WENTZ TREBLE ALLOWS EAGLES TO SOAR
OLIVER GILDART was meant to be playing in the sweltering humidity of Papua New Guinea – instead he was sparkling in cold and wet Hull on an unforgettable England debut.
The Wigan centre was initially selected to join England Knights on their groundbreaking Pacific tour, but Sam Burgess’ injuries sparked an unlikely sequence of events.
Three-quarter Gildart was hardly seen as the ready-made replacement for forward Burgess, but his call-up signalled a shift in attitude from coach Wayne Bennett over John Bateman, who reverted back to his natural secondrow position.
Even then Gildart had two centres picked in front of him in Mark Percival and Reece Lyne, who started the midweek Test victory against France while the Wigan man recovered from his side’s Grand Final win. But Bennett had seen enough at Old Trafford, in the last month of domestic action and a week’s worth of training to assure him that Gildart deserved his place for the first against the Kiwis.
And hours after the Knights had edged Papua New Guinea in a brutal Test clash in Lae, the 22-yearold fully justified Bennett’s decision with a superb solo try to secure an opening Test win.
Gildart said: “Team manager Jamie Peacock rang me before the Monday before the semifinal and told me I CARSON WENTZ kept alive Philadelphia’s hopes of backto-back Super Bowls with three touchdown passes at Wembley.
The Eagles’ quarterback (right) gave Philly the lead in the final minute of the first half by a 32-yard pass to Dallas Goedert wasn’t going to Papua New Guinea, I was in the first team squad. I did a little skip down the corridor and rang my mum and dad. “Getting into the team was a surprise, and when Wayne told me, I was pretty shocked.
“But he gave me some confidence, said he was happy how I played in the last month of Super League and told me to go out there and do my thing.” Gildart certainly did that in taking an offload from John Bateman, stepping past Dallin WateneZelezniak to score the decisive try of a tight clash. England trailed 12-6 after tries to Esan Marsters and WateneZelezniak cancelled out Sam Tomkins’ opener, before Jake Connor was awarded a penalty try just before the half-time hooter. After the teams exchanged penalties, Gildart delivered his decisive contribution. and then helped open up a 17-6 lead early in the second half with a 36-yarder to Wendell Smallwood.
In front of an NFL-record crowd of 85,870, the Jaguars threatened a comeback, but Wentz’s third touchdown pass – a five-yarder to Zach Ertz – killed off any hope they had.
Wentz said: “It was a huge win.”