England’s mid-season France clash may be replaced by domestic Roses battle

ENGLAND’S mid-season Test against France may be replaced by a War of the Roses between Lancashire and Yorkshire after failing to hit its ‘peak.’

Rugby league’s strategic partner IMG put forward the annual fixture between the nations as part of its ‘re-imagining’ of the sport.

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But the man who proposed it, as well as the club grading scheme that decides Super League places, Matt Dwyer, admits the France tie is not doing its job.

And everyone is looking into bringing back a Yorkshire v Lancashire clash – if the players buy into it.

He said: “Since we did our initial work, a couple of things have changed in France – we had a World Cup to work towards, which is now not happening in France.

“And these haven’t been easy sells when you look at the attendances they’re generating.

“We want as many peaks in our calendar as possible. The mid-season international isn’t providing the sort of peak we’re looking for. Does it provide the peak we need in our calendar? You’d have to question that.

“Whether the right peak is something like Lancashire v Yorkshire is something we’re all going through to establish.

“We’re looking at, ’What are the right peaks? How do we keep people interested at various points of the season? What’s something different that we can do?’

“This is an option being looked at. Is it something the broadcasters, players and fans would get round?

“If you don’t have those three boxes ticked, you’re not going to have a successful event. Fans saying, ‘We want this,’ isn’t enough. Players then have to say, ‘It would mean something,’ then broadcasters would have to go, ‘We want to put this on TV.’

“We’re trying to see whether this is a concept that works.”