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Rugby Football League executive chairman Richard Lewis believes that the future for international Rugby League and the Great Britain team remains exciting, despite Australia securing the Think! Road Safety Test Series win on Saturday. Lewis attended a meeting of the Rugby League International Federation Executive in London last Monday and is upbeat about the opportunities the international game will present to both Great Britain and the British game during the next five years.
That includes a Tri-Nations competition involving Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand for three years from 2004.
"While we at the RFL realise that the keynote of a successful sport is a victorious national side, the only way that we can achieve that is by creating an intensive, meaningful international programme so we can set our players and coaches targets at which they can aim," said Lewis.
"The Federation Executive have confirmed that Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand will face each other in Tri-Nation tournaments for three successive years, which also offers enormous opportunities to our national team and the sport.
"We discussed the possibility of a World Cup in the southern hemisphere in either 2007 or 2008 and, given the progress being made by Rugby League in Europe and the Pacific Islands, that could be an incentive for every League-playing nation to continue developing their plans for the future.
"The Executive also agreed to provide extra funding for the 2004 World Sevens tournament, allowing for additional teams to take part in the tournament.
"These are all positive developments for the game globally and will enable the British game to build on all the significant developments that have been taken place during the last couple of years."