Elstone’s warning for Wolfpack
Itoje speaks lingo then predicts Tonga twister
ROBERT ELSTONE says Toronto Wolfpack are not guaranteed a Super League spot – even if they clinch promotion.
The Canadian team are expected to win the Championship play-offs.
But league chief Elstone said: “We are seeking a number of ■ assurances. If we get those well before promotion is determined on the pitch and Toronto win, they are in.”
Wolfpack won’t take their £2m allowance from the TV contract if they win promotion but the league want guarantees they still
MARO ITOJE launched England’s World Cup campaign with a speech in Japanese – then spelt out in plain English the immediate threat they face.
Itoje did not beat about the bush when sizing up the challenge posed by Tonga in Sapporo on Sunday.
He said that playing alongside Billy and Mako Vunipola at Saracens had taught him all he needs to know about the destructive power of Pacific Island players.
“We have two boys of Tongan heritage in our team and I’ve seen what those two have done to people,” said the lock.
“It can be dangerous if you allow it to be. Tonga are an incredibly physical side.
“From one to 31 they have big boys who are aggressive and have huge athleticism as well.”
England are massive favourites to beat a nation with a population of just 108,000 and which ranks 12 places below Eddie Jones’ side.
But so, too, were England against another island nation, Fiji, in the opening game of the last World Cup – and they made hard work of beating them.
“Tonga will definitely be up for it,” added Itoje. “We have an have enough finances to compete without it.
Guarantees are also wanted over visas and accommodation for visiting teams.
Meanwhile, winger Josh Charnley hopes a players’ heart-to-heart will set Warrington on the way to a silverware double. The Challenge from ALEX SPINK in Miyazaki
awesome team but we definitely don’t want to overlook them.”
The forward’s warning was echoed by defence coach John Mitchell, who said: “Tonga like a tackle, it’s something that they get excited about!
“The most important thing for us is to remain calm and controlled. If we get clouded, too emotional, we’ll generally make poorer decisions and compromise our ability to control the opposition.”
A 10-minute display of taiko martial arts drumming came before England’s players were presented with World Cup caps.
Billy Vunipola was then invited on to the stage to make a wish on behalf of the tournament’s jointsecond favourites.
“I wish that whatever we do in the next few weeks will live with us for the rest of our lives,” he said.
That could go one of two ways, of course, as Stuart Lancaster’s England found to their cost in 2015.
Vunipola was handed a pen and invited to draw a right eye on the face of a Daruma wishing doll.
According to Japanese custom, once the wish is made and the eye painted you go away and work your socks off to deliver the dream – only then returning to paint in the other eye. Cup winners have lost seven of their last eight league games and face Castleford on Thursday in the play-offs.
Charnley said: “We had to bite the bullet and thrash it out between ourselves.
‘‘Now we will do everything we can to get to the Grand Final.”