adamkungl
Immortal
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- 42,955
After an exciting 2018 calendar, the northern hemisphere is severely lacking this year.
Obviously some exceptions, but overall the calendar is barren.
What IS happening (and the missing pieces):
Great Britain tour - some quality matches
but none at home for England, Wales or Ireland.
Euro Qualifiers - Scotland and Ireland participating with Italy, Russia, Greece, Spain.
Just 2 games will decide their fate - and none of them have scheduled in a single warm-up game, except Ireland Club XIII back in April. How much do they want it?
Turkey v Greece - A good warm-up in September before the qualifiers. Greece showing more initiative than their supposedly more professional European neighbours...
despite them being effectively banned from playing the sport.
Jamaica v USA - The 2nd test in Jamaica is good news,
but I can't see anything North American in the back half of the year. Late planning maybe?
African Championships - This is awesome tbh
Lebanon v Fiji - Lebanon playing Fiji is good
but imploding off the field is bad
Nation by nation:
England - after some quality performances over NZ and the Knights development squad touring PNG, they've backed it up in 2019 with.... nothing. Goodbye momentum.
Wales - The excitement of qualifying for another World Cup has resulted in a massive calendar of zero games in 2019. That'll bring the fans back.
Ireland -
Scotland -
In separate groups for the Qualifiers, which makes a warm up game against each other a great idea. Naturally, there's not been the slightest hint of this happening.
France - At least the UK teams have the Qualifiers and GB tour. France has lined up a massive series vs nobody for the October-November international period. Fascinating stuff.
Italy -
Spain -
Russia -
Greece -
Please schedule a warm up game or two?
Czechia -
Malta -
Germany -
Netherlands -
Norway -
Serbia -
Ukraine -
The disappointment of missing World Cup qualification has driven these nations to up their game by not playing it this year. Bold move, lets see if it pays off.
USA -
Jamaica -
playing each other once.
Canada -
Maybe next year?
Lebanon -
imploding
---
Maybe I'm being harsh here, but with the Pacific nations pushing forward rapidly its imperative that nations like Wales and France get a team on the park every year.
A 4 Nations with England Knights, France, Wales and Jamaica is so obvious that it pains me to not see it.
Ditto for warm-up games for the qualifiers.
Maybe there will be a late rush but it seems unlikely. It's good that there are regular tournaments coming from next year, but the lack of initiative in between is hugely concerning.
Obviously some exceptions, but overall the calendar is barren.
What IS happening (and the missing pieces):
Great Britain tour - some quality matches
but none at home for England, Wales or Ireland.
Euro Qualifiers - Scotland and Ireland participating with Italy, Russia, Greece, Spain.
Just 2 games will decide their fate - and none of them have scheduled in a single warm-up game, except Ireland Club XIII back in April. How much do they want it?
Turkey v Greece - A good warm-up in September before the qualifiers. Greece showing more initiative than their supposedly more professional European neighbours...
despite them being effectively banned from playing the sport.
Jamaica v USA - The 2nd test in Jamaica is good news,
but I can't see anything North American in the back half of the year. Late planning maybe?
African Championships - This is awesome tbh
Lebanon v Fiji - Lebanon playing Fiji is good
but imploding off the field is bad
Nation by nation:
England - after some quality performances over NZ and the Knights development squad touring PNG, they've backed it up in 2019 with.... nothing. Goodbye momentum.
Wales - The excitement of qualifying for another World Cup has resulted in a massive calendar of zero games in 2019. That'll bring the fans back.
Ireland -
Scotland -
In separate groups for the Qualifiers, which makes a warm up game against each other a great idea. Naturally, there's not been the slightest hint of this happening.
France - At least the UK teams have the Qualifiers and GB tour. France has lined up a massive series vs nobody for the October-November international period. Fascinating stuff.
Italy -
Spain -
Russia -
Greece -
Please schedule a warm up game or two?
Czechia -
Malta -
Germany -
Netherlands -
Norway -
Serbia -
Ukraine -
The disappointment of missing World Cup qualification has driven these nations to up their game by not playing it this year. Bold move, lets see if it pays off.
USA -
Jamaica -
playing each other once.
Canada -
Maybe next year?
Lebanon -
imploding
---
Maybe I'm being harsh here, but with the Pacific nations pushing forward rapidly its imperative that nations like Wales and France get a team on the park every year.
A 4 Nations with England Knights, France, Wales and Jamaica is so obvious that it pains me to not see it.
Ditto for warm-up games for the qualifiers.
Maybe there will be a late rush but it seems unlikely. It's good that there are regular tournaments coming from next year, but the lack of initiative in between is hugely concerning.
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