A terrific game in appalling conditions saw the Leeds Rhinos overturn the thrashing they'd received 2 weeks previously to record their first back-to-back championship in the Superleague era at the expense of a St Helens side who looked they'd played one game too many.
The significance of this game, and the reason for the title of this post, is that 15 of the 24 man England squad for the upcoming World Cup will be made up from players from these two sides. The remainder are a collection from Warrington, Hull, Wigan and one from Harlequins.
England's first World Cup game kicks off on 25th October, against Papua New Guinea in Townsville, home of the North Queensland Cowboys. The RFL have arranged a warm up game against Wales on Friday night which coach Tony Smith agrees is a good sharpener for those members of the squad who've not played for a few weeks - actually only 9 players.
The NRL Grand Final was also at the weekend, and the surprise winners, Manly, and finalists and former champions the Melbourne Storm, have only supplied 10 players to the Australian squad. The first choice 17 will surely not include many of these players, as the Sea Eagles came from pretty much nowhere and the Aussie squad is fairly settled already.
Which raises the interesting question - will the best prepared team be the one who's had the most recent and arduous Grand Final, or the team that had the most players eliminated in the early rounds. I'd suggest that a rest before the World Cup would be a good thing - but 6 or 7 weeks may be too much. The battle hardened Englishmen have some gamebreakers, and some real in form players to rival the ageing Aussie stars, and a core of hungry new faces keen to prove their worth.
In that respect, I think England have never had a better chance to turn the Australians over on their own turf, and coupled with a weaker New Zealand, I might risk a few pence on Jamie Peacock's men to do something special. Whatever happens, I can't wait.
1 comment:
Well tonight for your English fans may be a bit of a warm up but for us Welsh we are eager to get one over the old enemy and show we are a force in coming years. With John Dixon and Co I think the welsh team can defiantly bring back the glory days of Welsh Rugby League not that we had many.
Also I know it hasn’t been mentioned but what the is the crack with Football U21 international. Wales came top of the group (ahead of France) and then we have an extra qualifier against England. Has the world of sport gat it against us welsh or something.
Anyway come on a Wales double header I think, Any Takers let me know before kick off.
COME ON WALES Cymru am Byth
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