2025 Ashes Tour

[Mother Nature's Son]

And if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a bike

France has a massive African population and you can't tell me those fellas don't make great Rugby athletes. Frances issues have nothing to do with any absurd notion of having the wrong genetics, it's everything to do with the RFL dropping the ball

Are you gonna blame the English teams lack of success on their being no Islanders in their team?

No question. This.

 

[Tigers1986]

I hope we get NZ touring in 2027 so we can see where we are currently against them.

Here's a novel idea - why don't England travel once every while? Always up to the southern nations to go up your way, but never the return leg.

Declaring "sod off" to a fixture capable of generating 61k and 52k crowds in successive weeks is a curious choice of cornerstone for an international RL growth strategy.

The strength of Samoa and Tonga is not the result of efforts by the NRL. Without Pasifika migration to Oz and NZ, these two nations would be no more competitive than France.

Boo hoo. England should be committed to helping grow the international game in Europe. France being the first option, then you could see how Wales, Lebanon, Malta etc are going along. Every nation starts somewhere.

It's not up to the Pacific nations to prop up an English team that is all hot air hype. It's not a real ashes if it's not the GB Lions team

 

[Perth Red]

And if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a bike

France has a massive African population and you can't tell me those fellas don't make great Rugby athletes. Frances issues have nothing to do with any absurd notion of having the wrong genetics, it's everything to do with the RFL dropping the ball

Are you gonna blame the English teams lack of success on their being no Islanders in their team?

Why is it rfls job to develop French players?? Surely that’s the job of the French governing body and clubs.

to some degree yes, you’d be a fool to think genetics makes no difference to sports performance, watch the 100m Olympic final. The fact islanders dominate nrl despite being a small % of the countries population tells you all you need to know. If two hundred thousand islanders moved to uk the English team would be stronger and I can guarantee it!

 

[Perth Red]

Here's a novel idea - why don't England travel once every while? Always up to the southern nations to go up your way, but never the return leg.

Boo hoo. England should be committed to helping grow the international game in Europe. France being the first option, then you could see how Wales, Lebanon, Malta etc are going along. Every nation starts somewhere.

It's not up to the Pacific nations to prop up an English team that is all hot air hype. It's not a real ashes if it's not the GB Lions team

$$$’s. national bodies were skint and a Tourging to England generated nice profit for them. english fans turn up for international unlike Aussies and kiwis lol England will be down under next year. They need ti be playing back home again 2027 to keep this public interest momentum going,

 

[skeepe]

No Strange? Get f**ked Kev

 

[Taking The Two]

Here's a novel idea - why don't England travel once every while? Always up to the southern nations to go up your way, but never the return leg.

Boo hoo. England should be committed to helping grow the international game in Europe. France being the first option, then you could see how Wales, Lebanon, Malta etc are going along. Every nation starts somewhere.

It's not up to the Pacific nations to prop up an English team that is all hot air hype. It's not a real ashes if it's not the GB Lions team

Two good points. The first, I don’t believe tours to the southern hemisphere are profitable for England, whereas they are for the SH nations to come to England. From a sporting perspective, seeing England having to go to Port Moresby and Auckland, amongst other places, would be an interesting watch. I suppose it goes back to how you make it profitable and that’s England competing on the pitch, beating the likes of New Zealand and Australia regularly home and away and that will generate interest and ticket sales.

England absolutely should be doing more to build up France and collaborating to create a second strong (relatively speaking) NH nation. The issue again goes back to money, the need for promotion and relegation at club level by ageing self-interested chairmen and just generally a resistance to anything with a funny accent that doesn’t play in a former mining village. Again, England need to play more, get better onfield and even back to a point 20 years ago where they were winning games against Australia and New Zealand, create interest in their games, create profitable series’ and then reinvest into areas of interest like France, for example.

It all goes back to my post after the first test where we need a root and branch review into every aspect of the game in England from pathways to the very top and to work out what we actually want to achieve as a sport.

 

[Taking The Two]

https://www.rugby-league.com/articl...ad-for-third-abk-beer-rugby-league-ashes-test

Meh, get it over and done with.

 

[Taking The Two]

Young out with a broken foot, Wardle dropped. Burgess and Newman in.

I sincerely hope Newman gets his petulant arse handed to him on his own patch on Saturday if he hasn’t stopped crying since his last appearance at Headingley.

 

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

It`s not our fault that you didn`t get your large population of `Southern Asians` playing Rugby League.

Don't forget transportation. History casts a long shadow. For the best part of a century, Britain bequeathed the dregs of its society to a land down under. Some of the most savage and unscrupulous specimens. Our gene pool never fully recovered. The legacy for Rugby League is as profound as Vichy.

 

[Ride the Lion to Zion]

Boo hoo. England should be committed to helping grow the international game in Europe. France being the first option, then you could see how Wales, Lebanon, Malta etc are going along. Every nation starts somewhere.

Alongside the calibre of Polynesian players, the role of demographics in the success of the Pacific Championship is a story of Pasifika diaspora fanbases.

Neither the NRL in the SH nor the RFL in the NH have the means to initiate such a cultural groundswell of support.

 

[Perth Red]

Hopefully we line up with

1. Brimson
6. Lewis
7. Smith
9. Litten

14. Clark

Forwards perform like they did in game 2 and take our chances Lewis will create and who knows.

 

[adamkungl]

Why is it rfls job to develop French players?? Surely that’s the job of the French governing body and clubs.

We could go with the argument where the governing body with all the money and power in the region (limited though it is) has the responsibility to develop and grow the game with its neighbours. (the same reasons we have been demanding the NRL expand to Perth, invest more in NZ, PNG and the Pacific, send touring teams to the UK....)

Or the more selfish argument where they would invest in their neighbours for their own benefit, ie. being able to sell sponsorships with wider reach than Northern Shithole Mushy Peas, and having someone to compete with closer than 27 hours of flight away.

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

Some of the most savage and unscrupulous specimens.

True, you can see it in the shape of their heads of their descendants to this day those loaf of bread and handkercheif stealers.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Why is it rfls job to develop French players?? Surely that’s the job of the French governing body and clubs.

to some degree yes, you’d be a fool to think genetics makes no difference to sports performance, watch the 100m Olympic final. The fact islanders dominate nrl despite being a small % of the countries population tells you all you need to know. If two hundred thousand islanders moved to uk the English team would be stronger and I can guarantee it!

The RFL runs the biggest comp in the region. They have a responsibility to give their closest RL neighbor avenues for players to develop and compete with their own, exactly like the NRL (and the ARL before it) has done with NZ. Its the RFLs shortsightedness and the self service of the clubs in the ESL that have been the biggest contributor to the decline of French RL. They cannot do it themselves regardless of whether you think they should be or not.

As for your genetics debate, take a look at the Australian side that is consistently #1 in the world. They have 3, yes only 3, players with PI heritage in their squad. No one is saying genetics doesnt make a difference but saying 1 specific ethnic group makes or breaks a teams success is laughably simplistic

 

[MRN]

 

[Captain Apollo]

In relation to the Australian team, Walters has mentioned publicly that he spoke to his senior players to gauge their feelings about being stood down for the 3rd test to enable others in the squad to play. Apparently the players wanted to play, hence why no changes.

Even Dylan Edwards said it would have been nice to get a game, but he said he'd rather earn the jersey "on merit". He said also as a player, you don't want to give away your test jersey.

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ne...ges-for-third-ashes-test-20251106-p5n83f.html

 

[adamkungl]

Newman and Joe Burgess in for Wardle and the injured Young. Wane has suggested Mikey Lewis will get more game time. Remains to be seen what role he plays in light of public criticism of George Williams

 

[Perth Red]

We could go with the argument where the governing body with all the money and power in the region (limited though it is) has the responsibility to develop and grow the game with its neighbours. (the same reasons we have been demanding the NRL expand to Perth, invest more in NZ, PNG and the Pacific, send touring teams to the UK....)

Or the more selfish argument where they would invest in their neighbours for their own benefit, ie. being able to sell sponsorships with wider reach than Northern Shithole Mushy Peas, and having someone to compete with closer than 27 hours of flight away.

Difference is there was a lot (a damn lot!) of money in those expansions for NRL. There's no real money, only cost, for RFL to develop the French game. I'm sure if UK govt decided to give RFL $700mill+ to develop the game in France they'd be all over it lol

 

[Perth Red]

The RFL runs the biggest comp in the region. They have a responsibility to give their closest RL neighbor avenues for players to develop and compete with their own, exactly like the NRL (and the ARL before it) has done with NZ. Its the RFLs shortsightedness and the self service of the clubs in the ESL that have been the biggest contributor to the decline of French RL. They cannot do it themselves regardless of whether you think they should be or not.

As for your genetics debate, take a look at the Australian side that is consistently #1 in the world. They have 3, yes only 3, players with PI heritage in their squad. No one is saying genetics doesnt make a difference but saying 1 specific ethnic group makes or breaks a teams success is laughably simplistic

I didnt say it would make or break it, I said if UK had 200,000 Pacific Island immigrants then England RL would be stronger. Half the Australia Islander heritage players dont want to play for them! What would the Kangaroos look like of every eligible Australian picked them over Tonga and Samoa?

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Neither the NRL in the SH nor the RFL in the NH have the means to initiate such a cultural groundswell of support.

Lebanon could absolutely be a Tonga or Samoa if we made the effort. Heaps of quality in the NRL, passionate fans, lots of which already follow the game