Can the Warriors Worry the Red Hot Roosters An early Saturday morning alarm call will force open the eyes of the British rugby league public as a nation of oval-ball fanatics switch on the kettle and sizzle the bacon in anticipation of the World Club Challenge taking place over 10,000 miles away on the other side of the planet. Last season the Melbourne Storm, came, saw and conquered the Leeds Rhinos and now it is the time for Wigan Warriors to defend a nation’s honour and try and to recreate the famous outcome achieved twenty years ago when they returned from a match in Brisbane, safely clutching the silverware. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Can the Warriors Worry the Red Hot Roosters An early Saturday morning alarm call will force open the eyes of the British rugby league public as a nation of oval-ball fanatics switch on the kettle and sizzle the bacon in anticipation of the World Club Challenge taking place over 10,000 miles away on the other side of the planet. Last season the Melbourne Storm, came, saw and conquered the Leeds Rhinos and now it is the time for Wigan Warriors to defend a nation’s honour and try and to recreate the famous outcome achieved twenty years ago when they returned from a match in Brisbane, safely clutching the silverware. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Hope not

Not for me thanks.

If they were gracious winners I could get behind them, I've backed every SL team bar Wigan because we'll simply get it rammed down our throat when they win. I hope for the sake of SL it's tight but I want nothing but a Roosters win.
Normally I'd want the pies to get annihilated but something like 18-12 would be ideal in this situation.

I think that they will do well.
I hope that they fare much worse.

just hope it a high intensity game what will take a bit out of the wigan tank.

Envy is a terrible thing.
Makes me wonder how someone so bitter can spend so much time on the Wigan board.

We are having a great time down in Aus win or lose that won't change

Must admit that even though I've hated Wigan for many many years it would be great for the British game if they won tomorrow so for the first time ever I will be cheering them on

If Wire had won on that night in October would our recruitment policy have been different? I know Briers was unplanned but others were planned as were their replacements. I wouldnt like the thought of our current squad (admittedly only one game in) going up against the Roosters.

Not for me, Roosters will play at a high intensity than Wigan won't match over 80 minutes.

Thank you wire58 - Spoken like a true Rugby League follower.



If Warrington were playing the Roosters tomorrow, I would be cheering them on. Such a pity that there are so many followers who cannot see any further than their own team. Unfortunately every club have them, including Wigan.

I cheer on any of the thirteen SL teams in the WCC.

Oops...forgot about the pies.

How can you forget the pies? I really miss the pies; I'm afraid the pies in Ireland are just not the same.

Not a true rugby fan me, what game you playing v Roosters, AFL?
Think it's up to me who I support.

This feels all dirty but I really hope Wigan win tomorrow, there I have said it let's move on and never speak about this again.

Easy! Knife through butter. Come on the Roosters.

All this "if you don't support the English team. you are not a true RL follower" is absolute bullsh*t.

And there is no way that you would want Warrington or Saints to win if they got to the WCC.

Wigan doing well to be only 18 down at halftime.

they should be a man down, but the current ruling around the high tackle is obviously very lax at the minute in both hemispheres.

glad the pies arent on the end of a shallacking, as it wouldnt be a great advert for our game.

25 mins and 18-0 before the refs noticed there was two teams competing. Nice to know the same problems exist with an extra official and in a different competition.

Wigan are making life hard for themselves but they are showing plenty of bottle.

all the way to aus to go on wire board money well spent

Bowen had yet another stinker, weren't we linked with him? Think we dodged a bullet on current form.



Here he is 'Wilfred' Bowen pondering what to spend his next easy pay cheque on.

I think the exact same thing every year after watching the WCC; if that was ten games into their season (rather than it being the first, or sometimes second, game in their pre-season like it is every year) our teams would be lucky if they scored even one try against the Aussie teams.

Wigan made a fairly good show of themselves today, they were aggressive as they could be and did some good things but were a whole level below a Sydney side who's last game as a team was the Grand Final back in October. Over the Winter, since the end of the World Cup, Syndey hadn't put their kit on once, Wigan have had three games (one being a competitive SL game) and a 'mock'-game yet Sydney looked the sharper fitter and stronger side. As I say, imagine that ten games into the season.

We've had some teams from this country win the WCC, but even Jamie Peacock himself said that before about five years ago that was because the Aussie teams didn't take it seriously at all and it was just a five day holiday in England as part of pre-season for them. Now the Aussies do take it seriously but it's still their pre-season and that's usually the reason an English side wins the comp.

The biggest thing I took from that game, as I do every year, is that if Leeds Wigan Warrington Salford Hull Saints Huddersfield and Catalan can afford it then we need to extend our salary cap in this competition.

One thing I did notice is NRL refs don't just ignore forward passes.. Unlike SL refs.
And NRL refs don't put with messing around at the play the ball.. Unlike Super League refs..

If you watched how Carl Ablett was a serial offender at slowing the play the ball down last night which Thaler allowed to happen... That sort of thing is stamped down on in the NRL.

Wonder if we would have beaten the Roosters if we'd won at OT last year.

More to the point I wonder if we will beat Wigan this season?