The schedule for next year’s rugby league World Club Series has been released, with the Cronulla Sharks to take on the Wigan Warriors and the Brisbane Broncos matched up with the Warrington Wolves.
The main event pits the Sharks up against Super League champions Wigan and will take place at 3pm Sunday February 19 at Wigan’s DW Stadium. The other fixture will see the Broncos taking on the Wolves on Saturday February 18 at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Sharks, who won their first ever premiership with a 14-12 victory over Melbourne earlier in the month, will be hoping to add another trophy to their cabinet. Wigan defeated local rivals Warrington 12-6, their fourth win in Super League history.
The legitimacy of the tournament had been in some doubt after last week’s announcement by Melbourne that they would not take part in the contest due to concerns surrounding fatigue. However Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett – who is currently in the UK preparing his England troops for the Four Nations tournament – indicated he would take the Broncos to England in place of the Storm.
The World Club Series – which took over from the decades-old World Club Challenge – has been running for three years, with the NRL and Super League grand final winners facing off alongside two other essentially exhibition matches. This year, only two matches were scheduled, although with the Storm’s withdrawal there was a real danger that the tournament would not be able to go ahead.
The 2015 and 2016 World Club Series winners have both come from the NRL, with the Rabbitohs and Cowboys running up big victories over their English rivals. The past ten years have been relatively successful for the Australian sides, with seven of the ten matches going the NRL’s way.
Prior to that the tournament had been more evenly matched, reflecting the English sides’ home field advantage.
Sharks coach Shane Flanagan told NRL.com that his side was not concerned about the potential fatigue factor associated with appearing in the tournament, and that the Sharks would be honoured to make the trip.
“To have the chance to play over in the UK, for a World Club Championship, is a great opportunity and one that our club is really looking forward to,” Flanagan said.
“Then add to that the challenge of playing Wigan, one of the strongest and most famous clubs in the Super League and it will definitely be an outstanding experience.”
In the NRL era, no Australian team has ever managed to back up from a World Club Challenge win to take out the NRL title.
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