https://www.skysports.com/rugby-leag...or-autumn-tour
Tour on: NZ twice plus PNG and Tonga. Great News. I wonder if the Aussies will start to wish that they had more involvement in internationals?
https://www.skysports.com/rugby-leag...or-autumn-tour
Tour on: NZ twice plus PNG and Tonga. Great News. I wonder if the Aussies will start to wish that they had more involvement in internationals?
Not sure how many people would be up to standard from the other nations,the bbc site says "Realistically Wales and St Helens back-rower Morgan Knowles would be the only non-English player with a chance of a call up". They are going to use the heritage rule as well so players like Hastings at Salford would be possibly available,not sure about that one.
As much as I like Knowles he is up against some stiff competition if the GB players from Aussie are released. I don't know the status on that one. With regard to Heritage Players, all the other nations do it, and I believe that to keep a level playing field we should also do the same.
I think it will depend what type of player Bennett wants there, Knowles is defensively one of the best but he’s up against some good loose forwards going forward. If he wants an extra metre maker there are plenty around as well as the likes of Sean O’Loughlin and Milner if he wants someone who can ball play. Apparently Joe Westerman is starting to find some form as well now he’s back fit so there’s a lot of competition there. The pack as a whole should be very strong.
Good to see the GB tours back.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
Lots of choice in the pack. Some decent backs as well. But we are still not producing half backs in decent numbers. Nice to see GB back though.
I think we are talking bona fide, born, raised and lived in all their life Scottish, Welsh or Irish then Morgan Knowles will be the only one.
However, what a lot of people have forgotten in their argument that 'Britain is no different than England' is that the lack of a Great Britain set-up has done massive damage to the chances of those three nations in terms of their World Cup performances.
If the England set-up had occurred in the 90s, then the likes of Keiron Cunningham, Iestyn Harris and Lee Briers would never have chosen to play for Wales, because they'd have counted themselves out of the glamour series' against Australia and New Zealand. Likewise Tommy Martyn, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor would never have played for Ireland.
So, the reality is that if we did have four nations for the World Cup and Great Britain for all other matches, then there most definitely would be the possibility of that Britain outfit having Welsh, Irish and Scots internationals in it.
THIS YEAR LENDING SUPPORT TO:- St. Helens RLFC, Manchester City, Celtic, Alemannia Aachen, Steps 1 to 6 Non-League Football
Danny Brough?
It’s obviously a branding decision more than anything to do with picking from a wider pool of players. It’s a good move from that point of view
Here's one for you - Lachlan Coote.
The announcement got good coverage on TV down here in NZ- used as a counterpoint to how badly RU are treating Pacific Nations with their planned World Series excluding Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.