DECISION D-DAY ON KANGA-RUSE

INTERNATIONAL Federation boss Nigel Wood insists no decision has yet been made on Lions and Kangaroos tours after a shock plan from Australia.

The Australian Rugby League Commission proposed their own international calendar that included a Kangaroos tour of England next year – as opposed to a return to the Lions tours Down Under that had long been mooted.

Former RFL chief executive Wood has stressed no decisions will be reached before all parties meet in Singapore at the end of this month.

He said: “The RLIF board meets later this month, by which time it is hoped the ARLC will be in a position to make a formal submission which can be considered alongside the views of our other members.

“It is certainly commendable that Australia is now positively engaged in discussing the future of international rugby league.

“Nevertheless I think there are likely to be many surprised by how far the ARLC’s new thinking deviates from the position it had previously committed to as part of the RLIF board in May 2017.

“At that time, the RLIF board announced a GB Lions Tour in 2019 to be followed by a Kangaroo tour in 2020 as a precursor to the next RLIF World Cup in the UK in 2021.

”These are exciting times, and never before has international rugby league been more topical.”