heres an idea

[roughyedspud]

shamelessly stolen from someone on RLfans...following on from the NRL allstars v indgenious side

I think its a great idea to replicate a similar game over here, i liked the way that the NRL let the fans vote on players to play in the game, so how about...

Great Britain vs Foreign XIII

Each team selects four FOREIGN / FRENCH players; outside back, half back/hooker, back row, front row. This means that 56 players are selected, Superleague then launch a poll on the website, each fan gets a vote for each position, positions are then filled in with accordance to who has the most votes.

As for opposition? How about Great Britain; and no i dont mean England plus Pat Richards and Oliver Wilkes or whoever. It should be based on after the international season (October-November), the coach (whoever it may be) picks 5 players from each country, it may seem however a bit lopsided in terms of England mind.

Scotland: Paul Jackson, Oliver Wilkes, Kevin Henderson, Ben Fisher, Iain Morrison
Ireland: Michael McIlorum, Pat Richards, Damien Blanch, Sean Gleeson, Scott Grix
Wales: Craig Kopczak, Ben Flower, Elliot Kear, Jordan James, Glenn Morrison???

ok maybe not that bad but heck you could even include a retired few e.g Lee Briers, Keiron Cunningham

now before some of you start with all the "spud i thought you was against GB" i'm not and never have been...what i'm against is 17 england players running out in GB jerseys...no point what-so-ever..

i'm also stedfastly against england RL playing a "overseas XIII" cos the overseas team does'nt play in international tournament...and neither does a GB XIII....what it will do though is drip feed GB proper,combined team again....as it should be

play it indoors down at the millennium stadium (its feburary afterall)...charge sod all admission...get it on the bbc....i reckon it could just work..

 

[RedVee]

How about England vs Wales/Scotland/Ireland?

 

[deluded pom?]

what i'm against is 17 england players running out in GB jerseys...no point what-so-ever..

So are you suggesting that as and when the next GB team is selected spud there should be a token Welshman/Scotsman or Irishman just to justify the team name whether they are good enough for GB or not?

 

[Jankuloski]

I think what he is saying is they should stay as england in international tests, because that way the Welsh, Scots and Irish can develop better.

As for the original suggestion - could you try making the team of "Foreign XIII" and we see wheather it's doable.

Also it would be problematic as SL season lasts a lot longer than the NRL.

The difference is that there is no social buzz as it exists in the NRL All Stars match. NRL match engages a new community - the indigenous and people who care about their country not being racist. Foreign XIII would target the same people - RL fans.

 

[Evil Homer]

Seems like a bit of a pointless waste of time in an already crowded schedule to me.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I think the UK should stick to internationals. It seems to be working for them. Also, a big reason why the All Stars match was so successful is because of the history of Indigineous people and who they represent. They were so intouch with those people. Let alone what the match represented, I cant see anything like that occuring in the UK. Wouldnt have anywhere near as much impact if any.

 

[WireMan]

We could do the same over here. The indiginous population vs the rest.

We could have it sponsored by the BNP and play it in Burnley... ;-)

Serious though, we should stick with Internationals, when Wales and France can get better teams those matches will become tasty enough to not need other games. If the crusaders stay North and the Scorpions develop enough in the south we will have a good annual tri nations state of origin esq series.

 

[The Observer]

what i'm against is 17 england players running out in GB jerseys...no point what-so-ever..

As opposed to 17 players from Lancashire and Yorkshire running out in England jerseys and claiming that the team is representative of England? Using your logic to scrap GB, England should go back to being called the Northern Union, as the makeup of the team doesn't represent England. Indeed, most of the GB results for the last 80 years should be reattributed to Northern Union on that basis. This argument is, of course, flawed. What spread across the UK is required before the team can deserve to be called Great Britain, and how many players?

The fact is this. If GB plays a test series every four years, great. If it uses only Northern English players, it will be no different to most GB lineups in history, and those players will still be British, still be eligible and passionate to represent GB. GB is a strong, historical, traditional name and brand, and thus it should be kept.

If England and GB want a strong warm-up before playing Aus and NZ, I've warmed to the idea of an Other Nationalities/Barbarians team. Let it stick to Aussies playing in SL, and also let it play on the proviso that it is not mid-season, but post season. Stage it close as possible to the 4N tests, that it doesn't deny players the opportunity to represent other nations (let the PI eligible NZers in SL turnout for PI nations, or a combined PI team).

Other Nationalities team could contain 10 Kangaroo internationals, 5 State of Origin players and two NRL Grand Final winners.
Hodgson; King, Gidley, Walker, Richards; McGuire, Berrigan; O'Meley, Buderus, Vella; Fitzgibbon, Johnson, Menzies. BENCH: O'Hara, Flannery, Monaghan, Carlaw. SQUAD: Bell, Hicks, Orford.

Sam Burgess just revealed in today's Rugby League Week that England will play NZ Maori in a warm up before the 4N, and was disparaging about the game against Wales

We need a bigger friendly before the 4N starts. Last year we played Wales in Wales. Not a great stadium, not a great crowd. No disrespect to the Welsh, but not the best opposition. This year, we're playing New Zealand Maoris. That'll be a tough game. It's what we need." Burgess also favours a mid-season test pitting England against an Other Nationalities side instead of France.

 

[WireMan]

As opposed to 17 players from Lancashire and Yorkshire running out in England jerseys and claiming that the team is representative of England? Using your logic to scrap GB, England should go back to being called the Northern Union, as the makeup of the team doesn't represent England. Indeed, most of the GB results for the last 80 years should be reattributed to Northern Union on that basis. This argument is, of course, flawed. What spread across the UK is required before the team can deserve to be called Great Britain, and how many players?

The fact is this. If GB plays a test series every four years, great. If it uses only Northern English players, it will be no different to most GB lineups in history, and those players will still be British, still be eligible and passionate to represent GB. GB is a strong, historical, traditional name and brand, and thus it should be kept.

If England and GB want a strong warm-up before playing Aus and NZ, I've warmed to the idea of an Other Nationalities/Barbarians team. Let it stick to Aussies playing in SL, and also let it play on the proviso that it is not mid-season, but post season. Stage it close as possible to the 4N tests, that it doesn't deny players the opportunity to represent other nations (let the PI eligible NZers in SL turnout for PI nations, or a combined PI team).

Other Nationalities team could contain 10 Kangaroo internationals, 5 State of Origin players and two NRL Grand Final winners.
Hodgson; King, Gidley, Walker, Richards; McGuire, Berrigan; O'Meley, Buderus, Vella; Fitzgibbon, Johnson, Menzies. BENCH: O'Hara, Flannery, Monaghan, Carlaw. SQUAD: Bell, Hicks, Orford.

Sam Burgess just revealed in today's Rugby League Week that England will play NZ Maori in a warm up before the 4N, and was disparaging about the game against Wales

Its England, not the Northern Union. We have players from around England playing for us. Like Cockneys for example. Being spread around the UK is irrelevant for England, and there is a top division team in London and Wales anyway (so the super league covers more of the UK than any other top division).

The games vs Wales and France will improve. We could argue there is no point having a World cup, as England get beat by the Aussies every time. Thats no way to build a sport.

No point having another game. We could possibly arrange a game for cup semi final day. Not using those players in the cup. Two games, Barbarian international, to replace the magic weekend. But we don't really need another gimmick in the season, a proper start would be nice though.

 

[deluded pom?]

Sam Burgess just revealed in today's Rugby League Week that England will play NZ Maori in a warm up before the 4N, and was disparaging about the game against Wales

:crazy:Why are we playing the Maori? We should, and were supposed to be, playing one of the PI nations.

 

[The Observer]

:crazy:Why are we playing the Maori? We should, and were supposed to be, playing one of the PI nations.

1. Your opening game is in Wellington. It makes logistical, financial sense to play a warm-up in NZ, become acclimatised to conditions, to not have to travel far.

2. The Maori will provide a strong test and have an excellent record against England/GB, beating GB in 1996, coming very close in 1999. England will get a tough game and struggle to win, and that's what you need. If England actually played to their potential (instead of the lacklustre effort in RLWC 2008), you'd annihilate any individual PI nation, which won't give you sufficient preparation to compete with the Kiwis and Roos.

3. Samoa are playing Tonga, Samoa playing NZ, PNG PMs 13 will play Aus PMs 13, Fiji may play Aus. Not sure who else could schedule or afford it.
4. The Maori would draw the biggest crowd.
5. NZ Maori deserve a big game.

This would be the strongest NZ Maori lineup:

1 Clinton Toopi Gold Coast Titans
2 Paul Whatuira Huddersfield
3 Chase Stanley Melbourne
4 Kyle Stanley SGI Dragons
5 Shaun Kenny-Dowell Roosters
6 Arana Taumata Cowboys
7 Rangi Chase Castleford Tigers
8 Jason Cayless Wests Tigers
9 Robbie Paul Leigh
10 Sam McKendry Penrith Panthers
11 Nathan Cayless Parramatta
12 Weller Hauraki Crusaders
13 Kevin Proctor Melbourne Storm
14 Joseph Cahill Sydney Roosters
15 Ricky Thorby Dragons
16 Jeremy Smith Salford
17 James Tamou Cowboys

 

[RedVee]

1. Your opening game is in Wellington. It makes logistical, financial sense to play a warm-up in NZ, become acclimatised to conditions, to not have to travel far.

2. The Maori will provide a strong test and have an excellent record against England/GB, beating GB in 1996, coming very close in 1999. England will get a tough game and struggle to win, and that's what you need. If England actually played to their potential (instead of the lacklustre effort in RLWC 2008), you'd annihilate any individual PI nation, which won't give you sufficient preparation to compete with the Kiwis and Roos.

3. Samoa are playing Tonga, Samoa playing NZ, PNG PMs 13 will play Aus PMs 13, Fiji may play Aus. Not sure who else could schedule or afford it.
4. The Maori would draw the biggest crowd.
5. NZ Maori deserve a big game.

This would be the strongest NZ Maori lineup:

1 Clinton Toopi Gold Coast Titans
2 Paul Whatuira Huddersfield
3 Chase Stanley Melbourne
4 Kyle Stanley SGI Dragons
5 Shaun Kenny-Dowell Roosters
6 Arana Taumata Cowboys
7 Rangi Chase Castleford Tigers
8 Jason Cayless Wests Tigers
9 Robbie Paul Leigh
10 Sam McKendry Penrith Panthers
11 Nathan Cayless Parramatta
12 Weller Hauraki Crusaders
13 Kevin Proctor Melbourne Storm
14 Joseph Cahill Sydney Roosters
15 Ricky Thorby Dragons
16 Jeremy Smith Salford
17 James Tamou Cowboys

Jeremy Smith Salford? He is still at SGI afaik.

 

[The Observer]

Jeremy Smith Salford? He is still at SGI afaik.

Ah I didn't clarify. There are two Jeremy Smiths, both played for the Kiwis in 2007, I'm talking about the Jeremy James Smith who played for Souths, not the Jeremy Jon Smith that was at Melbourne and now Dragons.

 

[RedVee]

OK, I'll take you at your word on that and the Maori eligbility of those named.

The other point to raise is that the Maoris were there from basically day one of Southern Hemisphere Rugby League.