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England’s Sam Burgess
England’s Sam Burgess drives forward during their 18-20 semi-final win over Tonga. Photograph: Michael Bradley/AFP/Getty Images
England’s Sam Burgess drives forward during their 18-20 semi-final win over Tonga. Photograph: Michael Bradley/AFP/Getty Images

England aim to end 45 years of hurt in Rugby League World Cup final

This article is more than 6 years old

England may have lost 12 straight matches against Australia but they have enough quality to upset the Kangaroos in Brisbane on Saturday

By Gavin Willacy for No Helmets Required, part of the Guardian Sport Network

The Kangaroos have won all their preliminary matches, hardly breaking sweat. They are playing in front of their home crowd at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the spiritual home of the Australian game, a ground they all know inside out. Their opponents should just be glad to be in the final, to enjoy the experiences, to indulge themselves in the pomp and ceremony of the occasion, and to lose with dignity. Their challenge has been swatted away again and again, the upstarts sent packing every time. Australia win. Australia win. Australia win. Repeat. They are undeniably favourites.

Except the underdogs have a wily old pack, full of experienced veterans, playing in what well could be their final final, for some their first and only final. They have a couple of breakout stars who Australia’s supposed experts had hardly heard of before the tournament, let alone the general public. Their half-backs suddenly seem to know what they are doing, and what each other are going to do, too. And the hooker is a class act, an 80-minute motor who could star in the NRL.

And then there’s the Thin White Duke, hidden in the shadows of the coaches’ box which is his home every other weekend. He is a son of Queensland, a former Australia winger, coach, leader. He’s on the other side now. And he knows the Kangaroos inside out. He knows their weaknesses, the ones most opponents don’t believe in.

The game? The 2008 World Cup final. The result? Australia 20-34 New Zealand . But that was a fluke, a one-off, Billy Slater’s one and only nightmare. Oh, but what about 2010 Four Nations Final: Australia 12- 16 New Zealand? And the 2005 Tri-Nations Final at Leeds: New Zealand 24-0 Australia. None of that was supposed to happen, either.

Can it happen again on Saturday morning? Yes, if England summon up the spirit of 2006, when Great Britain last won in Australia, of 1992 when the Lions romped to a stunning win in Melbourne, of 1988 when they came off the canvas in Sydney? Even a repeat of Wigan 2004 or Huddersfield 2001 will do, too. For Ruben Wiki and David Kidwell in 2005, Nathan Cayless in 2008, read James Graham, Sam Burgess and, fingers crossed, Sean O’Loughlin, a world-class pack supping schooners in the last chance saloon.

The Kiwis had the magical Benji Marshall and dependable Nathan Fien in the halves, following the majestic Stacey Jones and Nigel Vagana, and Lance Hohaia chiming in from full-back. England have the mercurial Luke Gale – due a stormer, dependable Kevin Brown and the inspirational Gareth Widdop.

And where Manu Vatuvei erupted in 2005, so has Jermaine McGillvray in 2017. That old bloke in the box? Wayne Bennett, the man behind the Kiwis stunning triumph in 2008. How he would love to prove that was no fluke.

Granted, England have lost their last 12 straight against the Kangaroos. But New Zealand had a similar woeful record in the run up to their historic upsets, too. England usually concede over 30 points to the Aussies and lose by around 16, conceding late tries as they chase the game. Restrict Australia to under 20 however, as they did in the opener five weeks ago in Melbourne, and they win as often as not.

The RFL’s Patron has opted to spend some time with his new fiancé rather than make a 20,000 mile trip. Fair enough. But I am sure Prince Harry will be watching BBC One on Saturday morning (and tweeting) along with a few million of us.

A month after my parents toasted my first birthday, Clive Sullivan lifted the World Cup for Great Britain in Lyon. It is about time it came back to these shores. Forty-five years of hurt is long enough. Good luck boys.

Domestic quota

As my erstwhile colleague Chris Irvine pondered on Twitter the other day, if England do win on Saturday, is the game here ready? When England won the Ashes in 2005, there was a huge spike in kids wanting to play cricket. The same happened to rugby union in 2003. Neither sport were prepared for it, with not enough coaches, teams, pitches, physios, referees etc to meet demand. While there is unlikely to be queues of cars taking kids to training at rugby league clubs all over the country next week, it is hoped the RFL do have an Operation Glory folder somewhere, ready to ‘roll out’ if the dream becomes reality.

It will not help that the vast majority of community clubs now don’t start playing until March, by which time the glow of a shock triumph would have faded. At least Super League clubs will be able to take advantage. Let’s hope their marketing teams are on red alert.

At the moment the next home England game will be in October. That is far too late. If I were Nigel Wood, I would be tempting Tonga with a serious wedge to bring the mid-season Test here in June rather than England going to Auckland or Denver to play the Kiwis – the first of five scheduled meetings in five months. Some problems are good to have.

Should RFL chief executive Nigel Wood try to lure Tonga to these shores next summer? Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Country call: Cameroon

With Lebanon qualifying directly for RLWC 2021, there is going to be a fascinating chase to join them from the Middle East-Africa region. South Africa may face fresh-faced opposition from Ghana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. They should be joined by Cameroon Rugby League XIII, who have been granted observer status by the RLEF, a reward for their fine under-the-radar work over the past six years.

Several supposedly senior nations can look on enviously at Cameroon’s eight clubs including Yaoundé-based Dragons, Nyété Bulls, Babadjou RL and Kumba RL. Another five clubs are in the process of being formed. Bizarrely, the man that gave league in Cameroon a shove was a former Kangaroo who played in that 1992 defeat to Great Britain! “Everything started in 2012 with Michael Hancock in Brisbane, who embraced my idea to set up rugby league in Cameroon,” explains Carol Manga, CRLXIII’s general and development manager. “Back then I just wanted to give something back to the youth that they could enjoy at home. I brought a bit of Cameroon to Australia and now I’ve taken a part of Australia back with me!” Cameroon will join a host of exciting new names at the Emerging Nations World Cup in Sydney next year.

“Physically, rugby league is well suited to Africans and the game is just spectacular,” said CRLXIII chairman Samuel Tayou. Manga also thanked Brad Fittler for his support. Australian stars helping international RL? Whodathunkit?

Goal-line drop-out

For those of you too young or too frazzled by life to recall, the last time England reached a World Cup final they went in as serious contenders. In the opening game of the 1995 World Cup, England – without the injured Martin Offiah and with teenage centre Kris Radlinski installed as emergency full-back – had beaten a below-strength Australia (and have not done so since) at Wembley. A month later, the Kangaroos, missing a raft of star players due to the Super League war which was ripping the game in two down under, recovered to win the final, 16-8. They were steered around Wembley by a young Brad Fittler, appointed last week as New South Wales coach after his sterling work with Lebanon, while England were without starting half-back partners Shaun Edwards (infected knee) and Daryl Powell (dropped) as Phil Larder went with Bobbie Goulding and Tony Smith. Taking over from Edwards as captain was a certain Denis Betts, England’s current assistant coach. Victory on Saturday will taste rather sweet in the Salfordian’s husky throat.

Denis Betts, Wayne Bennett and Paul Wellens pictured during training in Melbourne. Photograph: Ratnayake/Rex/Shutterstock

Fifth and last

Normal service is operating in the Women’s World Cup, with England being spanked by New Zealand in the semi-final and Australia romping past a brave upstart – in this case, Canada, coached by Mike Castle, surely the first bloke from Oxford to lead a team at a Rugby League World Cup – to reach Saturday’s Suncorp final, a curtain-raiser to the men’s event. There were some bizarre results in the women’s tournament, perhaps a consequence of the ridiculously constricted schedule: four games in a fortnight. Lindsay Hoyle MP, the deputy speaker, raised a fine point at the APPRLG charity dinner last week at the House of Lords: our game was born out of protest at players not receiving compensation for missing work, and yet that is precisely what our women have done to represent England down under (as did plenty of part-time players at the men’s event). Who would have thought the issue of broken time payments would return 122 years on.

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