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No, they are playing England on Ocbober 21 in Avignon. They are supposed to be playing 'England Knights' too, but hopefully that concept will have been scrapped by then, or they will field a reserve team or something.
What are you talking about?
Because it's stupid and detrimental to the international game. No other nations feel the need to do this, if Australia did it you'd be up in arms. And before you start, don't mention the PM13 - that is a team assembled for one fixture a year which wouldn't go ahead otherwise. It's completely different to what 'England Knights' is supposed to be.
Did you read my post? I clearly adressed the issue of the PM13, and in addition to what I said, they also play against a PNG select team, not the full test team despite what is commonly reported in Aussie media. I can't think of any occasions where there is an 'A' team that is trying to arrange fixtures against full international teams in the way that 'England Knights' appear to be, it just adds to further segregation of the international game. And I'm not sure why you keep asking me what I think 'England Knights' is, surely that's pretty obvious to everyone?
Like I said though, the PM13 and none of those other 'A' teams are seeking to play against full Test sides to my knowledge. As far as I am aware, the match between NZ and Tonga was a full Test, I can't recall NZ 'A' competing since 2003 although I might be wrong. Look I'm not against the idea of 'A' teams as such, I just don't think we should have them playing against full Test nations such as France which is what 'England Knights' are planning.
Like I keep saying, the best way to win the World Cup would be to improve coaching standards and improve the talent pool. You can mess about with all sorts of 'development squads' or whatever, at the end of the day England's players are not as good as those of Australia and NZ and until that changes they're never realistically going to beat them with any regularity. Having a second England team playing internationals doesn't achieve anything and isn't going to suddenly mean there are a bunch of players capable of competing at the top level internationally. You'll see what difference the 'Exiles' concept and all this other crap makes at the end of the year when England are smashed yet again. Also, you talk about 'wasting time' playing France yet England are playing France in October, in addition to 'England Knights'. I hate this disrespect and segregation in the international game.
I understand where you're coming from, but don't forget there was a very similar team that played last decade, and it didn't affect the results at all. This isn't really a new idea and I didn't like it any more then than I do now. International experience is far from England's biggest obstacle when it comes to competing at the top level, you can make good players play in as many international fixtures as you like but they'll still lose 9 times out of 10 to a team of great players. Also, I'd rather not see England prosper to the detriment of the international game, if we take that attitude then we're just as bad as the ARL.
