Marathon effort, Kev

THE biggest cheers at the Rugby League World Cup finals came when Kevin Sinfield arrived to a hero’s welcome at half-time.

The ex-Leeds and England captain raised more than £1.7m for motor neurone disease charities by completing seven ultra marathons in seven days.

He was inspired by his ex-Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with MND in 2019.

Sinfield (inset) told the 67,502 crowd he “wanted to be a great friend”.

“Our country cares,” he added. “It cares about people who need help and that MND community needs us.”

In the earlier women’s final, defending champions Australia eased past New Zealand 54-4.