This argument over Yorks vs Lancs and games versus France has been going on for at least 40 years.
Games versus France have always been a tough sell. I can recall two wins by France in the last 40 years IIRC. That shouldn’t mean we shouldn’t play them (to ignore them would make us like the Aussies ignoring us!) but we shouldn’t expect that the fixture is ever going to be an Origin level preparation. It’s one of those games that will at a push attract 6 or 7k fans and see England win by 40+. Unless France can really push us then the public won’t pay to see it.
The Roses match has never taken off for a couple of reasons. First – Lancashire doesn’t resonate with RL people on the other side of the Pennines – it’s different in cricket. Can something be manufactured? I don’t know – who’s going to pay for the marketing required? Can a Lancashire player repeat Arthur Beetson’s punch on a team mate Mick Cronin that ignited Origin back in 1983? That’s probably what it needs – a proper incident of ill feeling between two club team mates to set the tone and make the game matter.
The second reason is that players and clubs always knew that performance or selection in the county game didn’t really impact on the international selection. Our player pool is too small. That means clubs will withdraw any player with a slight injury. Players will “go through the motions” a bit or at least Lancashire used to do that so it never becomes the contest we need it to be. Can we make some rules to increase the importance of the fixture? I doubt it.
Lastly the “exiles” game shouldn’t even be considered. Any game needs to have two sides that represent something that fans can get behind. Not so long ago we had enough Kiwis to have a potential game versus a good NZ side – that would’ve been better – not do-able now though.
