Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"One would hope so. But it will be mostly the car owners and their friends who will show up, given the difficulty of getting to LSV by public ">transport.'" Should be easy for you gimp,Eurostar to London ,London to Manchester, Manchester to Atherton ,582 bus to Leigh takes 10 mins then 5 min walk from bus station to ground,so what's stopping you ?next time we build a new ground we shall makes sure it links to the channel tunnel

Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"One would hope so. But it will be mostly the car owners and their friends who will show up, given the difficulty of getting to LSV by public ">transport.'" Should be easy for you gimp,Eurostar to London ,London to Manchester, Manchester to Atherton ,582 bus to Leigh takes 10 mins then 5 min walk from bus station to ground,so what's stopping you ?next time we build a new ground we shall makes sure it links to the channel tunnel

Possibly a sweeping generalisation, but still a true one, outside the dozen players missing ( why do that I also havent a clue ) they are very poor, it wasnt just ability, no spirit,fight or even disapointment, the England lads werent even trying, it was embarrasing



Despite what you might think you know of my opinions about expansion of the sport I was hugely dissapointed with the French decision to rest a whole team ( if thats what it was ) , it will have damaged the future of the fixture and the credibility of the French



Not good

They don't have much depth outside of the 20 or so full-time players that play regularly at their clubs, but the team yesterday wasn't the strongest they could've fielded even with the players missing. They could've picked a bunch of senior players who have played for the national team in the past like the Bentley brothers and many others from the French league who could've kept the scoreline relatively respectable, but they just seemed to go with youngsters or completely obscure players. As I said, it was more of a developmental team than a legit international team and really should've been billed as France A.



I agree that the match was a joke and it was hugely disappointing turn out from the French, but the issue here is why they ended up fielding this team rather than any problems with the quality of players that they have or the development of the sport. Maybe the earlier poster is correct and they did this because the match was treated as a joke from the start. Either way, it's definitely not good and hopefully being humiliated like that will be a wake-up call for them in terms of the national set-up.

Quote ="ThePrinter"That would be a club side who get to spend nearly all year together compared to a national side who get limited time and matches together to work on things and put them into practise.....another sparkling ">comparison.'" You do realise some French players have just finished a long hard season right? Whereas some are just starting their year right? You keep trying don't you, in spite everything you keep trying.

Quote ="ThePrinter"That would be a club side who get to spend nearly all year together compared to a national side who get limited time and matches together to work on things and put them into practise.....another sparkling ">comparison.'" You do realise some French players have just finished a long hard season right? Whereas some are just starting their year right? You keep trying don't you, in spite everything you keep trying.

I guess the question of whether France can challenge England is similar to asking whether Hudds can challenge in the play offs: there's a case to be made that they could, but the total lack of supporting evidence inevitably leads to a lot of scepticism.

Quote ="headhunter"You are aware that only 6 Catalans players played against England yesterday? They have 18 French players in their first-team squad, and only six played against England. That is the bigger issue, not some fantastical explanation about Catalans not developing enough players. Also I'm really not sure that Huddersfield can boast 18 home-grown players in their first-team squad, but I'm sure you know more about that than me. Yeah, small-time, unambitious, penny-pinching clubs with no interest in junior development. And Leeds, who have a ready-made feeder system and so no need to run ">reserves.'" Catalans can't develop many players to get into their best 17. Absolutely pathetic. Throwing money at antipodeans and bringing through very little quality when they are the only SL team in the country. Few teams if any can 'boast' 18 home grown players in their squad with so many clubs sharing the same catchment area. So comparing English home grown players with French players in the Dragons is idiotic. The Giants - with 3 other SL teams in west Yorkshire (4 other til very recently) - compare pretty well with the Dragons who have no SL competition. The 4 West Yorks clubs can find 20 or so home grown players to play each week despite competition from big Lancashire clubs & Hull. Catalans with no local SL competition struggle to get 5/6. icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="icon_rolleyes.gif" title="Rolling Eyes" /> Your suggestion that clubs running several junior teams + scholarships right the way through to the U19s are not interested in development because they dont want an U23s is plain daft. Many prefer the current pathways + dual registration. Very few want U23s.

Quote ="headhunter"You are aware that only 6 Catalans players played against England yesterday? They have 18 French players in their first-team squad, and only six played against England. That is the bigger issue, not some fantastical explanation about Catalans not developing enough players. Also I'm really not sure that Huddersfield can boast 18 home-grown players in their first-team squad, but I'm sure you know more about that than me. Yeah, small-time, unambitious, penny-pinching clubs with no interest in junior development. And Leeds, who have a ready-made feeder system and so no need to run ">reserves.'" Catalans can't develop many players to get into their best 17. Absolutely pathetic. Throwing money at antipodeans and bringing through very little quality when they are the only SL team in the country. Few teams if any can 'boast' 18 home grown players in their squad with so many clubs sharing the same catchment area. So comparing English home grown players with French players in the Dragons is idiotic. The Giants - with 3 other SL teams in west Yorkshire (4 other til very recently) - compare pretty well with the Dragons who have no SL competition. The 4 West Yorks clubs can find 20 or so home grown players to play each week despite competition from big Lancashire clubs & Hull. Catalans with no local SL competition struggle to get 5/6. icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="icon_rolleyes.gif" title="Rolling Eyes" /> Your suggestion that clubs running several junior teams + scholarships right the way through to the U19s are not interested in development because they dont want an U23s is plain daft. Many prefer the current pathways + dual registration. Very few want U23s.