ENGLAND boss Shaun Wane believes the War of the Roses game should be brought back to help the national side to build for the big showpiece internationals.
With England set to play Australia next Autumn in the first three-test Ashes since 2003, followed by a World Cup in 2026, Wane believes they need to maximise the mid-season break.
And he believes pitting England’s best against each other on traditional county lines presents more of a rigorous test and maybe gives him a better look at the players “rip into each other”.
Within that he suggested that his two England assistants would take charge of their respective counties of origin – with new Saints assistant Lee Briers coaching Lancashire.
He admitted that preparations for next season were still up in the air before saying that he “would love a Roses clash” and saw it as more productive than the game with France.
Wane said: “I played in a few Lancashire v Yorkshire games and I would love to sit back and watch that game, with a lot at stake and the teams rip into each other with Lee Briers as one coach and Andy Last as the other.
“That would be fantastic.
“I am sure it will happen in the next few years.”
Such a game would throw up some intriguing duels – like Steve Prescott Man of Steel Mikey Lewis taking on the Lancashire halves George Williams and Harry Smith who are current England 6 and 7.
And then at dummy half where Saints’ Daryl Smith would wear the nine of Yorkshire and come up against Danny Walker, who was left out of the two-match series against Samoa.
Apart from the war years, Lancashire and Yorkshire played each other every season within the County Championship from 1895 through to 1982.
After that they also played six times as War of the Roses between 1985-91 and then four more times between 2001 and 2003 as Origin.
Since that was abandoned, there have been attempts to utilise Super League’s overseas stars with first the Exiles and then Combined Nations providing the opposition.
For the past two years year England have played France in the mid season test, winning both by 64-0 and 40-8 margins.
Wane believes the county route is the way to go.
“If we got a really good top-line sponsor to make sure it’s a big deal I am sure we could build something. If you look at State of Origin, they have stuck at it since 1980 and look at it now.
“We need to start to somewhere and this year or next year would be a fantastic way to do that,” he said.
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