WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
Warriors and Wolves show that Aussies are NOT invincible ... now it’s over to you, England
SHAUN WANE urged England to take Wigan and Warrington’s lead in this year’s World Cup, after watching his hometown heroes record a historic win.
The Warriors’ nine homegrown players all made key contributions, helping the Super League champions to lift a record fourth World Club Challenge and a first for this country since 2012.
With Warrington also beating Brisbane the previous night, it marked a complete turnaround from the 3-0 whitewashes of the last two World Club Series.
Warriors coach Wane – a player when Wigan won the competition for the first time in 1987 – believes that the wins should encourage an England side that fell short in last year’s Four Nations.
He said: “It shows that they’re human, they’re not anything special. If they are hit hard, they stay down.
“It was a good battle today and we stood toe-to-toe for long periods and were very physical. That’s not meant as any disrespect to Cronulla, who are a tough, uncompromising team.
“We need to do it at international level now and I’m sure we’ll have a good chance in the World Cup.”
Wane invited members of that iconic 1987 Wigan side to present the shirts to his players before the match – and was rewarded with performances of similar resilience to 30 years ago.
Stand-off George Williams produced a titanic effort in defence to go with crucial touches of creativity, and Morgan Escare was excellent at full-back – while Wane reserved special praise for hooker Sam Powell.
And the significant Wigan influence within his ranks filled Wane with pride. He added: “To have the likes of George Williams, Lewis Tierney and Sam Powell winning a Grand Final and then the World Club Challenge on their own pitch with their family and friends here is up there. “I’m pleased for the competition and pleased for the game – everything should be really positive. “We held our hands up last year, and North Queensland were very good in the main game. “This is our turn now and we need to give ourselves a pat on the back. “But it’s one year – the next target is to be consistent.” Wigan led 10-0 at the break with Williams involved in well-taken tries by Joe Burgess and Oliver Gildart. Escare then produced a crucial try-saving tackle on Sam Tagataese moments before he created Burgess’s second. And although their Australian opponents – who had two first-half tries disallowed – eventually responded through Jesse Ramien, the final word went to Wigan when Burgess completed his hat-trick in the final minute. Cronulla captain Paul Gallen said: “They took their opportunities in the first half, we didn’t and that was probably the difference. You can’t take anything away from Wigan today, they were better than us.”