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.