World Club Series set for Singapore?

The World Club Series could be heading for Singapore in the future but it will stay in England for 2018 according to Super League Chief Executive Roger Draper.

It also looks likely that the competition will comprise of just four teams again next season with the weekend of February 24-25 sounded out.

Speaking to the Press Association, Draper said: “We’ve got the weekend set aside in the calendar and we’ve been discussing with Australia a number of options such as whether we hold it in the UK or Australia or a mixture of both – and there was an offer from Singapore which has now gone off the table – and the number of teams.”

“At the moment we’re heading towards a four-team series in the UK like this year, although we’ve still not closed the door on four teams from each country.

“I think the preference both from ourselves and the NRL was either two or four teams and that is something we can hopefully build towards in the future.”

When the World Club Series format was created in 2015 it included six teams, three from both competitions, however a lack of interest from NRL clubs saw the concept reduced this year.

With the Australian clubs winning all six matches across a disappointing first two years, the Series was reignited when Warrington and Wigan won earlier in the season.

However, it has not been enough to spark more interest from the NRL with the two Super League spots for 2018 going to the champions and the League Leaders’ Shield winners.

“The globalisation of sport is happening at a fast pace,” Draper said.

“We do get offers from interesting places, whether that’s in America, the Middle East or Singapore or Dubai because they’re looking at ways of promoting tourism.

“Obviously it was an interesting one because it’s easier for the Aussies to go to Singapore than it is to come over here and the travel time has always been one of the factors.

“We’ll keep looking at those options as we go forward.”