NOBODY HITS YOU WITH MORE FORCE THAN THESE BOYS!
JASON ROBINSON’S warning to hosts
HAD the World Cup taken place as planned a year ago, Dom Young would have played for Jamaica and would be heading home. As it is, he has scored eight tries in three England games — and could still have a big two weeks to come.
Wakefield-born Young qualified for Jamaica through his grandparents and was set to represent the Reggae Warriors with his brother Alex. But with the tournament postponed by 12 months, England coach Shaun Wane was alerted to the 21-year-old’s form in Australia’s NRL and poached him.
‘We were hoping to get Dom for Jamaica,’ explains the team’s operations director Jason Robinson, whose father is Jamaican.
‘But I understand why he chose England. It is just good to see him playing really well and scoring tries. I wish him all the best. There is a lot more to come from him. You can just see he is going to get better and better.’
England will hope that is the case as Young prepares to face Papua New Guinea in tomorrow’s quarter-final at Wigan.
The Newcastle Knights winger is the tournament’s top try- scorer and his World Cup displays have alerted a string of top clubs Down Under.
Robinson believes it will not just be rugby league sides chasing the 6ft 7in star’s services.
‘If he continues to progress in the way he is doing, he will have people coming in from all places — American football, rugby union, everything,’ says the ex-winger, the only Englishman to appear in World Cup finals in both codes.
Last week, Martin Offiah said Young would become an ‘instant celebrity’ if he helped England win the World Cup. But Robinson (above), 48, warns: ‘I’ve learned through my career that there are so many distractions in the game. Just stick to what you know, play well, and money and fame, whatever you are after, will follow.’
Right now, there appears no danger of Young taking his eyes off the prize. England are three wins away from lifting the World Cup for the first time. First up are a side who shocked Great Britain in a tour match in 2019.
‘Papua New Guinea are a tough side to beat,’ says Robinson, speaking in association with Farah menswear. ‘It’s the only country where rugby league is the national sport. You can’t begin to understand how big it is there — these guys are heroes.
‘We talk about Samoa and Tonga and how big and strong they are, but Papua New Guineans are pound for pound stronger than anybody I’ve ever known. They won’t lie down, they’ll give it everything they’ve got and you just never know what teams like that are capable of.’
If England pass tomorrow’s test, they will meet Samoa or Tonga in a semi-final at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium next weekend. Then, if they reach the final at Old Trafford on November 19, they could face favourites Australia, who would have to negotiate a likely semi-final with New Zealand.
‘England on their day can beat Australia, there is no doubt about it,’ adds Robinson. They wouldn’t be favourites, but it doesn’t matter. If they get to a final, they have got a chance.
‘At a packed Old Trafford, the atmosphere would be unbelievable. It’s amazing what that can do.
‘I’d love nothing more than for England to win a World Cup because I know the impact it would have on the game.’
Farah menswear has been entwined with Jamaican culture since the 1970s and has continued that tradition, as the official off-field clothing partner for the Jamaican Rugby League World Cup team.