Bennett hits back at critics in plea for more Tests in US

England coach Wayne Bennett launched a passionate plea for more Test matches to be played in the United States after watching his side topple New Zealand in Denver.

Organisers were encouraged by a crowd of 19,320 at the Mile High Stadium for England’s 36-18 victory over the Kiwis and have an agreement in principle to repeat the midseason international over the next two years in the run-up to the 2025 World Cup, which is due to be staged in North America.

However, both England and New Zealand had to overcome strong opposition from the Australian players’ union, as well as the NRL and the bulk of its clubs, to get Saturday’s game off the ground, and Bennett is expecting another political struggle for 2019. “It starts now,” he said. “It just defies logic from my point of view that we can have Samoa play Tonga, Papua New Guinea play Fiji and the State of Origin game and we’re the ones that put ourselves out to come over here and play. We want to do that but they say we can’t play on the same weekend.

Bennett, a noted internationalist who came up with the idea of the Tri-nations Series two decades ago, compares the current situation to the pioneers who struggled to get the Origin concept off the ground.

Saturday’s game was shown live on cable television across the United States, as well as being beamed back to Britain and New Zealand, and the Brisbane Broncos coach is hoping that will help win over the critics, though he has his doubts. “We’ve a great product, I don’t know why we’re embarrassed about it,” he said.