Walmsley fired up after losing to Roosters
Nerves got to England says Sciver
ALEX WALMSLEY says that St Helens’ World Club Challenge disappointment will fuel his fire for another crack at the Aussies in the autumn.
The England prop set the tone up front as the Super League champions opened the scoring through Luke Thompson and he also touched down himself in the closing stages.
But in between Sydney Roosters showed a superior cutting edge, with Daniel Tupou, Joseph Manu twice and Luke Keary all touching down.
Now Walmsley hopes to stand toe-to-toe with Australia in the Ashes series later this year under new coach ShaunWane.
He said: “It does whet the appetite – you want to play internationally and we might be coming up against a few of them at the end of the year.
“I’ve been around the international set-up for a few years now but we have got a new coach, so we’ll see if he likes me and wants me to be involved.
“We weren’t far away – that was the toughest pill to take because we were so close. They
NAT SCIVER said firstnight nerves got the better of England as South Africa inflicted their biggest-ever T20 World Cup defeat on them yesterday.
England, who won the tournament in 2009 and had reached four of the six finals, had only ever suffered defeats by Australia and West Indies. But the just showed a your chances.
“They only had a few chances and took them all, we created a few and didn’t take as many as we’d like. That was the difference in the end.
“Fair play to them, they are a class side – the best in the world. But we pushed them all the way and I would like to think
DOM MANFREDI led Wigan’s charge after making a try-scoring return from his latest injury nightmare.
The Warriors winger has been hit by three major knee issues in the past four seasons and was playing his first match since April.
He scored a popular second-half try as Adrian Lam’s side wore down a Hull team that flattered to deceive for a second week running.
Head coach Lam said: “Dom is respected highly by his peers like no other player. They love him and we wanted him to play last week but he wasn’t quite mentally right.
South Africans, who had beaten England just twice before in the format, delivered a shock with victory by six wickets.
Despite being finalists two years ago, England will now likely need to win all three of their remaining group games lesson in taking they knew it as well. It’s not a season-defining game for us.
“We would like to have added a trophy to the cabinet but it was not meant to be.
“Our targets now are the other couple of trophies we’ve got to go for.”
Victory for the Roosters was a record-equalling fourth in the competition and a 10th piece of silverware since coach Trent Robinson took over in 2013.
He’s got back in today and he’ll take a lot of confidence from that.”
Hull led through Adam Swift’s try, only for the Warriors to go into half-time 10-8 ahead, thanks to Bevan French’s score and Zak Hardaker’s goals. Further efforts from Manfredi, Jackson Hastings and Willie Isa enabled Wigan to take control, with Josh Griffin earning a consolation try for Hull.
Hull coach Lee Radford said: “Our attack looks painful at times.” to progress to the semifinals and Sciver, below, said: “The quality of teams has stepped up a notch. Anything can happen, so we have to be on our game.
“I know in the first game there can be some nerves. I was nervous since two days ago watching the first game of the World Cup.” Sciver’s innings was a rare positive as she hit 50 in their total of 123-8. But Amy Jones was the only other player to score more than 20 and South Africa passed their target with two balls to spare.