World Club Series: Super League and NRL worlds apart but challenge remains to match Australians

Indeed, he claims, despite the Australian National Rugby League securing back-to-back 3-0 whitewashes in the competition, organisers are “well on the way” to getting all clubs, both here and in the NRL, “desperate” to take part in future.

There has been the expected soul-searching over the last 24 hours as the domestic game surveyed the wreckage of another evisceration by their Australian counterparts with Super League yet to chalk up a single victory in six attempts since it expanded.

North Queensland Cowboys vanquished Leeds Rhinos 38-4 on Sunday to complete another clean sweep, Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters having done likewise to Wigan and St Helens.

The aggregate score was 118-28, a demoralising statistic which, on the back of the NRL easing to a 3-0 success during the inaugural World Club Series 12 months ago, has led to inevitable questions about the concept’s very viability.

Solly countered: “I think, if anything, the ambition is stronger than ever. You look at full terraces, big crowds, a new sponsor in Dacia and great TV audiences, there is a lot of appetite for it.

“It took us 10 years to get three NRL clubs interested and we went from three to 12 inside 12 months. The goal for us is to get all 12 Super League clubs and all 16 NRL clubs desperate to play and we’re well on the way to that.”

Although Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers have shown reservations about taking part, primarily due to the £170,000 bond needed to guarantee the NRL clubs’ costs, Solly feels the majority of Super League teams favour participation regardless of the embarrassing scorelines.

“You talk to Adam Pearson at Hull FC, Hull KR’s Mike Smith, Christophe Jouffret at Catalans, they’d love to be in it and (Warrington owner) Simon Moran is a huge fan,” he said.

“So easily half the competition want to be in it and I don’t think anything you’ve seen over the weekend will change that. It has to go ahead. The only way Super League and the players that play Super League can improve is by this sort of competition. It’s a great learning experience.

“If you look at a guy like (Leeds teenager) Jordan Lilley and what he has learned from this, he won’t get that out of an average Super League game. It’s a lot more than just three games of rugby. There’s a lot of activity that goes on during the week that helps boost the sport’s profile. There’s obviously a hunger for it from broadcasters.

“For us, it’s a great short and long-term way to grow the sport’s profile and revenue. There’s obviously an appetite for people to come and watch it, what we need to do is get better at Super League.

“It’s been a great experience and we’ve learned an awful lot. What we’ve got to do now is work out over the next 12 months where we can improve and come back and be better when we meet NRL opposition next year.”

Almost 20,000 packed into Headingley to see the world’s best player, Johnathan Thurston, dictate against Leeds and there were 19,000 at Wigan and 14,000 at Saints, illustrating there is a demand to witness such fare.

In Super League’s defence, the Rhinos were severely depleted against Cowboys, missing four England internationals, while Saints were without their talisman, James Roby, and Wigan – already shorn of the Tomkins brothers – saw England hooker Michael McIlorum depart in the first-half with a broken leg.

However, undeniably, the NRL clubs, just like on the international stage, remain at a different level. There is an argument Super League’s salary cap needs to be raised – or even abolished – to help narrow the chasm and it will be discussed at a Super League meeting next month.

The NRL’s cap is currently more than double the competition here.

NRL chief Andrew Hill echoed Solly’s sentiments and has spoken of expanding the WCS further to eight clubs with two games played in each country over the same weekend.

“This year we could only take three and had to leave nine teams who wanted to come behind,” he said. “We’ve seen fabulous crowds and, whilst ever the clubs want to come, why wouldn’t we keep the series going?

“A little bit has been said about it coming to Australia. That may be next year or the year after. I don’t think we’ve any time frame on it. There’s a few things we’ve got to work through.”