No mid-season test for England as full international schedule announced

Drew Darbyshire 04 Mar 2020 12:15 PM

The full international schedule for 2020 has been confirmed, and England do not have a mid-season test.

It had been reported that England would play Samoa during the representative weekend in June – but that will now not happen because the Pacific nation face the Cook Islands that weekend.

The full competitive men’s @IntRL programme for 2020 has been released and it represents the most wide-reaching and comprehensive set of fixtures ever. The women and wheelchair programme will follow@RLEFofficial @asiapacificrl

Full story here: https://t.co/xbqyWmQH49 pic.twitter.com/JU6p3k3dHz

— International RL (@IntRL) March 3, 2020

The Oceania Cup will feature six nations, Tonga, New Zealand and Fiji will play for the Cup which is currently held by Australia.

Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Cook Islands will play for the Trophy currently held by Fiji. The competitions will start with a round of games played in the mid-year international window and will conclude in late October.

The Middle East Africa Championship will be held in October in South Africa starting on October 13 when the hosts will play Morocco. Current holders Nigeria will play former champions Lebanon in the semi-finals, with the final and play-off being played on October 17.

The Americas Championship will be held in Kingston, Jamaica for the first time ever. The Reggae Warriors will welcome the USA, Canada and Chile. Jamaica will face Chile and USA will face Canada on November 10. The winners will advance to the final and the losers to a play-off game. Both games will be played on November 14.

Finally, the European Championship will feature 16 different nations competing at four levels. Euro A has been expanded to six nations divided into two pools of three. The winners of each pool will face off in the final on the weekend of November 7-8.

France will be joined in Pool A by Scotland and Italy while Wales, Ireland and Spain will fight out Pool B. It all kicks-off on October 17.

Euro B will feature Serbia, Russia and Greece and Euro C has Ukraine, Norway and Germany and Euro D which will span two seasons features Netherlands, Czech Republic, Malta and Turkey. The initial games will take place between October 17 and November 1.

In addition to the regional Championships, there will be three-match series played in England between England and Australia and numerous bi-literally arranged fixtures between member nations.

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