Land of hope and confusion…

Correspondent

This week I was planning on writing a blog on just how many promising English stars are lighting up SuperLeague so far this season, so todays England squad announcements have come as a bit of suprise, but not for the right reasons.

Firstly Ian Henderson, the Torquay-born Australian-raised current Scottish international has made the cut. The Catalan Dragons hooker has been in fine form recently and his talent is not in question. But he has 4 caps for Scotland!

Surely there are enough promising hookers in the game that properly qualify for England RL. James Roby is the obvious shoe-in, so why can’t Steve McNamara choose from the likes of Danny Houghton, Scott Moore or Shaun Lunt as a reserve hooker whenever Roby needs a rest? Even Luke Robinson, Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield are more than capable of doing a good job.

The same goes for Danny Brough. At the minute he is possibly the best scrum half in SuperLeague and his kicking game is almost world class, but while he is undoubtedly English, he chose to represent Scotland and is a former captain for Scotland. Both his and Hendersons selections for the England squad make a mockery of international rugby league. No wonder Australia or New Zealand can’t be bothered to play us this season… If we insist on pillaging the best players from the smaller nations, we have to go back to playing as Great Britain. It’s as simple as that.

Heres an idea… If we insist on keeping England RL in the picture, then let them compete in the World Cup every 4 years, and then they could compete in tournaments involving the likes of France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, PNG, Tonga & Samoa for the other 3 years, while Great Britain compete in both home and away test series with Australia and New Zealand and a Tri-Nations comp, alternating each year. Bring back the Baskerville Shield, bring back the Ashes!

 

Heres how a proper international calendar could look:

2013 – World Cup in GB

2014 – GB Ashes tour to Oz playing Pacific island nations in warm ups plus 3 game series. England play European nations at home.

2015 – Tri-Nations in GB. England tour Pacific islands.

2016 – GB tour to NZ, playing Pacific island nations in warm up games plus 3 game series. England play European nations in Europe.

2017 – World Cup in NZ

2018 – GB Ashes series at Home. England tour Pacific islands.

And so on and so fourth… What do you reckon?

 

While we are on the subject of Internationals and the World Cup, if England are building towards the 2013 showpiece, then why play Jamie Peacock and Adrian Morley in the winter? Surely we should be thinking of the future and trying out the likes of Louie Mcarthy-Scarsbrook and Lee Mossop alongside the proven abilities of James Graham and Sam Burgess. Peacock and Morley are both fantastic forwards, but come World Cup time they will both be nearly 37!

On a final, more positive note I am delighted to see that the Exiles will be back this season and in an extended two game series too. The Exiles game at Headingley last year was great fun to watch and provided England with a tough test. To see that extended is brilliant and just what England need. I hope they play the Saturday game at the KC stadium, with the Wednesday game at the fantastic new Langtree Park. Both games would be sure to pull in two great crowds for what would hopefully be two great games.

Just one question… who would Rangi Chase play for?

@GavWilson