England will host Samoa in the first of two tests this weekend and early indications from Rugby League Commercial’s director suggest a huge crowd could be at Wigan Warriors’ Brick Community Stadium.
Wigan and Leeds have been selected as the host cities for the two tests with Headingley set to play host to a double header featuring England’s Women versus France next Saturday.
Shaun Wane’s side will take on Samoa in the second test that same afternoon but before then, they’ll face their World Cup foes on Sunday at Wigan in what is expected to be a major crowd.
International rugby league has drawn some poor crowds in recent years and there have been questions from those in and around the sport, particularly fans, about how and why it is so disrespected.
Those complaints were incredibly loud when England’s game against France in Toulouse earlier this year drew a very disappointing attendance and also had major broadcast issues as the Super League+ streams appeared to struggle.
Thankfully, there will be no such problem on Sunday with Rugby League Commercial’s Rhodri Jones outlining what looks set to be a brilliant couple of weeks for the sport on the international stage.
England versus Samoa Rugby League test set for huge crowd
Credit: Imago Images
Jones would confirm the broadcast details for the England versus Samoa tests as well as those for England Women and the Wheelchair side with all three teams seeing their games showcased on the BBC.
“All Games are on the BBC, on iPlayer on Saturday, on BBC2 on Sunday, and BBC2 again next weekend,” Jones explained, with England Women set to face Wales on the same day that the Men take on Samoa.
As for the Wheelchair side, they will face France this weekend with the game taking place in Wigan at Robin Park Arena, 24 hours before at Shaun Wane’s side face Samoa.
The positive news ahead of Sunday’s game between England and Samoa is that ticket sales have already eclipsed 12,000 and are expected to spare even higher with those figures quashing any concerns over the status of international rugby league.
Jones would confirm: “As for ticket sales for Sunday, we’ve gone over the 12,000 mark, so we’re optimistic of a plus 15,000 crowd on Sunday, which will be fantastic. It will create a great atmosphere for two of the best teams in the world to compete and take it out of each other.”
Tickets are still available and information on how they can be purchased can be found here.
