Richard Whiting column: 'We need better international structure to grow our sport,' says Hull FC star

WE'RE not training on Friday and for the overseas boys in our squad that means a chance to watch the Test match between Australia and New Zealand.

There's always banter flying around in the squad this time of year when the Test match takes place Down Under and it's the same when State of Origin comes round too.

It's a little different these days as we don't have the senior Aussies like Mark O'Meley, Craig Fitzgibbon and Shaun Berrigan around the place, because those three alone got very competitive.

There's still the friendly rivalry, though, and Jacob Miller and Jordan Rankin have both been trying to wind Aaron Heremaia up.

The early word is a small crowd is expected for the match in Sydney, which for a repeat of the recent World Cup final is a disappointment.

The trouble is in Australia State of Origin has become so big it has taken over from everything else and international rugby is not the biggest thing for the Aussies.

We need a competitive and attractive international game to help grow the sport, but at least they have a Test Down Under to talk about.

The fixture list makes it difficult for us to pencil in regular England games throughout the season, and there's the issue of having a competitive team to play against too.

But it's a shame on the back of what everyone agrees was a successful World Cup, that we don't have a mid-season international this year to capitalise on the good strides made last year.

The audience figures on television as well as the crowds in attendance prove there is an appetite for it, so hopefully going forward we can come up with a schedule that doesn't over-burden the players, but allows the international game to grow too.

AFTER a busy Easter period the squad were given a few days off last week to recharge the batteries.

Everyone in the camp was ready for a bit of a break and a chance to rest up ahead of the next block of games.

We came back to training last Friday and every session since then has been really good. I think you can see the benefit from just having a few days at home for the players.

Radders and Lasty put the players through their paces over the weekend and it was certainly a tough return, but I can sense the determination in the squad to make the most of being out of the Challenge Cup and that's something we must do.

We know we will get three more breaks between now and the end of the season and we have to make sure we turn our cup disappointment to our advantage.

That means starting off with a win on Sunday against Wakefield Wildcats.

Richard Agar has put a good squad together with some familiar faces, but we are determined to return with a win.