Peter Smith - Inside Rugby League: Denver game another chance to spread the RL gospel

For a sport supposedly confined to three counties in the north of England, rugby league really puts itself about.

Take Leeds Rhinos winger Ryan Hall as an example. So far this season he has already played in Australia and France and at the moment is in the United States preparing for Saturday’s Test match against New Zealand in Denver.

It’s not just Betfred Super League players who get around. The Championship includes sides from Canada and France as well as England and the game is played, though at a low level, all over the globe. Now fewer than 48 countries are listed on the latest international rankings.

Rugby league has always put club before country, but that is beginning to change.

Mid-season Tests – particularly on a different continent – are far from ideal from a club point of view, but there is a recognition that the game will benefit from strong international competition.

That in turn means playing regular rugby at the highest-possible level. Most rugby league nations regard Test matches as the pinnacle, but sadly not Australia.

Down Under, their State of Origin – the annual three-game series between Queensland and New South Wales – is king. Perhaps it’s not surprising, given how long their domination of the international game – interrupted briefly a couple of times by the Kiwis – has lasted. But the attitude of NRL clubs, who were reluctant to release players for the Denver Test, is damaging to the sport as a whole.

Rugby league enjoys a good breakaway and there may come a time when the international game goes ahead completely without Australian involvement, which would at least make it more competitive.

Saturday’s Test is far more than a one-off friendly. The 2025 World Cup is scheduled to take place in the United States and the next expansion of the game could well be to America, with New York among the cities possibly in line for a club side. Rugby league has long coveted the United States market and fans there have enjoyed their limited exposure to the sport. Rhinos played in front of a five-figure crowd when they faced South Sydney Rabbitohs in a challenge game in north Florida a decade ago, though Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe was more of an attraction that afternoon than Jamie Peacock or Kevin Sinfield. If the 2025 World Cup is going to succeed there is a lot of hard work to be done and that starts this weekend.

Don’t be shocked if a fight or two breaks out in the early exchanges. The physical nature of rugby league – and the fact the players don’t wear helmets or padding – is regarded as the way to an American sports fan’s heart. Much of the marketing for Saturday’s game has been based around that and the fierce Kiwi haka.

In America there’s nowhere for gridiron players to go after school or college level, if they don’t make it to the elite standard, so that is something rugby league could perhaps tap into.

Of more immediate concern, England need to build on the progress they made in last year’s World Cup, when they progressed into the final before being pipped 6-0 by the Kangaroos.

Coach Wayne Bennett has selected a strong squad and with New Zealand lacking many of their star names anything less than an England win will be a blow. All three wingers in the squad are set to start, with Tommy Makinson likely to be at centre. Given Rhinos’ league form, Hall’s selection was slightly controversial. He may not be the prolific try scorer he once was, but always plays well for England and his performance against St Helens last week illustrated what a good player he still is. He deserves his place. There could be an argument for handing some of the impressive emerging wingers in Super League a chance, but Test caps aren’t given away.

Though Luke Gale, who would have been selected, is injured, Castleford Tigers can feel aggrieved to have been snubbed by Bennett. That is not necessarily a bad thing however, given their injury woes and the fact they have a crucial Super League game tomorrow against Wigan. The player most unfortunate to miss out is St Helens’ young stand-off Danny Richardson, who has been outstanding all year.