks.

Word on the street is that Samoa are playing NZ on the same weekend. Tonga are also playing Fiji that weekend too. The game against the Maori is also a game marking 100 years since the NU played the Maori in 1910.

I think people should wait on the squads before jumping the gun on whether NZ Maori, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are good or bad teams.

At least we are actually playing a game, normally we go out there cold and get battered. To be honest i'm wuite glad we arn't playing the Kumuls in Port Moresby, every time the Aussies used to do that, they'd arrive in England battered and bruised and struggle in the first test.

Got to be a good thing, but hopefully at least another warmup game.

I can't see any reason to criticise this decision. Sometimes I think because people have got a dog on with the RFL, they can't do anything right.

So you didn't actually read the article...

Agreed, its a good fixture, it will engage the NZ public and increase the crowd as its on before the NZ game at the same stadium. No arguments against....unless youre a typical whingeing league fan.

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