Is it worth having a triangular with England, Exiles and a Celts side? The celts side could be drawn from Ireland, Wales and Scotland and could easily attract those players who are fringing but not likely to ever get an England call up.

There are a great many of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation celts in RL and of course it may attract people to support them on the basis of where it is played (if Tomkins was a celt and played for Leeds would he have been booed at Headingly if playing for the Celts?) and this in turn might create more of an atmosphere at that type of game.

The knock on effect for players being tested would also boost the national sides from which they were drawn (who's looking forward to seeing Dudson, Kear, James et al after the step up they have made during the 4N?).

Any thoughts?

No. One contrived team in the Exiles is too much. If anything, this team should replace the Exiles but it would probably be better if neither of them existed.

Problem is that the Exiles gave England the best mid season game they have had for years so if we don't have other national sides in the Northern Hemisphere that are capable of that it becomes a needs must. I think the tougher the mid season games the less we get caught out at the end of each season. I think that is the case this time around.

The difference this time around is that England have a much stronger squad, and Australia and New Zealand have weaker squads. The Exiles game and the 'England Knights' have contributed nothing and should be scrapped immediately.

What a ridiculous statement. The Exiles game was a far better test for England than playing against France, and the Knights concept gave young future England stars a taste of an international set up, be it bonding with other players from other clubs (which is vitally important, you only have to see interviews with the players to understand this), or getting used to the training regimes involved. Not to mention it provided a tough test for Cumbria!

Nothing except a bigger gate, a competitive match and more coverage than any other mid season games we've had?

And the Knights have been let down by Samoa not touring. It's a great stepping stone for the next generation.

Trust a rugby league fan to want to scrap something after one season.

The ' Other Nations ' concept is nothing new , it was done at the dawn of our sport , it has it's own history , and it serves a purpose

It should continue

Agree entirely.

So we should preserve something because it was done 100+ years ago? Referees also used to wear suits and flat caps during matches, should we bring that back too?
I wanted them scrapped before they had even started, because they are absolutely stupid and detrimental to RL. To be fair, I don't have any issue with the Knights concept, I just don't like the idea of them playing against international teams. The main issue I have is that the Knights could be far more effectively replaced by U20s internationals, as happens in all other sports and would provide a massive benefit to both the England national team and RL as a whole. But instead, we have this contrived team damaging the credibility of the sport because McNamara and the people in charge of international RL preferred to try and copy State of Origin and were too ignorant to think for themselves.

As for the Exiles, as long as enough mugs are willing to pay and watch the game that it turns a profit and that money is used for genuine international development, then I guess there's justification for it existing. If anyone is suggesting that it's been in some way beneficial for England though then they're deluded.

As I said , it isn't a new concept ( that is in response to those suggesting it is ) , and considering the lack of competitive opposition ( once again something that was a problem 100 years ago ) it serves a purpose

If you are going to reply to a post , at least reply to all of it , like most things , there is more than one aspect to it , but some posters only pick out part of the argument to attempt to ridicule , childish really