I’LL never forget the build-up to last year’s NRL launch in Las Vegas, when several pundits were bemoaning the fact that the Allegiant Stadium pitch was around five metres thinner than a standard Rugby League pitch and they were putting forward the theory that any matches played at that venue would be tryless with very little attractive rugby.
They were wrong last year and they were even more wrong this year.
Wigan threw the ball about with abandon and I suspect, although I haven’t explicitly asked him, that their coach Matty Peet told his players to put on a show for the travelling fans and for all those viewers tuning into the broadcast in both England and Australia.
Wigan scored eight tries in total and Warrington scored four, all of the latter coming late in the game after they had been 42-0 down.
And then we had the other three games with absolutely no shortage of tries and plenty of open football.
The attendance was 45,209, which I was slightly disappointed by, given the number of supporters who travelled from England. It was about 5,000 more than last year and all that rise could have been explained by the numbers coming from England.
What is certain is that English fans contributed massively to the event being presented as a great success and it’s no surprise that Super League will be involved again next year.
The question facing the NRL is whether there should be four games again or whether there should be a variation on that number.
And should the event be held on just one day, or could it be extended, for example, to a Friday night event and then perhaps three games the following day.
I could easily imagine, for example, a World Club Challenge game played on the Friday night, with NRL and Super League games being played the following day.
But would a standalone World Club Challenge game attract a decent crowd?
That would be the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
Of course the big failure of the Las Vegas event this year was the game between the Jillaroos and the England women’s team.
I don’t suppose England will be invited next year after losing 90-4.
And we still have to learn what the viewing figures were on English and Australian TV channels, while we also would find it interesting to know whether the event made an impact on American TV and with American spectators.
