I agree with HIM, bring back War of the Roses. It gives 34 players a chance to strut their stuff, but its got to be organised and marketed better than previous. If i'm honest being a Lancashire fan last time we didn't take it serious enough.

Deffo something I want to see back as well, marketed and organised properly we can make this our state of origin (obviously nowhere near the same scale and attendances of course lol) 1 game in Yorkshire, 1 in Lancashire and take one on the road as well, great tool to market the game!

bad idea.



the first game was great yes but it was a new concept which fans and players bought into. We all saw how the following games looked like extended training sessions. The lack of intensity was clear to see!



The best thing is for england to play france in a french city. Its not ideal but cant see anything else working.



If they really do wanna bring back exiles, make it available to all non english players. scots, welsh and french should be up for selection!

I'd certainly go watch a 3 match Origin series if it were taken seriously by everyone and used as a Test trial with a panel of selectors sitting after the 3rd game.



Tomkins/Hardaker

Burgess/Hall

Watkins/Shenton

Percival/Atkins

Makinson/McGillvery

Williams/Sutcliffe

Smith/McGuire

Graham/G Burgess

Roby/Houghton

Hill/Walmsley

Greenwood/Bateman

Farrell/Whitehead

O'Loughlin/S Burgess



McIllorum/Clarke

Savelio/Ferres

Cooper/T Burgess

Crosby/Singleton

Same here. I think a lot of people would. It would have an instant rivalry that you don't have to try and create and it has a purpose - to decide (or go a long way toward) the England squad.

Play it at the same time every year. Market it from the beginning of each season. Play the games on Friday nights over the space of 6-8 weeks.

Make it a condition of being in SL or the RFL that clubs must make their players available and that an England place is contingent on participation except for legitimate injuries.



Add in 3 or 4 mid-season England games v France & Wales and I'd be a happy man.

I would like to see a short mid-season break and England fly out to NZ to take on the Kiwis during the Origin period.



Lancs / Yorks as a pre-cursor to that, probably in a one-off game, would be interesting if both sides were strong.



Also agree that if Eng ever took on the Exiles again, it would be best to hold it on a Sunday afternoon / bank holiday Monday and make a double / triple header with Knights v France and Wales / Ireland v Scotland or something or other. Maybe somewhere like Blackpool!

Problem with a Roses or Origin series as a Test trial is when do you play it?



If you play it too late in the season, it's going to be disrupting the Super 8s, playoffs and CC Final. Play it in the middle of the season though, and it's no indicator of what form players are going to be in come November.

Yes to the Exiles, no to not playing the European nations. The only way they will get stronger is if they are regularly given the opportunity to play the top teams and eligible players have a guarantee of test match football. International rugby is our bigest growth opportunity, but no-one cares about a friendly sreies against a contrived team.



The international calendar needs to look something like this:



-5 Nations: England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales & France. Round Robin competition played in high summer (June-July). Regular season games to happen at same time, with selected players for international teams not playing for clubs.



-Autumn Internationals: Either touring Aus / NZ or playing them here. Perhaps also a combined 'pacific islands' side. European sides to play tests against Fiji, Tonga, PNG with one test against the big nations.



e.g. England v Tonga, England v New Zealand, England v Australia.

Scotland v PNG, Scotland v Samoa, Scotland v New Zealand.



-Roses match. One-off test played at Wembley, should be early season and a first chance to stick a hand up for an England shirt. Only England-identified players eligible to play (e.g. Adam Walker plays for Scotland, so not eligible to represent Yorkshire).



-Exiles match. Could be a success if branded as 'Barbarians' - we should actively look to get BFC involved in RL. First England trial game, again early season.



So the Calendar would look something like this:



February: Season Starts

March: Yorkshire v Lancashire

May: England v Barbarians

June/July: 5 Nations

August/September: Super 8s

October: Playoffs

October/November: Autumn Internationals



N.B. Also should be noted that Michael McIlorum would be playing for Yorkshire as he's from Leeds, and Brad Singleton (along with Kyle Amor, Shaun Lunt, Lee Mossop and Ben Harrison) is from Cumbria.

Between us, meaning both fans and the RFL, we managed to kill off an otherwise interesting idea. The negativity of us fans was matched by the incompetence of the RFL. Trying to squeeze extra games into an already busy season was always going to result in cry offs and anamosity from clubs fearing the loss of players.

So under a Roses set-up, players from Cumbria, London, Milton Keynes (Sam Tomkins), anywhere there that's not Yorkshire or old Lancashire, has to sit around picking their nose?

Yep.



Tomkins was born in Milton Keynes but grew up in Wigan. Not like Mason Caton-Brown (only recently moved north from London), Sinfield (captained Leeds but born, grew up and lived in Oldham) or Singleton (moved to Leeds only after being signed up to the club's academy, born and grew up in Barrow).



Maybe there's a shout for a 'qualification period' (e.g. Darrell Griffin becoming eligible for Yorkshire after all those years at Wakefield, Huddersfield and Leeds) but saying it's Yorkshire v Lancashire will become a bit of a joke if it's basically just a 'dream team' of the sides from the county - and contrariwise, you'd have to exclude players from the counties playing at clubs outside of them.



Have also worked up a schedule for the season I proposed above that could work:



(Test Season 2016)



31/1 - Champions Kick Off

7/2 - Magic Weekend (SL R1, counted as a home game for one club, will get swapped every year)

14/2 - R2

21/2 - WCC / R3 *Whoever played Champions in opening game to sit this week out.

28/2 - R4

6/3 - CCR2 (64 teams)

13/3 - R5

20/3 - R6

27/3 - Yorks v Lancs /R7

3/4 - R8

10/4 - CCR3

17/4 - R9

24/4 - R10

1/5 - England v Barbarians / R11

8/5 - R12

15/5 - R13

22/5 - CCR4

29/5 - R14

5/6 - R15

12/6 - CCQF

19/6 - 5 Nations Round 1 / R16

26/6 - 5NR2 / R17

3/7 - 5NR3 / R18

10/7 - 5NR4 / R19

17/7 - 5NR5 / R20

24/7 - CCSF

31/7 - R21

7/8 - R22

14/8 - Super 8s Round 1

21/8 - S8R2

28/8 - CCF

4/9 - S8R3

11/9 - S8R4

18/9 - S8R5

25/9 - S8R6

2/10 - S8R7

9/10 - Play Off Semi Final / Million Pound Game

16/10 - Grand Final

23/10 - Rest Week / England Warm Up

30/10 - Test Match Weekend 1

06/11 - Test Match Weekend 2

13/11 - Test Match Weekend 3

Was it Lancashire that picked Dom Peters one year, because the England coaching staff wanted to have a look at him?