We need to move to a consistent 5 nations

[Perth Red]

It does our 2nd tier countries (France and PNG) no good to be only playing the better teams once every couple of years or even longer. Whilst there is some value in the qualifying aspect and gives all countries something to aim for surely the top priority should be working to get our 2 best hopes up to being competitive with the top 3. RU proved with Italy that perseverance can pay off. I'd rather see us move to a 5nations featuring Oz, Nz, GB, PNG and France.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

And why should it be those teams only?

Shouldn't it be two qualifiers depending on which hemisphere the 5 nations is played?

North you could have Wales and France playing if good enough or any of the other countries that make the Euro final..

South you could have PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and whatnot.

 

[Perth Red]

no because as I said these best hopes need consistent exposure to a 5nations environment. Playing in it every year would give them that. With all due respect to Wales they are never going to be at a level that they can compete. Moving back to GB would give decent Welsh players a pathway to high level rep footy.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

no because as I said these best hopes need consistent exposure to a 5nations environment. Playing in it every year would give them that. With all due respect to Wales they are never going to be at a level that they can compete. Moving back to GB would give decent Welsh players a pathway to high level rep footy.

Really, so if Wales are crap, how'd they manage to beat France last year and make the 4 nations?

Having a 5 nations based of which hemisphere it's played in will also save a lot of money, something the RLIF doesn't have.

 

[Perth Red]

Because France were worse! But lets face it the Welsh side is predominantly not Welsh and the "investment" is in having Les Catalans to hopefully develop enough French players to make a competitive Int squad. If the RLIF can't afford to bring one more team across for a major comp once a year then they should pack it in now!

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Because France were worse! But lets face it the Welsh side is predominantly not Welsh and the "investment" is in having Les Catalans to hopefully develop enough French players to make a competitive Int squad. If the RLIF can't afford to bring one more team across for a major comp once a year then they should pack it in now!

Well what about the Welsh juniors, don't they count?

Great way to get experience don't you think?

 

[adamkungl]

I agree with the concept of a consistent 5N. I don't agree with either
-it should always be GB + France + PNG
-it should always be 2 teams from the hemisphere it is played.

If i had my way...
4 year cycle:
1 Northern 5N
2 Southern 5N
3 standalone tests, Roo tours, WC qualifiers
4 RWLC

in years 1 and 2, play the Pacific Cup during standalone rep weekends for SOO.
There's currently no player overlap allowed - so non issue.
Gives a full weekend of footy for NRL fans, removes the boredom/no footy exposure issue.
Play the Euro Cup whenever it conveniently fits around the SL season.

Winners of these 2 cups compete in the end of year 5N, regardless of hemisphere.

This gives 2nd tier nations at least 4 test matches EVER YEAR. It gives the best of them a shot at the big time. And it solves every scheduling issue ever. I am a genius.

Dear RLIF. Implement this now. It is flawless ....any comments/suggestions?

 

[Ryan_N]

I think 6 would be even better. Two separate Tri-Nations comps, northern and southern. So we continually expose PNG, Wales and France to top level international football. And then the winners of each Tri-Nations play off for Six Nations champions. And last place from each respective Tri-Nations plays a match against the Euro/Pacific Cup winners to qualify for the next Tri/Six-Nations competition.

I don't know why Wales is getting such a bad wrap. Is it because of the Crusaders thing? Because honestly I think they're doing a great job at the grassroots level and they're definitely producing some top level players. Give them time, they will catch up. Plus the exposure of such a tournament could help get the Welsh public and potential players more interested.

 

[PaulyTom]

Best idea for a 5 nations would be-
Australia
England
NZ
Samoa
Tonga

The amount of Samoan and Tongan kids coming through in the next few years will be stagering. Yes, I know most came via Auckland/Western Sydney Suburbs but on paper their team would be very strong.

 

[roughyedspud]

a 5nations would take 7weeks to complete...........so thats a no to that idea

 

[Perth Red]

Seasons to finish couple of weeks earlier run the tests through Sept and October.

My ideal line up would be:

Year1: 5Nations - France, PNG, GB, NZ, Aus
Year 2: 3 Match series programme: Ashes Test series (GB v Aus), Pacific Test series (NZ v PNG) Euro series (France v Wales)
Year 3: 5Nations (as per year1)
YEar 4: RLWC

Euro cup, Atlantic cup and Pacific cup plus WC qualifiers for all the third tier nations.

 

[langpark]

I agree with the concept of a consistent 5N. I don't agree with either
-it should always be GB + France + PNG
-it should always be 2 teams from the hemisphere it is played.

If i had my way...
4 year cycle:
1 Northern 5N
2 Southern 5N
3 standalone tests, Roo tours, WC qualifiers
4 RWLC

in years 1 and 2, play the Pacific Cup during standalone rep weekends for SOO.
There's currently no player overlap allowed - so non issue.
Gives a full weekend of footy for NRL fans, removes the boredom/no footy exposure issue.
Play the Euro Cup whenever it conveniently fits around the SL season.

Winners of these 2 cups compete in the end of year 5N, regardless of hemisphere.

This gives 2nd tier nations at least 4 test matches EVER YEAR. It gives the best of them a shot at the big time. And it solves every scheduling issue ever. I am a genius.

Dear RLIF. Implement this now. It is flawless ....any comments/suggestions?

Decent, but I would tweak it a bit. I mentioned this before, but every two years between WC's, there needs to be an 8Nations tournament. Here me out now...

(seeded teams)
1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. France

5. PNG
6. Wales
7. Tonga
8. Samoa/Fiji/Ireland (subject to qualification)

This is the perfect set-up, because everyone plays 3 matches, and the tournament only lasts 3 weeks, so there can be no complaints from idiot NRL CEO's etc. So, week one would be something like this;

1 vs 8
2 vs 7
3 vs 6
4 vs 7

I just used McIntyre as an example, but in the real thing, opponents would be drawn, only the top 4 are kept separate. This would be the only week we would see a few blow out scores...

Week two
1 vs 4
2 vs 3

Meanwhile the losers of week 1 are still playing each other in a battle for 5th spot

Week 3:
GF
3rd place playoff
5th place playoff
7th place playoff.


This then directly influence the RLIF world rankings, which will be half credible for a change.

Now THIS, is flawless...

 

[Coleworld]

Decent, but I would tweak it a bit. I mentioned this before, but every two years between WC's, there needs to be an 8Nations tournament. Here me out now...

(seeded teams)
1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. France

5. PNG
6. Wales
7. Tonga
8. Samoa/Fiji/Ireland (subject to qualification)

This is the perfect set-up, because everyone plays 3 matches, and the tournament only lasts 3 weeks, so there can be no complaints from idiot NRL CEO's etc. So, week one would be something like this;

1 vs 8
2 vs 7
3 vs 6
4 vs 7

I just used McIntyre as an example, but in the real thing, opponents would be drawn, only the top 4 are kept separate. This would be the only week we would see a few blow out scores...

Week two
1 vs 4
2 vs 3

Meanwhile the losers of week 1 are still playing each other in a battle for 5th spot

Week 3:
GF
3rd place playoff
5th place playoff
7th place playoff.


This then directly influence the RLIF world rankings, which will be half credible for a change.

Now THIS, is flawless...

That idea is great to have countries all play over three weekends in Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane (Final) in a tournament would be awesome for the right to be crowned World Number One and expose the public to other League nations. You could have double headers on Friday & Saturday the first weekend so fans get value for their money and who wouldnt want to see France vs PNG fight it out to play the Loser out of England vs Wales.The problem really lies with the NRL their power and the tv networks wanting more club games. I think if the season and ive said this before was 18-20 Rounds + Finals you could fit in more International league/tournamnets.

 

[langpark]

That idea is great to have countries all play over three weekends in Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane (Final) in a tournament would be awesome for the right to be crowned World Number One and expose the public to other League nations. You could have double headers on Friday & Saturday the first weekend so fans get value for their money and who wouldnt want to see France vs PNG fight it out to play the Loser out of England vs Wales.The problem really lies with the NRL their power and the tv networks wanting more club games. I think if the season and ive said this before was 18-20 Rounds + Finals you could fit in more International league/tournamnets.

but this is the exact thing my plan overcomes. 8 Nations, yet it only lasts 3 weeks, one week shorter than the 4 Nations!!!! I can't find a fault with this setup. 8 teams, knockout from the start, get in!

 

[Warrior@Heart]

I think 6 would be even better. Two separate Tri-Nations comps, northern and southern. So we continually expose PNG, Wales and France to top level international football. And then the winners of each Tri-Nations play off for Six Nations champions. And last place from each respective Tri-Nations plays a match against the Euro/Pacific Cup winners to qualify for the next Tri/Six-Nations competition.

I like this idea, I'd also hold the euro/pacific cups & a 3 test series between NZ & GB during the orgin period.

 

[blukablu]

A Pacific Islands team like in union would be pretty competitive for the 5th team..


1. Wes Naiqama (Fiji)
2. David Mead (PNG)
3. Setaimata Sa (Samoa)
4. George Carmont (Samoa)
5. Akuila Uate (Fiji) or Daniel Vidot (Samoa)
6. Ben Roberts (Samoa)
7. Ray Thompson (PNG)
8. Tony Puletua (Samoa)
9. Paul Aiton (PNG)
10. Mose Masoe (Samoa)
11. Reni Maitua (Samoa)
12. Frank Pritchard (Samoa)
13. Feleti Mateo (Tonga)

14. James Segeyaro (PNG)
15. Brent Kite (Tonga)
16. Ashton Sims (Fiji)
17. Ben Te'o (Samoa)

 

[hutch]

Best idea for a 5 nations would be-
Australia
England
NZ
Samoa
Tonga

The amount of Samoan and Tongan kids coming through in the next few years will be stagering. Yes, I know most came via Auckland/Western Sydney Suburbs but on paper their team would be very strong.

Png destroyed a full strength tonga in the pacific cup and won the tournament convincingly. They have the most potential by far.

 

[roughyedspud]

what we need is consistant and expanded european & pacific cups with promotion to the 4nations at least until after the 2017 world cup....then and only then should we look expanding the 4nations to 6nations,with 5 permanent teams,aus,eng,nz plus 1 each from europe & pacific and the 6th still coming from the european & pacific cups...


an example of the expanded european & pacific cups from 2014

european cup - 8 teams, 2 groups of 4

group A
ireland
wales
serbia
russia

group B
lebanon
france
scotland
italy

Pacific cup - 6 teams,2 groups of

group A
PNG
USA
tonga

group B
fiji
samoa
cook island

 

[_addict]

I'm not sure what the best answer is for the here and now on the international scene. Financial viability is a problem we can't wish away unfortunately.

I agree with the prospects of a Pacific Islands team, we do after all have a history of mixed teams going back all the way to the All Golds. I can imagine the pacific nations involved getting behind a team that is genuinely competitive.

As for PNG, we see with the SL that Catalans are given a secure berth in the comp as an investment in French league, surely what has been discussed makes a strong case for similar investment and urgency in a PNG NRL side. I'm sure that would help raise the bar there.

 

[adamkungl]

a 5nations would take 7weeks to complete...........so thats a no to that idea

yeah...and the draw would be pretty awful with byes all over the place...damnit! foiled again. Even if the club seasons were shorter to make way for this, it would be a long and drawn out competition lacking in interest by the end.

Ok. scrap the 5N from my idea.

Still, the Pac and Euro Cups should both be held in every 4N year, without fail. I'd like there to be some reward for the winner that doesn't get 4N entry that year. Just can't really think of anything worthwhile.