England’s 2008 World Cup campaign down under was marred by rumours of a rift between players from Leeds and St Helens.
England won just one of its three group games and crashed out of the tournament in the semi-final stage, knocked out by New Zealand. Five years later as hosts England also were eliminated in the semi-finals, again by the Kiwis, after two players were punted from the squad earlier for breaching team discipline.
With this year’s World Cup again in Australia, Rhinos and Saints players do not dominate the squad anymore and there is no fear of a divided camp once again.
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Luke Gale believes this current England team, led by Wayne Bennett, is more united than previous sides and is primed for a successful World Cup.
“I’ve never been in a team that loves each other’s company so much,” Gale said.
“A lot of years ago people would have said England are cliquey. Coming through the ranks it was a bit like that as well. I played junior England Under-18s and you get your cliques. It’s not like that now. Everybody loves each other’s company and it’s a good laugh. I’m hoping I’m going to get picked and I’ll love my time out there.”
Gale is one of the relatively new faces in the England set-up, despite being 29, after making his international debut last year against France. The Castleford star will battle it out with Wigan’s George Williams and the Dragons’ Gareth Widdop for a starting England berth in the halves.
In May with both Williams and Widdop out injured, he partnered Kevin Brown to help England defeat Samoa 30-10 in the Sydney suburb of Campbelltown. The organization of a mid-season test in the southern hemisphere against the Pacific country was a controversial decision, but one that Gale believes will pay off in the long run.
“It’s a big year for English rugby league and it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to,” he said.
“I think we’ve got a really good chance. We went down under for the Samoa test and a lot of people wrote us off against a Samoa side. The more times we can get together the better. It was good of Wayne to get us out there and he demanded that we played that game. It stood us in good stead and it gave us a bit of a taste of what we’re going to come up against.”
Gale has been in electric form in 2017 with Castleford dominating Super League. The scrum-half has scored 12 tries this season, set up 18 and kicked more goals than anyone else in the competition. He has directed the Tigers around with aplomb and is a contender for this year’s Man of Steel award.
Gale himself attributes his fine displays down to one thing – having fun.
“I think turning up to training every day and enjoying what you do,” he admitted.
“I enjoy myself on the field, I enjoy playing with these guys. I think that’s why we’re such a good time this year. Everyone knows our role, we all have fun in what we’re doing and we just play footy. It’s probably an old saying, but if you’re happy you play your best footy. Look I’m enjoying my footy and I’m in a good side. To be honest, we’ve got firepower all over. I just pull the strings and probably get the plaudits for it. This is what we’ve building for the last couple of years.”
Gale is hoping to make it a big year for both club and country. And if Castleford keep up their charge, he is likely to be joined at the World Cup by Tigers teammates Zak Hardaker, Michael Shenton and Mike McMeeken.
“It would be awesome,” he said. “If we can keep going it could be a Cas left edge. When I played last time I was proud to go out and represent my country alongside my teammates, so the more the merrier.”
