Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington reckons Leeds will be charged with restoring pride in the British game when they defend their world crown at Elland Road on March 1.

Hetherington, who is currently in Australia, admitted he was shocked and disappointed by England's dismal showing in the World Cup, which saw them lose two of their three group games before crashing to a semi-final defeat by New Zealand three days ago – but he insisted the national team's failure doesn't reflect the state of the Super League competition.

"It was disappointing," he said. "It is going to build up our clash with Manly to really big proportions, there is a lot riding on it now.

"We are confident when we play Manly it will be a terrific contest and a very competitive game, as Leeds Rhinos against Melbourne Storm was this year, St Helens against Brisbane Broncos was the year before and all the other games have been as well.

"Our reputation has been damaged and what everyone here is saying is 'how can your club sides compete so well, yet the national side competes so poorly'?

"It is inevitable Super League will get compared to the NRL and compared unfavourably, but I believe Leeds Rhinos' best players can compete equally as well as the best players at Australian clubs.

"The coaching staff and players will inevitably have to take responsibility for their (England's) performance, though I think some of our (Rhinos') players came out of it with some credit.

"What it will do for Leeds Rhinos is, it will harden – if that's possible – their resolve to be successful against Manly.

"That is England versus Australia and people are saying Manly's performance against Melbourne in their Grand Final was one of the best-ever team performances.

"They are coming with a huge reputation and for us to be able to beat them would be an enormous boost for Super League.

"We will be trying to restore English and Super League pride and I am confident we can deliver.

"I believe the leading sides in Super League would be very competitive in the NRL and I do believe Leeds Rhinos are currently the best club team in the world – our performances over the last two years are deserving of that accolade.

"We are grateful for the chance to re-inforce that next March."
England kicked off their World Cup campaign with a stuttering win over Papua New Guinea, but were then crushed by Australia and suffered back-to-back defeats by New Zealand.

"We are all extremely disappointed at the results of the England team and the quality of their performances," said Hetherington.

"It was well below what we could have expected and we certainly under-performed.

"I don't believe that is a fair reflection of our leading teams in Super League, who have all made significant progress, particularly in the last three or four years.

"Having said that, there does need to be a radical review of the World Cup performance and inevitably there's going to be a lot of ideas and suggestions. It is quite right that the review should cover all bases and there's no doubt we don't have anywhere near as many quality, international-standard players as Australia and New Zealand can boast.

"The national coach doesn't have the same flexibility and that is
partly due to the overseas quota, which is being addressed.

"That doesn't in my view excuse the poor level of performance by the England team at the World Cup, though it is definitely a factor.

"I think the game – the RFL – is addressing that, but at the end of the day it has got to come down to the club making a commitment to produce more home-grown players of a high standard."

Ironically, Hetherington has been scouring the player market during his Australian stay.

He said: "There's always some value in trips like this, because you get to meet up with people and get to know what's going on, who's available and who's not.

"There's nothing to report in that regard (player recruitment), but there's no doubt quite a number of Australian clubs are really stretched with the salary cap and there's likely to be some flexibility in terms of some of those players.

"We are taking a watching brief.
"We are monitoring the situation and we are also looking towards 2010 – we are constantly looking forward."

Hetherington is to meet up with Rhinos recruit Danny Buderus in Sydney tomorrow.

Buderus is due to arrive in England early next month.


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