A HUNDRED MOMENT TO BE HAILED
THE HUNDERD
JERMAINE McGILLVARY revealed Sam Tomkins said England taking risks was the key to World Cup Nines success ahead of their opening win over Wales.
Jake O’Connor marked his 25th birthday with two second-half tries after Daryl Clark, Tomkins and McGillvary had struck to establish a 17-0 lead at the interval.
Mike Butt grabbed a consolation for Wales in Sydney.
Catalans Dragons star Tomkins played in the Auckland Nines with New Zealand Warriors – and McGillvary says that helped lay the foundation for victory.
The Huddersfield Giants man said: “Sam Tomkins has experience playing Nines.
“We spoke about it before and he said normally the better teams throw the ball around a little bit, take that risk and have fun with the football.
“That’s what we did for the majority of that game and it was great to get the win.
“It was a shock to the system, but I enjoyed being out there, it’s a different concept to what I’m used to – it takes you out of your comfort zone.
“We had a game plan of doing short kick-offs and that helped, we earned possession which helped us rack up some points.
“Probably come the second half, the game was dead but the boys had fun, we were offloading and playing a lot of rugby, it puts us in good stead for tomorrow.”
Wayne Bennett’s side face France and Lebanon in their remaining pool games ahead of the semi-finals and finals today.
Castleford forward Liam Watts admitted the England team is on a steep learning curve.
He said: “I didn’t know what to expect at first. We didn’t get to watch a game beforehand but getting out there was good. We had a good start, got into it really well and I really enjoyed it.
“I was a bit nervous to start with. I don’t really get nervous but it’s a totally different game altogether, so you don’t know what to expect and you’ve got no video on the opponents in front of you.
“You just get straight into the mixer and whatever happens, happens.”
■ England’s women also won 25-4 in their opening game against Papua New Guinea, with Castleford’s Rhiannon Marshall scoring two tries and others coming from Caitlin Beevers, captain Emily Rudge and Leah Burke. NINES SCHEDULE Today’s World Cup Nines schedule (live, Sky Sports Arena) Men’s semi-finals (8.55am and 9.20am), Women’s final (9.45am), Men’s final (11am) THE live Hundred draft will fire up tomorrow night (7pm) in a first for British sport that will cut the best 96 bits of wheat from the cricketing chaff.
There are 570 domestic and overseas players available for the eight head coaches to choose from which means some top stars will miss out. Each team has 100 seconds to make their picks with two players at each salary band from £125,000 down to £30,000. Chris Gayle (above) is valued at £125,000.
Teams: Trent Rockets, Southern Brave, Northern Superchargers, Welsh Fire, Oval Invincibles, Manchester Originals, London Spirit, Birmingham Phoenix. The draft is live on Sky Sports and across the BBC.