Terry’s told to scrum on down
WANE ENLISTS SOCCER ACE
ENGLAND’S autumn World Cup bid will receive input from an unlikely source after coach Shaun Wane formed a friendship with John Terry.
The ex-Chelsea and national captain, who is now Aston Villa’s assistant head coach, got to know Wane after the former Wigan boss gave a presentation to a football coaching seminar.
Wane now intends to use Terry’s insight into life at the top as part of his preparations for this year’s tournament, scheduled to take place in England in October and November. Wane, right, said: “I’m having quite a few chats with John and he’s very knowledgeable.
“I did a chat for UEFA coaching badge attendees and he was one of them. What I talked about was standards, what we did at Wigan and what worked for us.
“He loved it, we’ve stayed in touch since and we have regular Zooms where I ask him questions and he asks me questions. He’s going to come up to training definitely and is really keen.
“He’s very smart, and he loves our way of thinking in rugby league. He’s a very proud Englishman John, and [golfer] Lee Westwood is another who’s a big league fan and he’ll be getting involved with us.
“It’s important for players to get a perspective from other sports. I love speaking to people like that about how they train, what their thought process is and what their standards are, and I’m assuming our players will have a thirst for that as well.” Wane has confirmed plans for a mid-season match against an Exiles side made up of Super League’s top overseas stars, and another pre-World Cup warm-up, possibly against Fiji, closer to the tournament. Super League clubs have confirmed the 2021 campaign will kick off on March 25, two weeks later than originally planned, to “increase the chances of kicking off the new season in front of fans”.