Could a full strength England side beat the one below over a three match series?



Webb,

Roberts,

King,

Gidley,

Richards,

Kearney

Dobson

O’Meley,

Buderus,

Clinton

Hall

Menzies

Fitzgibbon,



There are loads of other quality players as well like Hodgson, Tommy L, Pauleta, Lauitiiti, Bosc, Cashmere, Monaghan etc.



Honestly with the backs named above I don’t think England could beat them. The back three for a start out class England’s and they've also got a choice of Buderus, Berrigan, Piggy or Monaghan at hooker were England have Roby or Sinfield.



2nd question is would you rather see us play this team or France at for a mid season international game?

I have long since wanted a GB/England vs Best of SL series, if marketed right i think it could really work.



We also need to "service" France to ensure they have continuous International rugby, but I would place them against an Under 23's side.



Sadly though we need to reduce the players games so it could only be possible IF the clubs were happy to release players and still play SL rounds like they do for Origin in Australia but that would decimate those games so that would be pointless, the only other option is to cut the number of teams in SL to 10/12.

The mid season game is tricky. We want France to be tested so they need to play England, but at the same time England need to be tested.



Maybe England and France should both play a Super League XIII?



I also think that picking the dream team and making a kit etc is pointless. They should pick it and then let them play England in a warm up rather than England putting 50 up Wales.

The problem is that the dream team consists of English eligible players as well.



I know some may see the best of SL as a little gimmicky but every idea needs to be given time before it comes accepted e.g. the GF and playoffs. It’s certainly, imo, a good idea if it’s marketed properly and given time to grow.

Forwards are a bit past it but the backs are alright. Would be an interesting game indeed.

I know but it's easy to pick a replacement for either side. It would be better if they played for the dream team so England could test the water imo.



Say Tomkins and Eastmond are the 6 & 7 for England and Sam is in the dream team. It gives McNamara the chance to test Eastmond and Myler in a competitive game without putting points on the line (granted he may not be too pleased about Sam playing, but hell you can get injured in training these days)

A full strength England side would beat that team imo but it would obviously be a better test then the French game will be and has been in the past. The problem is though we need to play our part in developing the game in France and playing them in these games can only help. In the long term I don't see why we can't play a game against the French and a game against an overseas team like this. We could do ourselves a favour and scrap the magic weekend in favour of a game like this and really get it marketed.



As for that actual team named there our pack of forwards including Graham, Morley, Peacock, Burgess, Ellis, O'Loughlin, Crabtree and Joel Tomkins would rip them to shreds and even though that backline is pretty classy they wouldn't have enough space to work in.

I do like the concept but I think I'd prefer the opposition to be either solely an Australian B side or a NZ B side. Or both if time can be found - would certainly help England to have a couple of decent warm ups. Scrapping the extra round of fixtures in the SL would be a good start.

Scrap the magic weekend and get a big event at the City of Manchester Stadium going with England taking on an Overseas side aswell as possibly a couple of warm up games like The Northern Rail cup final and maybe a England u18's vs Aussie Schoolboys game.



If they marketed it and made the tickets a reasonable price i'm sure we could get a pretty good crowd on.

Obviously the team could change and next season with players like Perry over here it could be closer than many think in the forwards.



I honestly don't think England could beat that side.

The forwards are very average in fairness(but i agree that could improve dependant on new signings for clubs) and games are generally decided by which pack can get on top. If you look at this current England side with halfbacks like Tomkins and Eastmond I really couldn't see an overseas side holding us but the outside backs are very dangerous.



I just hope McNamara will select our best backline unlike Smith did and that imo includes players like Leon Pryce(i'd pick him at fullback or even on the wing) and Martin Gleeson.

I also didn't put Dallas Johnson down not a bad player I guess





I agree with the best players come the top games but I'd much rather see a few youngsters played against France.

In the French test i'd like to see us select what I believe is our best backline and maybe experiment a little in the forwards. I think we know we have lots of quality in the pack and we may aswell look at a few new options because going forward that can only help us but in the backline we simply don't have the depth or options to take a look at people.



I'd select-



L Pryce

Cudjoe

Gleeson

Shenton

Hall

S Tomkins

Eastmond

Graham

Roby

Lynch

J Tomkins

Harrison

O'Loughlin



subs

Crabtree

Scruton

Langley

Lunt(hopefully he can build his match fitness up before the game).



It won't be that side as both Ellis and Burgess are coming back over for the game but I really don't see the point and I also don't see the need to play guys like Morley or Peacock(if he were fit). I'd love to see us give a shot to somebody like Cudjoe on that right wing aswell. I'm pretty convinced that bar that right wing spot our best backline is the one i've selected and I really can't think of too many players that could feel hard done by at being left out.

I know it's the best we've got but that again is a poor backline IMO and we don't stand a chance.



Think how far we've slipped since 2006 when we had backs like Carney, Radders, Long and a younger Gleeson, Senior and Pryce! Top it off with Faz, Scully, Morley, Peacock, KFC and Newton and you see how far we've fallen.



Us, Leeds and Saints are doing or have done their part for national RL when are the other sides gonna step up?

I think we need to continue the game against france and help them develop!

In development terms i'm as happy with the game as I have been in a long time but I agree that the outside backs are a worry. We've outstanding pack and halfback talents come through in the past couple of years like Sam, Eastmond, Myler, Burgess, Joel Tomkins, Harrison etc but we just don't seem to be producing quality outside backs and thats a real worry. If we look at our 2 overseas wingmen/fullbacks in Roberts and Richards we don't have any English players half as good as those 2 in either position and considering neither have any Australian caps that shows what an embarrassment of riches they have when compared to oursleves.



We really need to start producing some top quality outside backs with size, pace and power like guys like Roberts and Richards have. It's probably the reason i'd select somebody like Cudjoe over higher scoring wingmen like Hodgson, Riley and Goulding. He is a decent size and has good pace aswell as being very safe when fielding kicks. He has alot of development left in him aswell imo.

Did you see Cudjoe on the TV in the challenge cup, he couldn't hold the ball for toffee ?

I think an Super League - Rest Of World side would get battered in the forwards, one thing we do seem to do pretty well is produce forwards, the best imports are backs and half backs.

I've always though we should let France have a 3 game series. 1 game against Lancashire, 1 game against Yorkshire, then a final game against England.

It would give France more games and a better chance to be competetive and it would also allow us to trail a few more english players in the first two games and reward the top performers with an England cap in the final game.

4 years ago apart from Hall that could have been the australian pack.

monas best 9 in sl

There has been a real decline in the last few years in the quality of the SL.



I'm surprised the usual suspects who try to argue everything in the Super Duper League garden is rosy haven't responded to your post but perhaps the evidence is now so damning that even the most shameless apologists for the status quo are now keeping a low profile....

I'd rather help us develop.



I've always liked the "rest of SL" idea, but I'd include some of the French forwards in that team posted in the OP.

I reckon in austrailia, someone like Joel Tomkins would be coming through as a centre, maybe moving in later in his career.

I agree, and think he could excel there. When Madge played him at centre for a while a few games ago I thought the impact he had was very good. He's got a fair amount of pace for a 2nd rower, and has very good handling skills.