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Brian Noble slams the Australian press and their coverage of the World Club Challenge

St Helens are Champions of the World after their win over Penrith Panthers in Australia.

It was an amazing achievement that has received plenty of plaudits in the UK but in the eyes of former Bradford Bulls, Wigan Warriors and Great Britain coach the Australian coverage has been disappointing.

He said on the 5 Live Rugby League podcast: “They’ll have the propensity to behave like Australian emus and stick their heads in the sand and say that game didn’t happen. They’re not great at throwing out the laurels to the people that deserve it and St Helens were outstanding.

“The difficulty in going to the other side of the world, the plaudits should be still flowing for this St Helens team because that was a magnificent performance.”

However, Noble was on hand to give the plaudits to the Saints and specifically James Roby:

“James Roby particularly is who I want to bring to attention. If that was Cameron Smith the world headlines coming from the NRL and the Australian pundits would be flowing to say the least. We should extoll the virtues of James Roby in the same way.

“I think he’s up there with being one of the greatest nines we’ve ever produced. His composure under pressure in that game was exemplary.”

Amor had earlier also praised Roby, and in particular the coaching nous that Paul Wellens showed as the game headed to golden point:

“I thought it was a masterstroke by Wellens to get Roby back on. We saw when they got them opportunities towards the end of the original time, there were a couple of passes from Joey Lussick that weren’t quite where they needed to be.

“Jonny Lomax scuffs his kick, Lewis Dodd there was an obstruction. I just thought that getting Roby back on, that pass was perfect for Dodd to slot it over. It was just a really brilliant performance all round.”

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