The whole concept of the game is a joke really, whats the point of the game? Whats wrong with bringing back Lancashire against Yorkshire? at least there'd be 2 sets of supporters creating an atmosphere. Plus how can McBannana be taken seriously when he picks so many out of form Leeds players? And whats the point playing for a trophy when they only play 2 games, who gets the trophy if the Exciles win the next game.....what an absolute joke!!!

No it wont. I will also be very surprised if even more Exile players dont pull out of the next game.

Yep. Lima and Lauaki have both got knocks after the Bradford home game.

I wouldn't be too happy with having key Wigan players in the Exiles team. I do enjoy international rugby league but to me it's nowhere near as important as the club game. That's not how it should be but unfortunately at this moment in time international rugby is simply not good enough.

It's alright saying fans should get behind it and change their attitudes towards it but what incentive is there? How can fans start seeing the international game as more important than the club game when the club game is simply so much better? There's little to get passionate about when it comes to internationals when England face France, Wales or a bunch of overseas players hastily thrown together. There's no real intensity, no real rivalry in those games between the players or the fans.

I have struggled with the concept of the England v Exiles matches to a degree!!! Yes they offer England some warm up/team building matches against a team of experienced battle hardened players. But if we want a concept which will eventually grow into a match with the brutality, entertainment of a state of origin match, which the Aussies use to basically choose their national side, instead of England playing meaningless but useful games like the Exiles match, why dont England play the England Knights??? Im sure there are a few Knights players who would love to show the current England manager how well they can play, and also show the current England players why they need to be dropped!!! These games can then be used to see which players, young/older/experienced/inexperienced etc, can play in their selected positions, and then the England squad/team can then be chosen from those that perform best!!! The fact that a potential England place is up for grabs will be better motivation than playing games against the Exiles, and one sided matches against Ireland....Just my thoughts!!!


Matt

I have said much the same in posts recently. England v England Knights, East v West etc. Whatever way you want to name it have a trial match between English players for England selection and it has a lot more mileage and potential than any doomed Exile concept.

England v England Knights would be much better than the current farce..deffo go with that..

Been saying this for months now.
Rugby Union used to play Probables vs Possibles.
It would certainly give the young lads a cahnce to prove themselves against the so called England first team and gives the coach something to think about.

I'm a fan of the exiles concept, but tonight's game was spoiled partly by all the Exiles that had to withdraw, and partly by the conditions. Had they had a full squad to pick from, they'd have beaten us easily, and showed just how flawed McNamara's selections and tactics are. As it is, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he more or less sticks with the same side.

I think Tomkins, Charnley, O'Loughlin, Hock and Mossop also look like they might pick up knocks as well

Why would anyone want to watch lancs vs Yorks and see people like Kev Brown, Wheeler or has beens like Morley when you can watch Tommy, Lima, Monaghan & Dureau?

It's a good job Roby was playing IMO! Chase and Sinfield offered nothing, so it was down to him most of the time...

Change in HBs DEFINITELY required...although I ain't got much hope of that!

A lot more changes than just the halves needed. Peacock's past it, there are much better back rowers around than Tickle and JJB, and Ablett isn't a centre (don't think Charnley got one decent pass off him all night).

Spot on.

With the right team in place, one that will get the fans behind them, more people would turn up and there would be a better atmosphere. However, I found it really tough to support one side tonight. I was cheering tries from both sides! And so were loads of other fans. At other times I was so bored I was joining in with the inter-club sing-off.

Oh I agree, but the halves is where the changes SHOULD start as it's the crux of the team.

An injection of youth wouldn't go a miss really in these sorts of games...

I don't think the wingers or centres really saw much of the ball in attacking situations so it's hard to criticise them. Peacock was just disappointing. He really did look past it while Carvell and Mossop actually looked very good. Crabtree improved a bit in the second half although he wasn't quite as effective as I would have hoped.

Tickle had a very good game but there was still nothing to get excited about from him. He doesn't seem to have that much skill, he just seems to be very good at hitting a gap. In Super League there are far too many unspectacular workhorse forwards and not enough talented ball players.

We've got players like JJB who run the ball well and do lots of work but don't really trouble anyone when it comes to skill, or players like Wilkin who are very skilful and work hard but offer no real impact that might threaten the defence.

As for the halves, Sinfield and Chase still don't do it for me. Chase seems to struggle to fit in and Sinfield is a good kicker but just doesn't seem to have much to offer in the halves. At times it seemed like his only idea was to dummy to a player out wide turn around and fall backwards into the defence. I think we need to focus on the future when it comes to the halves and I'd be very worried if Sinfield was the best option for the 2013 World Cup.

I can honestly say that I have never been more bored at a RL game than I was tonight. Forget Tommy's injury, these things happen but no-one gave a monkeys tonight. 11,000+ attendance? Do me a favour, RLF/sky lies - it was nearer to 7K. Mates turned enemies? Yeah right. The problem is you can't generate an atmosphere in the way they tried to tonight. I cringed every time 'we will rock you' crackled over the 1980's speakers in situ at Langtree Park.

I overheard someone in the beer queue tonight with a great idea. Bring back Lancs v Yorks, £2000 to each of the winning players and all supporters of the winning team get their money back along with a free ticket to a SL match of their choice.

Players have something to play for, i.e. money and and England shirt and supporters have vested interest as well rather than asking themselves what possessed them to turn out to watch such a pointless and boring game. I'm not sure of the economics involved but there must be a better way than tonight.

I for one won't be returning in the current format and the overwhelming consensus was that many felt the same.

So you were not one of the female saints fans in front of me who cheered all night for the exiles (Meli in particular!) and booed every time sam got the ball (as did others) I went with two saints fans who were very embarrassed by the childish booing and comments if it was wigan playing fair enough but England sorry it was pathetic.

It was the same throughout the ground. I went with a St Helens fan and we were both embarassed. We had Leeds fans shouting "throw him into touch" every time Tomkins got the ball and laughing if he got tackled. Sts fans booing Hock and even had some shouting obscene things at him regarding drugs etc. I really don't understand why you would choose to go and watch England and then act like that.

We were also annoyed that somehow our seats had been double booked and a kid sat with his mum with genuine tickets were sat in our seats. Ok-ish concept, badly executed IMO.

The old method of helping to choose tour teams used to work very well,it was Probabales V Possibles and was over two matches.
The Probabales consisted of the players who where expected to be the players who would be picked for the tour and the Possibles where the players who if they had an exceptional game could be moved over to the Probs either at half time or during the second match.
Even before the second match they could bring in new players to give them a chance as well.

What you had was players fighting to stay in the Probs and if they where sent down to the Possibles they would be so upset that they would fight like mad to get back up to the Probs.
It was the same for the players who started in the Possibles,they would fight like mad to get into the Probs for the second match.
What they where fighting for was a place on a Tour to Australia and New Zealand which in those days meant so much to part time players. The problem today is we dont have that sort of incentive and what I proposed may not even work,but it would be a far better test in my opinion than what we have at present.

why not have a SOO Yorks v Lancs plus a European version of SOO for the aussies ?

pick two teams from NSW v QLD playing in europe with say, three overseas players ie Kiwis or Fijians etc for each side and have that game as a curtain raiser ?

all sets of players would be playing for local pride & bragging rights etc

That might be the worse idea I've ever read.

why ?

is watching England Knights batter Ireland by 60 points as a curtain raiser entertaining RL in your opinion ?

a half decent Exiles team would have trounced England

So does Langtree Park now join Headingley on the list of 'okay-ish grounds but the Ukraine-type indigenous idiots make them unsuitable for international RL'?

If so, I wonder how many of us would have made a few bob betting on those two being first on the list. I know I would.

Give over

there were other fans in the stadium booing...not just Saints fans.

We were having anti-Saints/Wigan/Warrington/Leeds songs coming from a few Saints and Wigan fans in the west