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Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:09 pm
by josie andrews
Wigan want to play against Australia when they tour the UK next autumn.

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga hopes to revive the midweek matches when they tour next season to play England in a three Test series.

And the Warriors hope to prolong their 2020 season by taking on the World Champions - like they last did in 1994.

"Wigan would love to play the Kangaroos," the club's executive director Kris Radlinski told the NRL website. "One of the highlights of my youth was watching Wigan play the 'Invincibles' in 1982 and 1986."

Details of England's three-Test series against Australia in 2020 - a year before the World Cup - are expected to be confirmed later this month.

They are unlikely to include any midweek fixtures, as they have not been finalised, but Meninga is keen to revive the idea of playing leading Super League clubs in between the Tests.

The former Australia captain said: "We have got three Test matches against England and hopefully some mid-week games against the clubs over there or maybe France."

Meninga played in the Kangaroos side which beat Wigan 30-20 in front of 20,000-plus fans at Central Park in 1994.

The tradition was abandoned when the British season switched from winter to summer for the start of Super League in 1996.

A Wigan-Australia match would generate a lot of interest, and revenue, but it would mean prolonging their season until at least the end of October, when the players are usually on their off-season break.

It would also throw up the strange prospect of Adrian Lam coaching against Australia, even though he is Meninga's assistant with the Kangaroos.

Wigan could also play an early-season match against Canberra in early 2020, possibly on the same weekend as the World Club Challenge in February.

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/will-w ... 1-10083745

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:09 pm
by josie andrews
I hope they do revive this, loved going to these games πŸ˜ŠπŸ‰

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:07 pm
by fozzieskem
Let’s hope it happens,miss these types of games it make s it a proper tour,not a side flying in for a couple of weeks of test matches then home again

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:07 pm
by DaveO
josie andrews wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:09 pm I hope they do revive this, loved going to these games πŸ˜ŠπŸ‰
So did I. The last one I attended was when Tuigamala scored a great try.

This part of the press article was interesting:
It would also throw up the strange prospect of Adrian Lam coaching against Australia, even though he is Meninga's assistant with the Kangaroos.
Isn't Lam only contracted for next season so in theory he'd be out of a job by then?

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:40 pm
by ancientnloyal
I was sat in the wall in 1994! Still have the programme too! I saw Wendell Sailor and Brett Mullins!

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:39 pm
by the pieman
i bloody hope so

this is something that i think has been missing from RL / International RL for too long. i'm not saying they need to be on tour for months on end, but a proper 3 test series with games against a couple of top SL clubs and Cumbria (was always on the tour) would be great for the game

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:46 pm
by Wintergreen
We got beaten by Salford.

Why on earth do we want to play Aus? :shock:

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 6:58 pm
by moto748
Wintergreen wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:46 pm We got beaten by Salford.

Why on earth do we want to play Aus? :shock:
How about, to entertain our fans?

In what way is an opportunity to watch the best players in the world at the DW a bad thing?

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 9:44 pm
by Wiganer Ted
Those were great fixtures and fantastic games to watch. Not sure we beat the Roos very often if at all but everyone looked forward to the game as part of the season.
At one time the Wigan fixture was known as the "Fourth Test". The Aussies always put their test side out against us as their first test match was the following week.

It would be great if they could return to the fixture list for the season.

Re: Will Wigan Warriors take on AUSTRALIA next year?

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 10:00 pm
by ancientnloyal
Nearly 111 years ago (9/11/08) we beat the Touring New Zealand side... Jimmy Leytham scores a hat trick and Bert Jenkins got the other! Part of our first awesome-foursome of backs!

110 years ago we beat Australia twice in January 1909 10-7 (Jenkins and Lance Todd) and 16-8 (de Francis x2 Jenkins Thomas)

For example

See... books are useful for this kind of thing! Plenty of times we’ve had Touring sides. Wigan has a duty if you will to host such sides because, well, we are Wigan RLFC simply