Not sure how much of a fuck is given in the southern hemisphere, but England play Wales today in the second game of this tournament in a little under three hours. The French beat the Leekists 20-6 in the first match last weekend with a team largely made up of non-ringers, which, coupled with their earlier win over the Taffs this season, hopefully shows Les Catalans are starting to reinvigorate Rugby à XIII frogside. England are on a bit of a hiding to nothing, really. They should win, but beating the likes of France and Wales aren't really much of a guide as to how they'll get on versus the Anzac countries, which is why we now have the Exile series mid-season as they provide stiffer oppo. Tomkins, Chase, Widdop & McGuire are all injured and Graham is banned for munching on Slater, so it's not exactly a first choice England anyway. Ellis is in the XVII, but no Reed or either of the Burgess boys, so not sure if all the NRL contingent has been arsed to travel, even. As a Pom I'm sort of caught between wanting England to win whilst also being keen on league expanding its reach beyond the traditional heartlands. Autumn Internationals <!-- pullout-items--><!-- pullout-body--> Saturday 20 October: France 20-6 Wales Saturday 27 October: Wales v England, Wrexham, 14:30 BST Saturday 3 November: England v France, Craven Park, 14:30 GMT Saturday 11 November: Final, Salford City Stadium, 17:00 GMT
Yeah, it's a shame. Kid really has enormous potential. Most exciting back talent we've produced since Newlove or even Robinson, IMHO. Big worry is he'll follow his big bro Joel and end up playing union.
Yeah, not sure of the exact duration, but he signed a long term deal around the same time as his brother left for Sarries. But, as SBW has shown, contracts don't necessarily stop players moving between codes...
Not been much of a contest, tbh. 80-12 to the good guys. Always gonna be the problem and raises the question as to what purpose such games serve.
Useful series for France and Wales obviously but as has been said I don't see what relevance it really holds for England other than an excuse to officially let players who they're in the frame at the end of the year. Probably would've been a better tournament if England sat it out and were replaced with Ireland and/or Scotland. Alternatively, England could've played some more games against the Exiles in this period and sent England A to play France and Wales, allowing them to give twice as many players a run.
Ellis has already moved back home, so my guess is that no-one's bothered to travel from the southern hemisphere at all.
There is actually a 2nd tier comp featuring England A (now known as England Knights), Ireland and Scotland taking place at the same time too. Italy were due to take part but CBF in the end (comp's actually sponsored by AlItlalia, so they must've been delighted when they withdrew). I guess the Italian federation baulked at the cost of flying their squad over from Oz or something. Both the youngest Burgess boys featured in the Knights' 56-4 win over Ireland in Belfast, so at least half the clan forsook sunny Redfern for a while: http://www.rlef.eu.com/european_cup/report?RLE00000437
Every interview I've seen him do he seems to be pretty content staying at Wigan, still hold out hope he'll come down to Australia.
He'll be another McGuire, Sinfield, Scultathorpe and Farrell. All too scared to go to the NRL for the fear they'll be shown up. Big fish, little pond.
He's back for the France game, according to the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/20156508
Don't think Fox Sports can even be arsed showing it, so we'd have to find a stream (which ftr, you're free to mention here or even link to here, because we're badass).
Too cool for school, is Cribbage. Pretty disappointing tho, if the main non-UK league market isn't even getting the game.
