World title match to be played at Elland Road

[Berkeley_Eagle]

World title match to be played at Elland Road

28/10/2008 - By Manly Sea Eagles
http://www.manlyseaeagles.com.au/news.asp?newsid=4019&Mth=10&Yr=2008


The 2009 Carnegie World Club Challenge between Leeds Rhinos and Manly Sea Eagles will be played at Elland Road, Leeds on Sunday 1 March, kick off 6pm.

It will be the third time in the last five years that the home of Leeds United has staged this annual world title bout between the engage Super League Champions and the Australian NRL Telstra Premiership winners.

On the last two occasions the game has been played at Elland Road, the Rhinos have run out winners both times.  In 2005 they claimed the world title by beating Canterbury Bulldogs 39-32 and last year they defeated Melbourne Storm 11-4 in terrible conditions.

Should they beat Manly in March they will become the first team in the 33 year history of the match to be crowned World Champions in consecutive years.

Brian McLennan, Leeds Rhinos’ head coach, said: “It’s fantastic that we’re going to be able to pit our wits against one of the biggest names in World Rugby whilst also having the opportunity to make history by becoming the first team to win back-to-back world titles.

“Manly are a formidable outfit and ooze class throughout their side.  As well as the players they have in the Australian World Cup squad they also have players like Jamie Lyon and Matt Orford who won the Dally M award this year.

“I’m also delighted that this game is going to be played at a venue where the whole of the city can turn out to show their support.  This is a big city occasion and in the past Elland Road has proved very lucky not only for myself but also the Rhinos.  Hopefully we can continue our winning streak there next year in front of a full-house.”

For Manly it will be the first time they have appeared in a Carnegie World Club Challenge since 1987 when they lost 8-2 to Wigan in front of 36,000 fans at Central Park.  They qualified for the world title match by defeating last year’s Carnegie World Club Challenge finalists Melbourne Storm in the NRL Grand Final, 40-0.

Coached by Des Hasler, a member of the 1987 Manly team, the Sea Eagles boast eight players who are currently involved in the Rugby League World Cup Down Under.

This includes five players in the Australia squad who could come head-to-head against a number of English Leeds Rhinos players this weekend when the two countries meet in the World Cup in Melbourne.

In addition Manly also boast former St Helens centre and Man of Steel winner Jamie Lyon amongst their ranks together with Matt Orford, this year’s winner of the Dally M award, Australia’s equivalent of the Man of Steel.

Manly Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler said: “As shown with their two Grand Final triumphs and last year’s victory over Melbourne Storm, Leeds Rhinos are a big game team who will present a huge challenge for us in our attempt to be crowned Carnegie World Club Challenge Champions.

“The quality of their team is shown by the fact that they have so many players in the England squad.  We’re taking this game extremely seriously and will be flying into the UK well before 1 March in order to get rid of the jet lag and get used to the conditions.”

In preparation for the Carnegie World Club Challenge match against Leeds Rhinos, Manly Sea Eagles will fly into London on 14 February and will play a warm-up game against Harlequins RL at the Twickenham Stoop on 19 February.

Harlequins RL head coach Brian McDermott: “Manly Sea Eagles are a massive brand name in World Rugby League, on a par with Real Madrid in football.

“This fixture presents a superb opportunity for the people of London, including a number of Antipodeans who live in the capital, to turn out see the Australian champions play their local London side.”

Tickets for the Carnegie World Club Challenge match between Leeds Rhinos and Manly Sea Eagles will go on-sale in mid November from both the RFL Box Office and Leeds Rhinos with prices starting from £20 for adults, £10 for concessions.
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports, with highlights on the BBC.

 

[Biscuits]

personally i hope the club dont get too caught up in the hype for this match. I beleive the way Melbourne tried to get up for the wcc this year was part of the reason they faded so badly at the tail end of the season. October is a long way from march, and trying to be "up" that early in the season will damage our chances of defending the title. I hope the club treats the tour as atrial series and rest blokes that have played tests and are likely to play origin next year, and try some younger blokes and different combinations.
leave out;
Mattai-i dont mind him playing tests injured but he cant have it both ways-rest up till the comp starts
Lyon-happier at home with the kids
G stewart-coming of a world cup, probably play origin and plays 80 minutes most weeks
Watmough-as above
Kite-coming off world cup and will play origin if bellamy is gone and plays the most minutes from our prop rotation
Ballin-Give lestrange a chance to start and go the distance and open up a bench spot for someone like jwh

stewart
bani/williams
williams/bani
neumann
robbo
bailey
orford
rodney
hall
cuthbertson
King
lestrange
Perry

t williams
jwh
rose
kenny edwards

that gives des a chance to see if williams or bani can handle centre
neumann will robably figure at some stage during 09 so start getting him ready early
see what sort of combination bailey and orford make
rodney has been signed for 4 years, so im sure des sees him as a first grader. Give him a chance to prove himself.
With bryant moving on and more forwards to play origin we will need another prop at some stage. Give rose another go. he was playing well before busting his leg.
Give the young forwards (williams,Edwards,JWH)  a crack in a game that means someting rather than a run of the mill trial against parra reserve grade..

I doubt the club would be thinking about hoppa yet, but if they are you could even leave brett stewart out.

they cant cruel a season trying to win a game that is already heavily slanted in favour of the poms.

 

[Dan]

Why don't they have the world club challenge in Australia once in a while, gives the UK an unfair advantage and also means half the team miss out

 

[ROBBO71]

I reckon they would be able to make plenty more cash if the game was played over there. Pretty good reason to keep it there as the game doesn't really mean that much in the grand scheme of things.

 

[vidmar]

Last years game had a prize of 50,000 pounds but not sure what happens with gate receipts etc. (but still worth having....?)
The Leeds squad shared the prize money between them last year but from my understanding if Manly win any payment would be included as part of the salary cap (Not 100% on this though.....)

 

[Canteen Worker]

Playing Leeds at Elland Rd is a very different proposition to playing them at Brookvale. If it is used as a trial to get us ready for the season fine, but very hard when their comp has already started and all the advantages are with them.

The accepted opinion is that NRL is much higher standard league but still it is a long time that anyone has gone over there and won.

 

[Fluffy]

it means very little to aussies that are not fans of the team playing it is more about trying to spread the game internationally hence play it over there and get the english keen

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Should the winner of the match earn there competition hosting rights for the next season ?

Just a thought

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

I reckon so
always thought this game should be played 2 weeks after the GF as well

 

[Canteen Worker]

Too hard for the players to get up after the grand final - to peak twice after the emotional high of the celebrations is very difficult. In my last year of school we won the State Knockout but then had to play the State Schools Tournament two weeks later. We lost to a much weaker team as we were psychologically spent and on a high, thinking we would only have to walk on to win.