Manchester: Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has heralded a revival of rugby league’s Ashes series for the first time in more than 20 years to help grow the international game between consecutive World Cups in the Northern Hemisphere.
While Australia’s World Cup defence kicked off in Leeds on Sunday morning (AEDT), Meninga is already eyeing a potential return to the UK in 2024 as officials ramp up plans for a 12-year global international schedule.
Ashes battles between Australia and England were once a four-year feature of the rugby league calendar, and took place every two years during Meninga’s own heyday during the 1980s.
The Kangaroos most recent Test series against the English was in 2003 as Tri and Four Nations tournaments replaced the traditional UK tours two decades ago.
The global pandemic scuppered a planned 2020 Ashes tour, with the Australians only returning to the paddock this week for the first time since 2019.
Given France host the next World Cup in 2025, Meninga is hopeful of a return to the UK and Europe 12 months earlier as International Rugby League delegates meet to workshop long-term scheduling options.
Wally Lewis celebrates an Ashes win in 1988.Credit:NRL Photos
“We had planned a tour in 2024 before the pandemic, so I’d like to bring a team over again to England and France to promote that World Cup,” Meninga told The Herald.
“I could see three Tests against England, another game against France and then another game throughout the tour against an English Knights side or the French again.
“There’s an obligation to the Northern Hemisphere game over here and especially to help France after this tournament.”
New Zealand counterpart Michael Maguire has also flagged hopes the Kiwis can tour England at the end of 2023.
With NRL CEO Andrew Abdo also endorsing a specific end-of-year international window in lieu of the mid-year representative round from next season, a tournament involving Pacific nations has also been discussed for 2023.
The rise of Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Fiji in the region has increased appetite for regular fixtures, particularly given the pandemic hit soon after Tonga’s giant-killing efforts in 2019.
Few international matches have been confirmed beyond this year’s World Cup because tournament results will dictate qualifying matches for the 2025 edition, while ongoing CBA negotiations have also delayed international scheduling.
Meninga has largely left Australia’s input to discussions to ARL Commission representatives Wayne Pearce and Peter Beattie, who attended a two-day IRL conference in Newcastle this week ahead of the World Cup’s kick-off.
But as a long-time proponent of international rugby league, the Kangaroos coach outlined his own thoughts on how best to grow the game right across the globe.
“I’d like to see that Pacific-style tournament two years after a World Cup,” he said.
“And from a Kangaroos point of view, a tour of the UK and Northern Hemisphere in that third year before the World Cup in your fourth year of the cycle.
“Immediately after the World Cup could be your chance to expand things a bit with concepts like international Nines, bring in other teams, play in other countries and you position these teams to start their next World Cup cycle.
“I’m a big fan of the Nines too for that purpose. There’s not as big a drain on NRL clubs, because you can only fit so much in at the end of a year, and it encourages younger talent.
“For other nations to compete it’s easier in that format, there’s less players needed, your squads aren’t as big and it’s not as taxing. How it all fits together in the next World Cup cycle and beyond is the big question.”
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