Super League v NRL: is the northern hemisphere bridging the gap? | Aaron Bower

As Wigan prepare to face Roosters in a World Club Challenge tournament set for a further revamp, Super League needs to demonstrate the English game’s healthIt is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same: and never has that mantra been more applicable to a sporting event than rugby league’s World Club Challenge. Of the 26 previous versions of the event to determine the best club side in the sport – dating back to the inaugural unofficial clash between Sydney and St Helens in 1976 – there have been more tweaks and changes than most league fans would care to remember.From the ill-fated, expanded 1997 edition, in which British clubs performed disastrously amid millions of dollars’ worth of losses, to the short-lived World Club Series of recent seasons, the format has never discovered its panacea. The purported disparity between the sport’s two elite competitions, Super League and the NRL, has long been attributed to the reason why the competition has never properly taken off, but as Wigan prepare to host the Roosters on Sunday in the latest instalment, just how big is the gap between the two? Related: ‘Undervalued’ World Club Challenge in line for major revamp, says Elstone Their player pool is bigger than ours, but our best v their best, there’s not a lot in it – the World Cup proved that Related: NRL warned of sponsor exodus over stream of off-season scandals Continue readingread full article

Source: TheGuardian

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