By Richard Cowley, Date: 29/10/12
Wales Rugby League along with international rugby league fans had a realty check on Saturday night as England ran riot over Wales at Wrexham 12 – 80 in fron’t of 4014 fans.
No this wasn’t England playing Russia. This was England ranked 3rd in the World up against Wales Ranked 6th in the World. The match really showed international rugby league’s Achilles heel, the gap between 1st tier nations (Australia, England, New Zealand) and the rest.
The big question is how is this going to be addressed 12 months out from the 2013 Rugby League World Cup?
Wales along with France have long been earmarked as nations that could compete with the big three over the next 4 years. The result on Saturday night would have to force international rugby league dreamers to get out their calculators out and recalculate. 10 years would be more realistic at best.
What needs to be done to assist Wales? The Rugby Football League (RFL) and the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF) need to move heaven and earth to assist the Welsh with re-entering a team into the Super League. This at a very minimum would need to be done if Wales have any chance of competing against the big three in the near future. The Welsh based SL team would also need to have a minimum 13 Welsh born and bred players in the team.
In next years World Cup Wales saving grace might be access to some heritage based players plying their trade in Australia. This would be just a short term fix to a long term problem. Lets hope the Welsh boys can pull a Dragon out of their hat come world cup time.
Wales 12
Tries: Roets, Fleming.
Goals: Seamark (2).
England 80
Tries: Jones-Buchanan, Ellis, Burrow, Cudjoe (2), Hall (2), Watkins, Charnley (4), Hardaker (2).
Goals: Sinfield (12)
Autumn International Series Results
Game 1: 20th October – France 20 – Wales 6, Lens, France
Game 2: 27th October – Wales 12 v England 80, Glyndwr University Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, Wales
Game 3: 3rd November – England v France, MS3 Craven Park, Hull, England
Final: 11th November – Salford City Stadium, England
