England wheelchair captain Tom Halliwell wants to win the World Cup for his idol Rob Burrow, whose Grand Final heroics he tried to replicate growing up.
Leeds Rhinos star Halliwell is one of the poster boys for a wheelchair game that has taken the nation by storm, and could yield a World Cup triumph for England if they can overcome defending champions France at a sold out Manchester Central on Friday night.
Halliwell will proudly wear the iconic number seven made famous by rugby league legend Burrow, and speaking exclusively to The Sportsman he revealed that emulating the legendary Leeds half-back is what makes the experience of a World Cup final extra special.
“Rob was my childhood hero and I wanted to be Rob Burrow growing up,” he said.
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“I wasn’t the biggest of players, I was ducking and diving through people recreating Rob’s tries from the Grand Finals.
“So be able to wear the number seven means a lot to me. He is a massive inspiration to the whole squad and the rugby league community with what he is doing. He is a huge legend in the sport and we want to go out and do him proud.”
Burrow took to twitter this week to search for England’s wheelchair stars, revealing how he had fallen in love with the sport and wanted to personally wish them good luck for the biggest game of their lives.
“I am star-struck now knowing my hero wants to speak to me,” Halliwell admitted.
“I get nervous and embarrassed about it but this is an amazing experience and we can’t wait to see him.
“I will be emotional knowing how much this means to my friends and family, I might even shed a tear when that anthem comes on. We want to win and make the country world champions.”
Halliwell turned to wheelchair rugby league after falling out of love with the running game, where he suffered a broken foot playing for Oulton Raiders in a collision with current England and Leeds forward Mikolaj Oledzki.
Discovering wheelchair rugby league restored Halliwell’s passion, and he is now seeing the sport’s best kept secret thrive on the biggest stage.
“We always knew that people would fall in love with it, it was just about getting it on a platform where people can fall in love with it,” he said.
“We are forever grateful for the people who have given us this platform. We knew it would do well but we didn’t expect it to do as well as it has.
“We were trending in twitter in the UK after the first game. But we needed to put a pin in that and focus on football and that’s what we have been doing.”
Halliwell leads England against a powerful France side, looking to give the host nation a big lift following the semi-final defeats for both the men’s and women’s teams.
England have destroyed the field in a dominant World Cup so far, but know they come up against the most dangerous possible opponent in the tournament favourites.
“This is one 100% going to be the toughest game of our careers.
“France have threats all over the field, a star-studded team, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be beaten.
“It is going to be ridiculous so we just need to stick to our game-plan, what we have been doing all tournament, what we have been doing in training.
“Then the result should take care of itself. We all know it will be the toughest game of our careers and we are ready to go to war.”