Alex Walmsley cannot play down impact of St Helens’ World Club Challenge glory
ALEX Walmsley and St Helens are on their way back with two extra pieces of baggage – the World Club Challenge trophy and respect.
Respect for Super League and rugby league in England after the sport’s biggest achievement.
Alex Walmsley believes St Helens’ World Club Challenge glory means new respect for Super LeagueSWPIX.COM
Listen to many Down Under and you would wonder why Saints even bothered flying around the world to face back-to-back NRL champions Penrith.
According to the bookies, the four-time defending premiers on this side of the world were 24 points worse. According to pundit Phil Gould, Penrith could declare at half-time. According to fans, including many over here, they would get hammered.
But Lewis Dodd’s golden goal – the 83rd minute drop goal that sealed the four-times defending champions’ place as immortals – left Saints chairman Eamonn McManus delivering the best message, ‘Get that into ya!’
And prop Walmsley could not hold back after joining the likes of Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson, Martin Offiah and the Wigan side that won in Brisbane in 1994, the last time an English side triumphed Down Under.
He said: “This is massive for our sport. Super League doesn’t have the finances, the infrastructures or anything the NRL has, which they’ve earned over 30 years.
“So it means so much. We’re a working class, northern sport which looks after one another. We’ve done it for us but we’ve also done it for Super League.
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“They’re back-to-back champions and been head and shoulders the best team in the NRL, the best league in the world. But here we are now, 13-12.
“And there’s no excuse saying they didn’t take it seriously. Go into their changing rooms then tell me they didn’t.
“We came with absolutely no chance whatsoever. Players, coaching staff and 800 fans believed in us – the rest of the world gave us no chance.
“When Wigan did it, they were the most dominant team in the world and the game’s changed so much in 30 years.
“I think this is the greatest English rugby league achievement in living memory.”
Jack Welsby starred as Saints upset many predictionsGETTY
Saints left many stunned by establishing a 12-0 lead through tries from Jack Welsby, who showed how good he really is after England’s World Cup semi-final heartache, and Konrad Hurrell.
But Penrith are just too good and Izack Tago hit back before Brian To’o’s try with 90 seconds left and Nathan Cleary’s conversion sent it beyond 80 minutes.
After Stephen Crichton, whose drop goal sent Samoa to the World Cup final just three months ago, spilled the ball 30 metres from his own line, the script was written and Dodd delivered to crown his club world champions for the third time.
Walmsley missed that tournament through injury, along with clubmates Jonny Lomax, Mark Percival and the internationally-retired James Roby, but believes Welsby, Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees and Tommy Makinson – who failed a concussion assessment in the first half – showed their true talent.
Saints are the first English club side to win in Australia since 1994SWPIX.COM
And according to the 32-year-old, there was no way Paul Wellens’ side was going to let this slip. Especially for the 800 supporters who travelled and braved a tropical storm to see history made.
He added: “We talked about an opportunity. We hadn’t had it for three years after coming up short against Sydney Roosters in 2020.
“But in elite sport, you only get so many opportunities to succeed and do amazing things. We weren’t going to let ours slip. When we retire, we can say, ‘We did something special.’
“To come to the back -to-back NRL champions and get a result on their own patch. It’s one of the greatest achievements for our sport, for St Helens and for English rugby league.”
