2019 World Club Challenge Rugby League Preview

2019 World Club Challenge
7.00 pm Kick Off
Sky Sports

The 2019 World Club Challenge is one of the real highlights of the Rugby League calendar. It is one of those special, unique games that only comes around once a year. It is, however, a fixture stacked with pride and yes, bragging rights.

The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league fixture between the winner of the Super League and the winners of the NRL.

This year it sees Super League Champions Wigan going up against the Sydney Roosters. With the leading bookies having the Australians at 1/3 favourites to win, then Wigan could have a tough scrap on their hands. This is the second time that the two clubs have met in the fixture, the other meeting was just back in 2014 with the Roosters posting a 36-14 victory.

Match Details

It is Wigan who get the home soil advantage at the DW Stadium for this year’s World Club Challenge. The big kick off is at 7.00 pm and you can tune in to it at Sky Sports.

Wigan World Club Challenge history

Wigan took a win in the 2018 Super League Grand Final, even though they had gone into the latter stages as underdogs to St Helens. But the Saints took a surprise tumble in their semifinal match against Warrington.

Wigan knocked out Castleford in their semi-final, and the demise of St Helens left the Warriors facing Warrington in the showcase match. Wigan edged the Wolves 12-4. Prior to the knockouts, the Warriors had set a new record of being the first team ever to win every game during the Super 8’s section of the season.

The Warriors are actually the most successful team in the history of the World Club Challenge, having won it four times before. The most recent occasion on which they did was just back in 2017. The Warriors powered their way past Cronulla 22-6 to lift the title two years ago. On top of those four wins which they have bagged, Wigan have finished runners up on three separate occasions too.

Sydney Rooster World Club Challenge history

The Roosters are just one of two teams to have won the World Club Challenge on more than one occasion while having never having lost a final. It has been three wins from three from them and the only other team to have matched that is the Super League’s Bradford Bulls. The last title for the Roosters happened in 2014 when Wigan were their victims.

The path to the World Club Challenge for the Rooster happened with a win in the 2018 NRL Grand Final. They had already claimed top spot during the regular NRL season, winning the Minor Premiership. Then they won every match throughout the finals series, culminating in a 21-6 success over the Melbourne Storm in the NRL Grand Final.

With those three World Club Challenge trophies already, they will pull level on four successes with Wigan if they keep their 100% record going.

Match Preview

It is going to be a challenge for the Warriors to shut down the physical attack of the Roosters. The Roosters have an immensely star-studded lineup including Australian World Cup winners Cooper Cronk and Boyd Cordner. So without question, they are going to turn up and challenge Wigan’s proud history in this fixture.

The Australians have pulled it off before in England, taking their 2003 World Club Challenge title against St Helens in Bolton. Also, form in the fixture is with the southern hemisphere teams, as five of the last six titles have gone to the NRL representative.

Can Wigan shift the balance at the DW Stadium? There is an advantage that the Warriors may be able to expose. Wigan opened the new season of the Super League just back at the end of January, albeit with a defeat against rivals St Helens. They did then pick themselves up to take out the Leeds Rhinos 34-16 at the DW Stadium.

Those competitive fixtures are at least some action for them, something that the Roosters don’t have. The NRL season shut down at the end of September last year and so Sydney haven’t had competitive action since then. So the timing of the fixture does play into the hands of the Warriors up in Greater Manchester. Couple that with home soil advantage and 12/5 underdogs Wigan may have appeal for some.

NRL riles up the Warriors

Back at the Super Bowl recently, the NRL ramped up the rivalry by posting a big display on a giant billboard announcing that the Sydney Roosters were the World Champions of football. It was a preemptive strike, appearing a fair chunk of time ahead of Sydney’s actual meeting with the Wigan Warriors. That’s the kind of thing that is going to fire up your opposition, although the Roosters had nothing to do with it, it was the NRL doing some promotional work.