Jamie Peacock: assessing the state of the international scene

France certainly needs some help to make sure they are more competitive than they are now when they have the World Cup there in 2025 - the England result proved that.

It was a good run for some of Shaun Wane's younger players but a 64-0 scoreline says plenty about what France need to do. 

If we'd have managed to keep Toulouse in Super League that would have really helped them, having two top-flight French teams. That's what they need. And maybe even to get to three. That's how we can grow and strengthen the game in France.

Watching Toulouse drop out last year was, in my view, sad for the international game as it hinders France's chances of being more competitive. They have some things they need to work out and let's hope they do.

On the back of that, though, it was good to hear the news that England will play three Tests here against Tonga in the autumn.

As a player, you really look forward to testing yourself against the best in the world in more than one game at the end of the season.

It's great to see the elite players in our competition have that now against Tonga.

They are a side that have been No1 in the world, beaten Australia, beaten New Zealand and Great Britain over the last few years and I think they will highly motivated when they come over here.

They'll be a bit disappointed with what happened at the World Cup last year. The camp was a little bit too loose and they'll be wanting to put that right.

England have an enormous challenge against a hugely physical and talented Tonga side. I'm really pleased that all three games are in big stadiums in the heartlands as nothing looks better on TV when we have sold-out, vibrant stadiums for international rugby league.

Read Jamie Peacock's full column on the Daily Mirror website