Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Northern Hemisphere Internationals Idea

It seems to me that Australia has decided no one is going to decide for them regarding the international programme. They will organise their internationals around the Pacific region based on their own preferences. This means the Northern Hemisphere will have to look at what it is doing.

England has been playing a four nations tournament with Australia, New Zealand and one other nation, which  is something I feel has run its course. Surely England needs to throw its lot in with the nations around it. So why not instead have a Northern Hemisphere international programme? This it how I see it could be run:

It is played at the end of the season. Have a Group A plus a Group B, both comprising of six nations each. They play each team in their group once as double header matches at one venue. A finals weekend would follow where the top two from Group A play a grand final. The last team from Group A plays the winner of Group B to see if a those positions change for the next year. The bottom team of Group B later plays the winner of a challengers group we could call Group C, which is not part of this tournament.

I've done a chart to show how the tournament could be arranged. It's quite a large tournament but the benefit and profile for the international game would be huge. The domestic pro season in the UK may need shortening slightly but well worth the effort.

Group A Group B
England France Ireland Canada Jamaica Lebanon
Italy Scotland Wales Russia Serbia USA
Rounds
Fri 1st 2nd Sat 1st 2nd Sun 1st 2nd Wk1
Canada England Russia Scotland Jamaica Ireland
Serbia France USA Wales Lebanon Italy
Fri 1st 2nd Sat 1st 2nd Sun 1st 2nd Wk2
Canada England Jamaica Ireland Lebanon France
USA Scotland Russia Wales Serbia Italy
Fri 1st 2nd Sat 1st 2nd Sun 1st 2nd Wk3
Canada England Jamaica France Lebanon Italy
Russia Wales Serbia Ireland USA Scotland
Fri 1st 2nd Sat 1st 2nd Sun 1st 2nd Wk4
Canada England Lebanon Ireland Serbia France
Jamaica Italy Russia Scotland USA Wales
Fri 1st 2nd Sat 1st 2nd Sun 1st 2nd Wk5
Canada England Serbia France Jamaica Italy
Lebanon Ireland Russia Scotland USA Wales
Finals

Sat Play Off 6th v 1st Sat Gp A 1st v 2nd Wk6
Wales England
Lebanon France

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