It is stolen from another poster from our other site but think it could work -



It needs to be a mid-year Tri-Series with England, France and Wales IMO. England will win for year but the exposure will help Wales and France in the long run. IMO in France ever get their best team on the park they could give England a good game, however they never do, they seem to have rtuck loads injured every time. Wales will be in with a shot within 5 years or so if they keep developing the way they are. England having regular games against France and Wales is vital for the sports growth.



I don't like any "All Star" idea's I've heard yet. If England want a good mid-season test they can travel to Australia or NZ for one game which won't happen.



How about this for a schedule:



Year 1



France V England - Stade Ernest Wallon, Toulouse, 19,000



Wales V France - Racecourse, Wrexham, 16,000



England V Wales - KC Stadium, Hull, 25,000





Year 2



Wales V England - Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, 25,000



France V Wales - Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan, 12,000



England V France - DW Stadium, Wigan, 24,000





Venues are variable BUT we can't lack ambition. Venues like Bridgend, Widnes, Leigh shouldn't be used as venues as they take away from the appeal of the event. Decent, but not huge stadiums and good marketting is the key. Put a Shiny new trophy on the line and persist with the idea and in 5 years it could be massive.



Regarding club fixtures it's simple. Make a Super League "split round", when England play at home 5 English SL clubs and Crusaders or Catalans have a week off depending on whether France or Wales play England. When England play away 7 English clubs and Catalans/Crusaders have a week off. Play Crusaders V Catalans on a spare weekend so both can have a bye when Wales and France meet. Same with Toulouse and South Wales, organise for two weeks off when France and Wales play their two games. I hope that makes sense, it would something like this:



When England (home) V France/Wales:



Crusaders/Catalans V Wigan

Castleford V Hull

Warrington V Harlequins



When Wales/France V England (away):



Catalans/Crusaders V Wakefield

Hull KR V St Helens

Salford V Huddersfield

Leeds V Bradford



When Wales V France: All English SL clubs resume as normal, Crusaders play Catalans on a re-scheduled weekend.

There should definatly be a mid season tournament between England, Wales and France. Super League can continue as normal as it is doing this weekend, only Catalans and Crusaders would need to re schedule fixtures which can simply be changed to mid week. The long term aim should also be to get Ireland and Scotland involved but this wont be possible untill their super league clubs are up and running.

All Catalans games involve someone having to make a round trip of well over 1,000 miles. It's hardly ideal to squeeze that in between two weekend matches.

Would it be out of the question to lengthen the season by three weeks to fit in these fixtures?



With the Magic Weekend looking dead and buried it would only need to start and end a week earlier/later for this to be a possibility.

In fact if we let all of the other teams play one another other than Crusaders and Catalans on the Wales v France week it would only need one week extra than what we have now for a meaningful tournament. If not now then in the future.

I'd rather see this tbf



[urlhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article7145704.ece[/url



This would be my team if it includes English players not selected in the England squad.



FB Webb

WG Roberts

C Gidley

C King

WG Richards

SO Kearney

SH Dobbo

P O'Meley

H Buderus

P Coley

S Fa'alogo

S Fitzgibbon

LF D.Johnson



Lynch

Monghan

Crabtree

Eastwood

Sounds a fantastic idea and I'm sure would be well-supported, but almost makes far too much sense for it to be implemented, especially as the clubs currently rule the roost in this sort of situation.

But do clubs really rule the roost? South Sydney tried to stop Burgess playing this weekend but they couldnt because a club cannot stop a player playing in an international.

If France and Wales were competitive then it would work, indeed if they were competitive then the RFL would have already done it. However the big flaw is that they are not, France cant compete with England and Wales are even worse. As a result they would both suffer huge losses and the fans wouldnt bother attending in great numbers because everyone knows what is going to happen. If France and Wales can progress, expand their player base and get better then I would be all for it but at the moment it would be a waste of time.

Dobson over Orford?

ok how about and England A or u21 team? Wouldn't affect the main sl body as much would give the youngsters a chance to play in the White shirt and boost their prospects and would beore competitive all round. As for popularity if the welsh could beat an England team regardless of grade that would make them happy!

What does this achieve, nothing. Crucru's idea is far, far better, I really like the idea.

No, lengthening the season one week is a stretch. 3 weeks is just a no. Can't have it at the ned of the season because it would put the international season out of whack, and we're already playing games in January as it is.



I don't think the Magic Weekend is dead and buried. The format used in Edinburgh was shocking and the reason why it shrunk the crowds. Next year hopefully things will improve.



As for the Euro Tri-Nations, I think it may have been lifted from something I mentioned on TotalRL. I've been saying it for years. If the season can't be extended, then just schedule a Cru vs Catalans game in the WCC weekend (or the brought forward weekend, although I think that it's ridiculous that they do that and don't have everyone start the season at the same time!) which will leave free one weekend in summer for a France vs Wales game. The rest, just do as they do now, postpone the scheduled Catalans or Crusaders game for that weekend and reschedule it either on a cup weekend or mid-week. Not ideal, but international RL should always take priority over domestic games. And postponements and maoving matches happens all the time in football and they do just fine..

Spot on