Bennett fights for US fixture
THE dust had barely settled at Mile High Stadium, but England coach Wayne Bennett could not be clearer – the fight for the Denver Test to continue starts now.
Moments after England came back from a 12- 0 deficit to overwhelm New Zealand 36- 18 in front of 19,320 fans in the historic Denver Test, Bennett got on the front foot to defend the fixture and its future.
“It starts now. It starts today,” Bennett said.
“I’m proud of our game and anywhere in the world I can take it, I’d take it. There was not one player that didn’t want to be here.
“The game needs to recognise the importance ( of the Test). If we don’t have a global product we’re not going to have a product in 20 years.
“We’ve got a great product. I don’t know why we’re embarrassed about it. Other codes don’t have the product we have and they put themselves out there.
“I hope so many people watched this game in America today and they’re looking on their TV guides to see when the next game of rugby league is on so they can watch it again.
“It’s my third time I’ve brought teams here – I brought Queensland in 87, I brought Australia in 2004. This is the best presentation we’ve ever done, the best crowd we’ve ever had and I just don’t want to leave it behind like we left the other years behind, walked away and didn’t come back.
“We’ve got to come back. We’ve got a great product.”