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England v New Zealand: Tests in Denver over next two years scrapped

Last updated on .From the section Rugby Leaguecomments93

Mile High Stadium
Mile High Stadium is the home of NFL side Denver Broncos

England's two Tests against New Zealand in Denver over the next two years have been cancelled.

In the first of three planned matches, England beat the Kiwis in June in front of 19,320 fans at the American city's 76,125-capacity Mile High Stadium.

Promoter Jason Moore did not meet a deadline to pay the Rugby Football League and New Zealand Rugby League.

The Kiwis will instead host current world champions Australia and World Cup semi-finalists Tonga.

The games in Denver were hoped to raise the sport's profile before the 2025 World Cup in the United States and Canada.

Rugby League International Federation chief executive Nigel Wood said his organisation would be "seeking further discussions with the promoter" to assess "any potential implications" for the 2025 World Cup.

It is the first time the tournament will be held outside Europe and Australasia, but the issue puts it under considerable doubt.

England's 36-18 win over New Zealand was the first time they had played in the US since 2000.

England captain Sean O'Loughlin said of June's game: "It was a great trip. I liked the concept, there was a decent crowd there and, game-wise, it was intense. They're the sort of games we want to play in.

"Hopefully they come up with something else, a different idea we can have a go at. England need to have a mid-season game."

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93 comments

  • Comment posted by LP227, at 14:29 5 Sep 2018

    A true rugby fan enjoys BOTH codes! RL is an ideal game for America especially Canada! Hard, fast and ferocious without the pads and helmets and confusing rules like union when trying to pick up the game. We should all embrace both codes as they both have their plus points, there is plenty of market for both codes over there!

  • Comment posted by aldos gnome, at 13:05 5 Sep 2018

    BANG! Ouch!

    ...Rugby League shoots itself int the foot again.

  • Comment posted by BC, at 13:07 5 Sep 2018

    NZRL have pulled out due to promoter Jason Moore not yet paying NZ in full for their appearance. Apparently the RFL are still outstanding payment also.

    Either way regardless of who promotes it, if the RLIF are genuinely serious about growing the game, these tests can't be allowed to fail after just one year.

  • Comment posted by waterbob, at 16:20 5 Sep 2018

    Why is it things go wrong in everything Nigel Wood is involved in?

  • Comment posted by Cleebysdad, at 12:13 5 Sep 2018

    I need an explanation of what the suggested implications are because I don't get the point of this news item? Is it just because we beat them too easily or the crowd was too small or what?

  • Comment posted by Ummpa Lummpa, at 15:52 5 Sep 2018

    Are we sure they just didn't pay Nigel with a truckload of pies? I thought that waste of space was done leeching of this game. Apparently not.

  • Comment posted by TonyR, at 12:23 5 Sep 2018

    Here we are scrapping test matches, meanwhile in the other code they're considering a £275 million offer for the premiership. Every sport has it's problems.

  • Comment posted by Rainfordian, at 12:23 6 Sep 2018

    "RU is far more complex to the untrained eye."

    For complex read BORING....

    Tried to watch Bath v Bristol last week, excruciatingly DULL first half and the ball seemed to spend more time in the crowd than on the pitch.

  • Comment posted by Shutthefridgedoor, at 13:22 5 Sep 2018

    I was at the game, could have been a bigger crowd as the cheapest ticket was $35 and average ticket $60. But have to say the crowd enjoyed it.

  • Comment posted by adrian, at 18:36 5 Sep 2018

    I love the game but time and time again ventures associated with League become embarrassing failures. Is it impossible to properly vet and research these projects and their promoters before the big announcements?

    I'm going to the England/New Zealand gave in Liverpool in December and since I bought the tickets it's had a change of time and now a change of date!

    Not good!

  • Comment posted by Chris, at 17:37 5 Sep 2018

    Did the promotor arrive in a yellow Reliant?

  • Comment posted by hlstory man, at 22:45 5 Sep 2018

    Not sure about these US games, but why does this Kerry person keep making these strange sweeping comments? Europeans are this, Australians at that, people brought up in certain places like x not y. Give it a rest, please.

  • Comment posted by Damo, at 14:36 5 Sep 2018

    Dont think the World cup is in doubt yet, but any territory that wishes to host an International tournament needs a multi agency approach and local and national government backing and strong infrastructure to make it a success. I think as the US is such a vast area, an RL World Cup would/should be targeted to one area. N/E USA New England/New York and S/E Canada Ontario and Quebec viable option

  • Comment posted by brainimpact, at 13:01 5 Sep 2018

    @4. Posted by TonyR

    I think you meant for 50% of the Premiership

  • Comment posted by davidjm, at 12:50 6 Sep 2018

    Its easy to save RL in Great Britain
    Don't take meaningless games over seas
    Don't have a half full stadium for the Cup Final with all the media tv and commentary wanting a Catalan win
    Get back to good hard British RL with series at home and away against AUS and NZ
    As for Rugby Union. Anything that is governed by a ref who gives penalties that neither side understand is plain DULL

  • Comment posted by The Greatest Game Of All, at 21:39 5 Sep 2018

    For a game of so little profile in the US to actually get that level of crowd for two alien nations to the US was - to me at least - a huge success.

    Obviously commercial / business factors drive these decisions and there is a massive amount RL - especially in the UK - needs to learn about business and commercialising a sport/product.

  • Comment posted by St Reatham, at 15:07 6 Sep 2018

    @80 and @81

    Six of one and half a dozen of the other? Usually, RL HYS are hijacked by league hating individuals. I couldn’t give a stuff if union is “bigger”. I’m not interested in union. Green with envy? Certainly not.

  • Comment posted by RoyaltyinTheChampionship, at 20:11 5 Sep 2018

    Think there was some good and bad things about it. The game itself was very good and we took a game to the US. I think it should have been played in the football (soccer) stadium where the Colarado Rapids play. Its about 20K capacity (from memory) and think the atmosphere would have been better with a virtually full stadium than a

  • Comment posted by elbowseye, at 19:09 5 Sep 2018

    Juggs I respect your views on preferring Union as a game, but with lots of sports club teams are better than international teams football for example. But I admit the level of international ru is more widespread but the state of origin is a two team competition but the level is the highest. You can believe what you wrote but someday hopefully you will watch a sport without having to defend ru 1st

  • Comment posted by juggernaut, at 15:47 5 Sep 2018

    @21 Elbow are you some sort of expert on the codes,by the way the subject matter is about the cancellation of RL tests in the good old USA

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