“Rugby league has always been a trailblazer in social history and it is being a trailblazer once again.”
John Kear is Mr Rugby League. A now veteran coach, revered for his Challenge Cup heroics with the unfancied Sheffield Eagles in 1998 and again with Hull FC seven years later, the Wales head coach cannot keep a lid on his excitement as he chats to The Sportsman on the eve of the nation’s World Cup opener against Cook Islands, the final game of the opening round of fixtures.
Kear is a fully signed-up rugby league nerd, both realistic at the prospects of a developing Wales side who have not won a World Cup game for 22 years, but buzzing to be in the presence of greatness.
“I’m excited,” he says of a group that boasts Cook Islands, Tonga and Papua New Guinea, with this first fixture providing the best chance of that elusive win given what the latter two put on show on Tuesday night.
“There are elite athletes dropping off the trees in this tournament and it is a great opportunity for the game that I love to showcase itself in a really positive light.
“But you can’t have your head in the clouds, you have to be realistic about what is achievable. And that it is to have a great life experience, but we do feel we can front up against these superstars and put in performances to feel proud of.
“You never know, if we do that then we might get on the right side of the scoreboard as well."
Wales failed to qualify in 2008, lost each of their games under Iestyn Harris in 2013 and came up dry again under Kear five years ago. And the 67-year old stresses the need to understand the landscape his squads have been playing in.
“When we had elite rugby union players in 1995 and 2000 like Jonathan Davies turning to rugby league because it was professional, they could get to semi finals.
“Since then we have had to relook at ourselves and grow our own. An incremental gain now would be to win one game. And if we do that you never know what happens to players’ confidence and belief.”
Wales are deprived of two of their shining lights from 2017 with flying winger Regan Grace both injured and heading to union, and enforcer Morgan Knowles now with the England squad. Experienced prop Gil Dudson was sent off in his final game of the domestic season for Catalans and misses the competition through suspension.
Kear has seen enough so far to believe this World Cup can ignite the sport in the way it hoped to do in the build-up, but stresses a burden of responsibility lies on the hosts to make that happen.
“There is a fair bit of responsibility on the England players to make this tournament catch fire but these players always deliver. That is why the sport is exciting going forward. We need to make sure that international rugby league is a focus rather than a sideshow.
“England have a very good team but so do Tonga and so do New Zealand, who will be wanting to rectify a poor tournament in 2017.
“And of course Australia are just sensational. England are strong but the competition has never been this strong.”
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
