NZ v Poms in US

[East Coast Tiger]

Says Mascord

Plans are at an advanced stage for England to play New Zealand in the United States on the Origin weekend next year.

Jason Moore, the man behind the 2025 World Cup in North America, confirmed the proposal to Set Of Six in Brisbane on Sunday.

Better hope the Kiwis play Australia in NZ at the end of the year or it'll be another year with no home games for them.

 

[Burns]

Been lots of rumblings about this in the UK media, and was in the Daily Telegraph this week too.

Steve said on Twitter that everyone is on board at the moment, and that the NRL clubs will hear proposal on Tuesday. Can't see how they could knock it back.

Should also be noted that Jason Moore has informed that both teams are guaranteed a $500,000 appearance fee. That is a huge boost to NZRL bottom line.

Now, where in Denver do you play a rugby league match? What capacity do we go for? Would be a no brainer to do a double header with USA v Canada/Jamaica/Cook Islands at the same time?

We may knock this and say that it is 'pie in the sky stuff' - but if we are serious on a 2025 RLWC in the USA and starting franchise teams for the Superleague this Test must happen.

Better hope the Kiwis play Australia in NZ at the end of the year or it'll be another year with no home games for them.

I believe that this is the intention.

 

[Burns]

This was the Daily Telegraph piece:

http://www.themercury.com.au/sport/...a/news-story/538361a23d34f80278f0dc9185d06f23

KIWIS AND POMS EYE A TEST IN AMERICA

ADVANCED discussions have taken place for England and New Zealand to play a historic Test in Denver in the middle of the 2018 NRL season.

Plans are well under way for the two nations to meet in June when the NRL grinds to a halt for a stand-alone Origin game.

Both countries have been offered up to $500,000 for the match. It is understood England have all but agreed to it but New Zealand are reluctant because they face logistic issues. (NZRL facing pressure from the NRL clubs?)

The idea is the brainchild of Jason Moore, who is desperately trying to get exposure for rugby league in the US after landing the rights to host the 2025 World Cup in that country.

If the Kiwis don’t agree, expect them to play a Test against a Pacific nation on the same weekend. (This confused me - who would ENG play, Fiji? The Cook Islands?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[KokoRugbyLeague]

Thats pie in the sky stuff the pacific teams will sell out better than those two. Because of pacific american populations they go to anything rugby or league their motherland countries are involved in.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Play it at Soldier Field Chicago. 50k may show up thinking its the AB's and then they will end up watching a much more entertaining version of Rugby

 

[Pommy]

England vs NZ 4 times next year seems overkill but the opertunity to play in front of the North American market is too big to pass up.

 

[adamkungl]

It's an ambitious idea and in isolation it's great, but it could be better.

England v NZ 4 times in a year is overkill, I'd like to see some other opposition. One of the things missing from our calendar is variation in opposition. A WC rematch against Australia would be great but is zero chance due to Australian reluctance + Origin.
Fiji perhaps? Better than NZ anyway

Another concern is England not playing at home until October, nearly 11 months after their amazing efforts in the WC Final. Before flying out the the US, why not play France in front of home fans?

Finally, the icing on the cake would be taking a Welsh or Irish team over as well to play in a double header vs the USA. USA v Canada is an obvious and less ambitious option but in the interests of variation and more professional opposition I think Wales or Ireland would make a bigger impact.

 

[Perth Tiger]

Eng v Tonga rematch must surely be on the cards somewhere

 

[adamkungl]

Samoa v Tonga is locked in for that weekend, as is PNG v Lebanon I think.
So for a decent match (a good advertisement for the sport), that really leaves NZ or Fiji.
Hard to see Ireland or France giving them a tough game, and the USA itself is way further off.

Fiji is the more interesting option for me considering the already planned series vs NZ, but NZ is definitely more marketable.

 

[Rory]

Ireland would definitely be a tough game. As much as i dont want to see it, next time Ireland play, Issac Luke will be picked as Mark Aston wants him to play and Luke himself said he wants to play before he retires and give his nan an Irish jersey. Keary wants to play for Ireland aswell, so add those 2 and Toby King who missed out due to injury, and you've got a tough team.

 

[GongPanther]

Two points of interest.

"June brings sunnier weather to Denver, Colorado, along with frequent thunderstorms. Daytime temperatures also begin to climb this month above 90 °F (32 °C)."

https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Colorado/Places/denver-weather-in-june.php

And also,because of the elevation,the air is much thinner and will affect the players if the correct procedures ar not met.

 

[Diesel]

Good to see there will be international coverage while we get sick of the SoO wankfest at the same time

 

[Big Picture]

Play it at Soldier Field Chicago. 50k may show up thinking its the AB's and then they will end up watching a much more entertaining version of Rugby

No, Denver is the right place for this. Playing it there means that they could use Akarika Dawn to promote it because Colorado sports fans may still remember him from when he played linebacker just 50 km away at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

 

[roughyedspud]

Now, where in Denver do you play a rugby league match? What capacity do we go for? Would be a no brainer to do a double header with USA v Canada/Jamaica/Cook Islands at the same time?

Dicks sporting goods park, capacity 18,000....

And if it happens it absolutely has to be a USA v Canada double header

 

[adamkungl]

I'd do USA v Wales or Ireland personally

 

[ULYSSES]

I'd do USA v Wales or Ireland personally

Best take a lot of Viagra with you

 

[wain]

I'd love to see Salt lake City as a possibility for a match involving a Polynesian country...Utah has the highest % of hawaiian/polynesians of any mainland US states.

Greater SLC has a population of 2.5million and this is the soccer stadium which hold ~20,000.

I've always felt there was a big possiblity of League being accepted there, mainly due to the large amount of Islanders (with HQ of Mormon church there).

 

[taipan]

Dicks sporting goods park, capacity 18,000....

And if it happens it absolutely has to be a USA v Canada double header

Clever Dick.

 

[Springs09]

Kiwis v England is a good choice for an annual mid-year test.

The disappointing thing is that they are playing 3 times at the end of the year already, with no tests against the Pacific sides even talked about yet, despite NZ losing to Tonga and Fiji.

 

[siv]

Been lots of rumblings about this in the UK media, and was in the Daily Telegraph this week too.

Steve said on Twitter that everyone is on board at the moment, and that the NRL clubs will hear proposal on Tuesday. Can't see how they could knock it back.

Should also be noted that Jason Moore has informed that both teams are guaranteed a $500,000 appearance fee. That is a huge boost to NZRL bottom line.

Now, where in Denver do you play a rugby league match? What capacity do we go for? Would be a no brainer to do a double header with USA v Canada/Jamaica/Cook Islands at the same time?

We may knock this and say that it is 'pie in the sky stuff' - but if we are serious on a 2025 RLWC in the USA and starting franchise teams for the Superleague this Test must happen.



I believe that this is the intention.

Now if the Kiwis pay their players $50k as occurs with the NRL that will cost $850k plus expenses

If only $30k thats still $510k plus expenses