my idea for the 4 nations is a evolution of richard lewis' idea for the 4 nations

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE 4 NATIONS

England
Australia
New zealand
winners of euro cup, (france should not be given automatic qualification)

EURO CUP - 2 groups of 4 (played year before NH4N)

France
Wales
Ireland
Scotland
Lebanon
Russia
Serbia
plus A N OTHER ie south africa,morocco,holland,germany etc.. have another comp below the euro cup,the winners of that lower comp becomes the 8th team in the euro cup...all that means there is a 3 tier comp ladder for teams to climb so in theory a team like south africa could,technically, one day play against australia,england & NZ in the 4 nations

 

Southern hemisphere 4 nations

Australia
New zealand
England
winners of pacific cup

Pacific cup - 2 groups of 3 (played while NH4N is being played)

PNG
Tonga
Samoa
Fiji
Cook islands
USA (not included in lewis' plan)

again theres scope to add another comp below the pacific cup for some of the smaller islands,japan and maybe one day the likes of canada & china..

 

interesting spud but money could be an problem.

as for the 4 nations cup FRANCE and PNG deserve equal rights to be the 4th nation maybe a play off or something they both play there fair share of test matches but either way lesser playing nations should be given an opputunity play as well

 

dragon1 

niether france or PNG are the fourth best RL nation though so why give the a free pass to the 4 nations..

having a euro & pacific cup to find the 4th place team in the 4 nations will drive development,if france & png win those comps then they will be better for it and will help teams like tonga keep it's starslike feleti mateo from defecting to australia..the same goes for ireland,scotland & wales players having to moving to england because of the lack of opportunities to play against australia & NZ


and money ain't that much of an issue like it was a few years ago..the RLEF have 3 tournaments,involving 9 teams running this summer so
a 8 team euro cup or a 6 team pacific cup would'nt be a problem..

Just something to think about when you plan these ideas. I see union has brought out its 1 year outlook and have 11 test matches planned for the Wallaby's ,,,yes 11, thats nearly as many as our world cup, so they are making hay while the sun shines, that guy they have in charge sure knows what he is doing, O'neil his name is and we need him or one like him in rugby league, gallop is on his own with the dinosaurs helping him.??

Well I'll weigh in with my thoughs. I think it should be a World 6 nations. Now for my idea every team would have to earn their way in. This is how i would have it run, the year before the W6N run Atlantic, Euro and Pacific 6N comps each with a tier system. So for europe you would have something like this:

Tier 1 - England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, ???
Tier 2 - Russia, Lebanon, Serbia, Germany, Czech Rep, ???
Tier 3 - Italy, Malta, Greece, Portugal, Morrocco, ???
Tier 4 - Ukraine.... etc. etc.

Now the ??? places would go to the winner of the tier below, play the tournaments one after another. Or an alternative would be to have Russia in the top 6, italy in the next tier etc. and use relegation/promotion for the next tournament so these tournaments could run at the same time. I like the tier system as it gives all teams a target to reach, if france, ireland etc dont take it seriously then they could find themselfs in tier 2. Now same goes for atlantic and pacific comps although there would be less tiers in these two comps.

Now to the qualifing for the W6N, the top 2 from the euro and pacific comps get auto qualification, the remaining 2 spots go to the finalists of a 4 teams comp featuring EC3, PC3, AC1 & AC2. So the atlantic could possibly have 2 teams in the W6N aswell as europe and pacific.

Now how to fit this into the schedule, well say the W6N starts in 2015 2 years after the next WC.

2013 - WC
2014 - Free Year, some RLIF, RLEF organised comps and self organised tours etc.
2015 - Regional 6N (atlantic, euro and pacific)
2016 - W6N, RLWC Qualifyers
2017 - WC

Also double the Regional 6 nations up as WC Qualifyers, all 6 teams in the W6N get auto qualification to the WC.

Now i hope everyopne understands this, its long yes but i would love to see it.

oikee:

Just something to think about when you plan these ideas. I see union has brought out its 1 year outlook and have 11 test matches planned for the Wallaby's ,,,yes 11, thats nearly as many as our world cup, so they are making hay while the sun shines, that guy they have in charge sure knows what he is doing, O'neil his name is and we need him or one like him in rugby league, gallop is on his own with the dinosaurs helping him.??

11? wow, that is alot of int. RU for one country, although that is where union's strength is. Would be nice to see IRL teams playing 5 or more games a years, would probably happen with my proposed schedule up the page.

That's just it, RU strength is in its Internationals where as RL strength is in its Clubs. If RL can increase its international exposure then it will trully be the greatest sport.

The trouble with RU is how many of the internationals are just pointless one offs? What's the list of countries? 2xNZ, 2xSA (tri nations), then England, Wales, Ireland Scotland and France GS tour... two more Italy? One more What a PI nation or Japan or the Argies? Watch the players winge about playing too much after that.

I'd rather watch 4-5 valuable int. games in a meanigful tournie rather than 11 pointless games of drivel.

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Love your stucture jim, and we need to have some games played where they are going to make some cash, look its all about money, yes druzik the games in union might look pointless, but do you really think that o'neil cares about that, he knows they all should be sellouts because its the wallibies, now this is his thinking, see he just rides the back of there name and gives them plenty of game time to help them improve, maybe even get them back to where they should be.

We need for england and france to become more dominate in league to see the same effect happening in league, everyone just thinks the kangaroos are unbeatable, and they dont bother. I hope the island teams do well this year, i know england will, but if a island nation can pull off a couple of upsets we have more interest, anyhow, i like the nation groups that jim has sorted out, the more they play the better the comp.

Funny you say that Oikee... yes I agree completely with what you say... O'niell is just running with a brand name, most people don't turn up to a Union game for the game... its the occassion (I kid you not).

The Union games tend to be "competitive" not because teams become good or bad but becasue they tens to be very inconsistent and cr4p. Not sure how many of you saw any of the 6N this year but its was the most inconsistent load of trollop I have ever seen. All teams were bad... its just that some were worse than others. I could not believe that England could play soooooo bad one week and then the next put in a 1/2 decent performance.

The Kangaroos are unfortunately victims of their own success... they became so good, and this should be celebrated... instead teams/countries/fans whinged about it instead of getting off their backsides and trying to match them. Its only now wer are strting to see that forward thinking start to make some real competitive games.

Two games that I saw last year that convinces me that IRL is on the up with great competitive games was France v GB and France v NZ. And the few WCQ games i saw over the web also warmed my heart. USA in particular was a stand out for me... they have come along soooooo far its not funny. I also think Russia Lebanon and Serbia withing the next 5-10 years will start to trouble many of the tier 1 nations... this is just from what I have seen last year.

Again we need competitive meanigful games where teams get a fair chance at competeing with other teams... its a rewards system we need really. You perform well, good on you your reward is.... promotion to the next level or a qualifier to a regional Ch'pships. It gives teams and countries incentived to improve. Hence why I am so hapy with what the RLEF have doen with their structuring, it does this precisely.

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You know what i think druzik, one day these countries like serbia and russia will ponce on the aussies and hit them off gaurd, and then we will have to take notice. I am really looking forward again to the world cup and have me tickets now, but what is looking good is the next 10 years, yes i have a winge about some things but at least the admin seem to listen, and always do for some reason, so they have the games future in there hearts, like i do and you and every one else, good to see, but i am still looking forward to some games in europe when i get there. Germany v anyone will do me.

Look any games involving Germany, Serbia Russia, Latvia, Czechs, Estonia Ukraine, Greece , malta, France Ireland.... its like 20 Euros (inc Taxes!) to fly to these countries and sometimes cheaper. I am flying to Tallin for the Estonia v Latvia game for 50 euros return. Seriously you can do such a great weekend trip with your missus. get there on a friday night and you have the full saturday to sight see, games are then about 5 pm  and then you have the evenings to enjoy as well. Sunday can do bit more SS and jet off home. Its briliant!

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Anyway getting abck to the four nations. Who do you think will win this years?

.... Hehehe "WHAT" I hear you ask! The annual Amateur Four Nations Tournament! This is also known as the Home nations tournie. Played between the England Lionhearts, Ireland A, Scotland A nad Wales A. Wales and England have been champs the previous 3 years, with wales last year. Ireland tend to be strong and come in second.

So come in and vote in the poll over at http://rlsim.proboards76.com/index.cgi?board=ueropeleeg&action=display&thread=1205678929

For What its worth I think Wales can pull one out again and win it. I think they will be looking to make amends for teh 1st teams performances last year.

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OK so i started thinking about this again recently, and there are a few option i want to discuss.

First, the amount of games played, should the 2009 4N be the same as tri-nations in the past with each team playing each other twice? or will once be enough? Also top 2 into final? or 1 into final 2Vs3 for qualification into final. I think it would still be great to have each team play each other twice.

Now onto venues, would it be best to have games played in all 4 countries or just the 1 host nation? I have to say I'm for games in all 4 countries. 3 games in each country! plus the final hosted by 1st place.

My views are:

(1) Only play each other once. Why? Too many games each year for rep players and concern about the burn out factor ending careers prematurely.

(2) Top 2 into final. Why? Same as above but I consider a final to be v.important in RL series to differentiate them from other sports.

(3) I think the host should be rotated annually between the Southern and Northern hemispheres with the travelling teams playing each other prior to departing their own hemisphere to maximise crowd attendance. Eg. The series is hosted by England so the Kangaroos play the Kiwis in Oz and England play France in England with all other matches being played at the home of the Northern hemisphere team eg. France v Kangaroos in France and England v kangaroos in England etc. The next Northern hemisphere tournament when it comes around again should then be hosted by France and they would play England in France and the Kiwis would host the Kangaroos in NZ prior to heading over. So a host nation calendar could be England, Australia, France and then New Zealand.

One of the biggest things the rfl and the nrl have to do is cut down there seasons so there is a decent international schedule and help stop player burnout as well. But one of the things that definetly should happen is a six nations comp as suggested. But i would allow eng, france, aus and nz in. For the other two spots i would probably go the winner of the euro nations, and the winner of the pacific nations. This would bring the developong teams skill up quilckly and make them tougher opponents against the big four which will happen next year. The good thing about this is it will help convert players from other codes because there is a big tournament to play in and it would also raise the profile of the game in those countries. I have been really impressed with the rfl and there expansion while the nrl just seems to have a "who fucking cares approach". The only way i can see the nrl getting out of the *** heap against afl and soccer is to build up the international game. How much better would it be if there were 6 competitive nations not 3. The funny thing as well all it would take is to hold the tournament just to breathe more life into the international game.