By Ray French BBC rugby league commentator in Sydney

International rugby league, after an absence of 10 years from the city, is really back on the calendar.

The presence of former Ashes Test heroes, Australia's Peter Sterling, Graeme Langlands, Bobby Fulton, Laurie Daley and company, plus the best of British in ex-greats Cliff Watson, Tommy Bishop and Phil Jackson, at a 'Legends Luncheon' in Sydney on Tuesday was ample evidence of that.

No-one was more pleased that ex-St Helens and Great Britain scrum-half Tommy Bishop.

A veteran of 15 Test caps and two trips Down Under in 1966 and 1968, he is delighted that at last today's Super League stars are being given the opportunity to play for their country.

Tommy Bishop at the Legends Luncheon in Sydney

"It is over a decade since Britain visited Sydney, and that has been bad for rugby league.

"Test rugby should be the pinnacle of our game. When I was a kid growing up in St Helens, I wanted to play for my country.

"I played on the 1966 tour and in the World Cup tour in 1968, and I still get goose-pimples thinking about pulling my Great Britain jersey on for the first time at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

"It was a fantastic feeling for me, and the modern players need to experience it as well."

Wigan chief executive and former chairman of the Rugby Football League, Maurice Lindsay, is backing any attempt by Bishop to raise the profile of the code.

"I came to Sydney in February, and again for the International Board meeting in March, in an attempt to get genuine international competition back on the road again, and I'm glad it's happening," said Lindsay.

"There is no doubt that this one-off Test will be the forerunner of more international competition.

Lindsay is a huge fan of Ashes clashes

"We have put in place a new programme for the next seven years, and we will see the Aussies on tour in 2003, the World Club Championship in 2004 and the World Cup in 2005."

Geoff Car, the chief executive of the Australian Rugby League, is also confident that he can deliver the support of the southern hemisphere for such a programme.

"There is a sensational tradition between our two countries, going back to 1908, and there is a now a will between the two to get international rugby league back on track.

"Rugby union here in Australia has done a great job with its international and Super 12 programmes, but underneath, they don't have a real club competition, and there's very little development.

"All we need to do is put our top tier on, and the future looks rosy for the league code in both countries."