Australia claimed the Rugby League World Cup trophy yet again over the weekend as they played in only their 10th game since they lifted the World Cup five years ago in 2017 at the expense of England at the Suncorp Stadium.
The World Cup was perhaps a showcase of what needs to come now in international rugby league to capitalise on the success of the tournament and Australia boss Mal Meninga has called for a schedule to be put together sooner rather than later.
“We need that, we have an opportunity in the schedule that has been discussed and we can work towards.
“Hopefully. Hopefully we have some sort of schedule. I want the game of rugby league to prosper.”
He is excited by the future of international rugby and has called for more: “Absolutely I want to see more games, I’m in a position where I can say that. I’m coaching the World Cup winners. I thought the whole tournament was excellent. It shows where the international game is going, having Samoa in there which is great for the international game.
“We’re looking forward to where the game is going.”
He also hinted that he would like to see the return of the Ashes as he lamented the missed tour in 2020 due to the pandemic: “We had everything sorted for 2020 and then it didn’t happen.”
It has been reported that the RLIF are putting together a calendar of some description working alongside Super League stakeholders IMG.
There is talk that Tonga and Samoa could meet in a test.
The former St Helens centre Meninga is not the only one in the Australia camp who was talking up Kangaroo games with skipper James Tedesco explaining what it means to wear the shirt: “Absolutely, there’s been a desire for us to get that jersey on. Hopefully the ranking has gone up now.”
