Internationals need rescue

The verdict of the Sydney press on Saturday morning was as unanimous as it was predictable: RIP international rugby league.

We have read these obituaries on previous occasions only for the corpse to spring up and do a few lively laps of the stadium, but it has never looked quite this battered and bloodied. The stark facts of Friday night's débâcle are bad enough. The 64-10 defeat was Great Britain's worst in Test, let alone Ashes, history. It was the most one-sided that this almost 100-year-old contest has ever been. It was hard to believe that these two teams went to a decider in the three-Test series last autumn.

It recalled the series in Britain 20 years ago, when the Kangaroos were revealed to be playing a different game. In Andrew Johns and Trent Barrett – happily cleared of any serious damage after being stretchered off late in the game in a neck brace – they have their best half-backs since the days of Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny and Wally Lewis. Johns said it all, though, when he admitted: "I don't think I even needed a shower.''

Why should the balance of power have swung so far in eight months, and with Great Britain looking a stronger team than when they finally succumbed last November? They have refused to use their travel arrangements as an excuse, but flying in last weekend and playing before any sort of acclimatisation could be completed was a recipe for potential disaster.

After the first 15 minutes British players were lethargic and leaden-footed and once you fail to match Australia for mobility a massacre is on the cards. Australia had similar problems in the first Test in England last year and in the World Club Championships, but it is wrong that a one-off Test should hang so heavily on an inadequate preparation. There must be doubts over the next similar event on the calendar – a hit-and-run trip to New Zealand next summer.

As far as repeating the experience in Australia is concerned, forget it. It was 10 years since Great Britain had played in Sydney and, as the normally measured Sydney Morning Herald put it: "It will take another decade for the city's sports fans to be hoodwinked into going to see them again.''

The game's international calendar also shows a tour to Australia in 2006, but that is a hard sell on two counts. First because British rugby league is now further away than ever from convincing Australia that they are strong enough, and secondly because the simultaneous seasons in the two countries make setting suitable dates almost impossible.

One certainty is that Great Britain face a huge task when the Kiwis tour this autumn. The GB coach David Waite is fond of talking about long-term plans and part of the rationale behind this Test was that it would be preparation for the Kiwis. All it has achieved is to make it look most unlikely that the Poms will be able to beat the world's second-strongest nation either.

But if Friday was bad news for Great Britain's credibility, then it was equally bad news for Australia.On the weekend of the Bledisloe Cup, it was another reminder that rugby league, while it still rules the roost at club level, lacks the thriving international dimension that could help it to retain its back-line talent.

Already one of Friday night's team, Lote Tuqiri, is assumed to be switching sides. The Australian Rugby League could not really turn around to him and say: "Stay with us, mate. The Poms are in town again in 10 years."