World Cup experience leaves Huddersfield Giants star Roberts walking tall

LIKE a few other Super League players, Huddersfield Giants' Oliver Roberts starts the new season emboldened with confidence after his World Cup experiences.
Oliver Roberts.Oliver Roberts.
Oliver Roberts.

The ex-Bradford Bulls second-row saw his stock rise considerably after an impressive tournament Down Under with Ireland.

Indeed, such was the manner of the hard-running forward’s displays, he has gained interest from NRL clubs Canberra Raiders and Newcastle Knights in the aftermath.

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Huddersfield fans need not worry, though; Roberts is under contract until the end of 2019 and is fully expected to imminently sign a new long-term deal to remain at the West Yorkshire club.

He lines up for them in tonight’s friendly at Wakefield Trinity with a little over two weeks remaining before Giants’ Super League kick-off at Hull FC.

Roberts, who is still just 23 after celebrating his birthday on Christmas Eve, conceded: “The whole World Cup experience was a massively positive one for me.

“Playing against some of the best players in the world and facing NRL and Super League players was something I’ll never forget.

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“It does give you more confidence knowing you can handle that and are able to perform on a bigger stage such as a tournament like that.

“Hearing people saying you are doing well against them is good, too, and that in turn gives you another big confidence boost.

“Playing PNG in Port Moresby was brilliant; the atmosphere was unreal.

“The Papuans wouldn’t just cheer for their side, though; if we put a big hit in or scored a try ourselves they’d be cheering it as they just love rugby league,” he said.

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“I loved the whole time out there with Ireland and it’s left me in a really good place before the new season start.”

He came off the bench in the shock win over Italy, started in Papua New Guinea and then scored two tries as Ireland swept past Wales only to cruelly still miss out on the quarter-finals.

Nevertheless, with his rugged defence and quality running lines in attack, Roberts carved out a reputation for himself as one of the competition’s in-form forwards.

He had scored eight tries in 26 games for Giants last term but is feeling no sense of burn-out.

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“I can’t wait to get back into it all,” admitted the Huddersfield-born forward.

“I had a little bit of time off after the World Cup but two or three weeks was enough.

“Then I was straight back into pre-season and it was good to blow the cobwebs off a little last week in our friendly against Dewsbury.

“It will be good to get a run against Wakefield as well. There’s a few of the Ireland boys there with Liam Finn and Scott Grix.

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“They went well last year and have had a couple of outings already. But this is the first time we’ve had a few of our overseas boys back like Ryan Hinchcliffe and Shannon Wakeman while Jake Mamo gets his first game after that injury last year.

“It’ll be good for our boys to gel and take the next steps towards our first game at Hull FC.”