Every World Cup has its fall guys and this time it appears to be Wales. Not only are they missing half a dozen of their leading Super League players – such as Lloyd White, Gil Dudson and Ben Flower – they also have the toughest schedule. Wales are among three nations (England and Ireland are the others) who have to play their three group games in three different cities across gigantic distances.
They started with a 50-6 thrashing to Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, are now preparing to face Fiji here in Townsville on Sunday and then head across the continent to Perth to play Ireland next week. As well as huge trips, Wales and Ireland have been unable to base themselves on one city or even one country. Every other team has had a base city. There has been no such comfort for John Kear’s men or their followers.
Everything is as stacked against Wales now as it was in their favour four years ago. They flopped woefully in 2013 – when they lost all three of their games (against USA, Cook Islands and Italy) – but they may come out of this World Cup with far more pride in defeat. “We let ourselves down badly last time and are looking to make up for it this year,” admitted Wales skipper Craig Kopczak. “We want to get our first World Cup win for a very long time [since 2000, when they made it to the semi-finals].”
Wales were steamrolled in their opening game last weekend but the unusual conditions were not in their favour. “It was the hardest game I’ve ever had in my career,” said Kopczak, Huddersfield Giants prop. “Thirty-four degrees, 80% humidity and no water breaks during the game; that’s a really tough ask. Papua New Guinea are a big physical side and I’m not taking anything away from them as they were very good on the day but we were a little undercooked and now we are ready for Fiji.
“I don’t think they have as much physicality as Papua New Guinea but they have a lot of skill and talent in abundance, and players who are playing in and around the NRL. They’ve got great finishers and the NRL’s top tryscorer [Suliasi Vunivalu of NRL champions Melbourne Storm] in their team. When you’ve got that kind of arsenal in your side you’re going to be dangerous. We need to be really physical with them and see how they react.”
Kopczak was speaking at a World Cup fan event on The Strand in Townsville. It is not a busy city; the wide roads are pretty quiet and the melting pavements are often understandably empty. But at night thousands of locals throng around a market by the beach, a wonderful, vibrant celebration of food, local craft and services. Half a dozen players from each of the four nations in town for the double-header on Sunday were present to sign posters, pose for photos and answer questions on stage. The Fijians played ball with a group of local boys and girls while the sand blew around them. American winger Ryan Burroughs tossed balls through holes in a blow-up goal like a quarterback. It was fun.
“This is the World Cup – this is what we’ve come for, it’s all about nights like where we are now,” says Kopczak, perched on a rock on the beach. “We’re getting a feel of it now. We didn’t really get that in PNG because we were in a hotel 24/7. We’re getting out and about, getting into it, and the vibe is spreading round the camp.”
Stuck in an air-conditioned hotel, Wales were unable to try to acclimatise to the heat of Port Moresby and were then refused drinks breaks and a longer half-time, even though the NRL’s heat rule was imposed in similar conditions in Cairns the following day. It is giving them a hard-done-by attitude that they hope to use to their advantage on Sunday, when an inexperienced group face a Fiji side who swatted away the USA in their opener.
“The other Super League players not being here does play on your mind but the players that have come in are going to give 110% – they are very proud Welshmen,” said Kopczak. “I’ve done ten years now for Wales and have seen them come through so I can give them advice, and give them my experience. They are listening and learning and asking questions. Now I need to lead from the front.”
With that Kopczak went off to have his picture taken with Petero Civoniceva, two very different members of the International Props Club.
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Domestic quota
The number of domestic products in each team has come under some criticism but it does not tell the whole story. Spend any time around the Italy hotel and you can hear it for yourself. Two Italians chat away in the rooftop pool, one in Italy tricolour budgies, and several members of their management team have flown down from the old country, including both press officers, who were kept busy this week with the Wakeman/Tedesco fightcard.
While their starting 17 may be all Australian-born, Italy not only have a few Italian born and bred players in the squad but there are also a handful of talents who have spent time with the squads, learning the ropes. Some have come directly from Italy, others – such as former Coventry and Newcastle second-rower Gioele Celerino – have been playing in the Cairns and District League for Tully, and they were given game time in the pre-tournament friendlies against Malta and Tonga, as well as playing for FIRL Australia in their game against Tonga Australia in Sydney. It’s all part of a plan to eventually develop players good enough to make their first-choice 17 on merit.
Country call: USA
This is not the first time an American rugby league side has played in Townsville. Back in 1953, the American All Stars arrived from Cairns for their seventh game in 18 gruelling days against North Queensland. Just like the class of 2017, they had a day trip to Magnetic Island and a parade down Flinders Street for the cheering crowds. They actually led the locals 13-12 at half-time only to concede a point a minute in the final quarter, their ludicrous schedule and tiny squad taking its toll. Their main victim though was heartthrob Jack Bonetti, struck down by life-changing polio in his hotel bed on The Strand, his NFL contract offer from the LA Rams now worthless.
Half a dozen of the USA squad and their management – plus a few of the Italy group – came to the local launch of No Helmets Required at the Mary Who? Bookstore on Thursday evening. It was a joy to tell the Americans all about their predecessors’ visit. Watching the USARL train at Townsville Reserve, where the All Stars shocked North Queensland for an hour all those years ago, was something special.
Goal-line drop-out
The benefit of having a double-header is you have four teams in one city for a few days and there is always something going on. Oh look, here’s Terry Campese, Mark Minichiello and team-mates having lunch on Flinders St pavement. Isn’t that Daniel Alvaro on that sunbed? And wandering through the local throng at Friday’s night market is the colossal Fijian figure of Petero Civoneciva.
Italy and Wales took advantage of that by playing a short opposed session at training at which, I am told, Regan Grace motored past James Tedesco as if he was one of the many ant-hills in the fields out of town. Both teams’ management teams were in the same bar on Thursday night, John Kear and Wales chairman Brian Julliff – the former Wakefield and Wigan player – and their colleagues on one side, Italy coach Cameron Ciraldo, his assistant Anthony Minichiello and theirs on the other. Pleasantries were exchanged.
Fifth and last
There is no doubt that North Queensland is Cowboys Country. The club saturate the area, with billboards popping up on country roads, logos on everything and folks in NQC gear wherever you go. It is the NRL version of the Green Bay Packers. One negative is the lack of a modern, central stadium: 1300Smiles Stadium, as it is currently called, is a converted race track 10 miles out of town in Kirwan and not suitable for a world-class franchise. All that is going to change in a couple of years with the new North Queensland Stadium being built on the old railway yards in the city centre, thanks to serious investment from the city and state.
The Cowboys are intertwined with the community from Mackay to Cairns and beyond: hundreds of miles. When the Cowboys unexpectedly reached the NRL Grand Final, Queensland airports made a $10,000 donation to the Cowboys Community Foundation charity from the flood of ticket sales for flights to Sydney. The cheque was presented to ex Wigan full-back Matty Bowen, a legend around these parts, and will go to NRL Cowboys House, a Cairns venue that houses talented young Aboriginal players who move down from remote towns and villages throughout Far North Queensland to be educated and trained. Bowen is known as Mango to all and sundry. Just outside Townsville, on the road in from Cairns, is the Bowen Mangoes roadside stall. You can get three for $25. Sounds a decent deal.
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