By BILLY GRIMSHAW
WIGAN Warriors chairman Ian Lenagan has said his club were close to playing the 2017 World Club Challenge in Australia and has also raised the possibility of kicking off the Super League campaign against Warrington Down Under in the future.
Lenagan’s Wigan were the last Super League champions to travel to Australia for the annual contest to determine the world’s greatest club side. The Warriors went down 36-14 to 2013 NRL premiers Sydney Roosters but a crowd of 34,000 at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney was a cause for optimism.
“I think it would be great for Super League and for rugby league generally to play the series in Australia,” Lenagan said. “We are, as always, in discussions 12 months in advance about what happens in February 2018. We came very close indeed to playing the Sharks in Australia this year.”
Warrington coach Tony Smith in 2016 gave his backing to playing the 2018 series Down Under. “We were quite happy to do a training camp there leading into this game and also play a Super League game over there,” Smith said. “I think it would have been great exposure. We were certainly up for it. That is the ultimate test. I think there’s scope for it if it was put on in the right places, the rugby league cities.” The Wolves have in the past ventured Down Under for preseason camps and faced NRL opposition in friendlies on Australian soil.(continued below)
Lenagan was one of the driving forces behind the expansion of the Series and expressed his disappointment that only Brisbane had been willing to travel this year in contrast to two clubs plus the NRL champions in the previous two years. However, Lenagan was realistic and pointed out the need for Super League clubs to topple the Australians to add credibility to the fledgling concept.
“I think we have to win to earn the right to play more games,” Lenagan said. “The fact we’ve lost six in a row is our fault, not the NRL’s fault. What’s the point in expanding something that’s not been successful?”
Warrington will attempt to become the first Super League club to defeat an NRL side in the newly expanded Series when taking on Brisbane Broncos this Saturday, February 18 in the precursor to the main event the following evening at the DW Stadium in Wigan.
It has been mooted playing the World Club Series on neutral territory is a future option and Lenagan says he would support taking it to the United States, which will host the 2025 Rugby League World Cup. “I’m much happier with the idea of going to America than I am with the idea of playing in Dubai or Qatar,” Lenagan said. “I don’t think personally there is a future in that but I do think there is a great future in club football taking place in America. For me America is the land of opportunity for rugby.”
