Not so Super League needs a win in club series
ENGLAND rugby league great Phil Clarke says there’s more than pride at stake in this week’s World Club Series between the Super League and NRL sides.
The final game of the series is tomorrow morning, when champions St Helens and the Rabbitohs square off.
NRL teams have dominated recent World Club Challenge finals, with Leeds’ 2012 victory over the Storm the only Super League win of the past six years. Now Super League bosses are desperate for a competitive match to retain credibility and help dissuade top players from defecting to the NRL.
‘‘It’s really important that the UK sides do well,’’ Clarke told Trophy antics: Rabbitohs star Greg Inglis and St Helens skipper Jon Wilkin fool around with the World Club Series silverware. Sunday News. ‘‘Eighteen years ago the Super League sides played against the Australian Super League and at the time the distance between the two sides was as big as the distance
St Helens v South Sydney Rabbitohs
7.45am, Sky Sport 2 between the two countries. We hope we’ve done something to redress that. Maybe one or two people will be surprised Down Under, who didn’t have the respect for the Super League that they’ve had in the past.’’
Clarke played 16 times for Great Britain and made six appearances for England during a six-year international career which ended in 1995. And he says the expanded World Club Series could help England during the Kiwis’ three-test tour at the end of the year.
‘‘England have shown in the last two years they’re so close to Australia and New Zealand but haven’t quite had the bounce of the ball or decisions go their way and final result in their favour.
‘‘After another year’s hard work and the experience one or two English players will gain from playing against their NRL rivals this weekend, we might get to a stage where we can tip over the Kiwis.’’
Two Super League matches will be screened live each weekend this season and Clarke, who works for Sky TV in the UK, says Super League will benefit from the added exposure.
‘‘Nowadays you can’t survive in isolation ... the fact that both hemispheres are getting to see and respect the quality of play in both competitions is great for everyone involved.’’