Elliot Kear has challenged his Wales team-mates to profit from an unprecedented alternative to place their sport on the map as they put together to kick off their Rugby League World Cup marketing campaign in opposition to the Cook Islands.
The Bradford Bulls again is one in all 13 Welsh-born gamers in a squad managed by the hugely-experienced John Kear – no relation – who’ve modest expectations of constructing inroads in a nation wherein the rival code clearly reigns supreme.
“Having 13 Welsh-born players in the team is massive for us and it really shows how much rugby league is growing in the country,” mentioned Kear, who made his worldwide and Super League debut 13 years in the past.
“We’ve still got a long way to go to keep up with union, but from when I started playing when I was 18, to where the sport is now, it’s grown tenfold and with opportunities like this, it can only keep going in the right direction.
“We’re playing on the biggest stage in the sport and we’re going to be in the shop window. Rugby league is now being played in schools in Wales and a lot of kids are going to get the chance to watch how we get on.”
Wales, who haven’t been in a position to replicate their shock semi-final look in 2000, will identify a group mixing younger and expertise, together with one in all solely two uncapped gamers in former NRL full-back Caleb Aekins.
But Kear’s males face a tricky bodily burden if they’re to advance from the preliminary part having been joined in Group D by Wednesday’s opponents plus Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
“They’re pretty big,” admitted Kear. “We know it’s going to be a tough group because Pacific island teams bring the usual size and physicality to the game.
“But we’re pretty big too and we’ve got some top-level players and we expect to deliver.”
Source: www.impartial.co.uk