Rugby League World Cup: Burgess heartbreak shows England have more depth

Ralph Ellis
02 October 2013

Kevin Sinfield will captain England's strongest ever World Cup squad

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Australia are the world's best rugby league nation and big favourites for the World Cup - but Ralph Ellis can see signs that a new look England could cause an upset...

"It is a significant change in the strength of an England team, with the coach making decisions about who he can leave out rather than who the hell he can bring in. And it offers promise that McNamara’s team might be worth a punt at their current price of 8.415/2 to be World Cup winners."

It can be tough being a parent. Doesn't matter how old they get, they are still your babies - and in the case of Julie Burgess that applies even though her eldest one is a 6ft 4ins rugby league playing monster who weighs nearly 18stones of pure muscle.

Julie has been telling the BBC this morning how upset she is for poor Luke that he's been left out of England's Rugby League World Cup squad, while her other three boys Sam, George and Tom are all in.

"Luke's dealing with it, but you have to understand it is such a huge disappointment to see all your brothers to back to England and not be part of it," she revealed. "It's really hard as a mum to know what to say."

Well it might be difficult for Julie. It is unquestionably much worse for Luke. But it's blinding good news for England because what strikes you about Steve McNamara's squad is that dropping the oldest Burgess brother is not the only tough call the coach has had to make.

Back in Warrington Adrian Morley's mum is probably just as heartbroken about her boy being omitted (I know, he's 35, but as I said he's still her baby). And the sport's most capped player Eorl Crabtree is another who has not been included. Then there's Super League Dream Team pair Shaun Lunt and Brett Ferres.

It is a significant change in the strength of an England team, with the coach making decisions about who he can leave out rather than who the hell he can bring in. And it offers promise that McNamara's team might be worth a punt at their current price of 8.415/2 to be World Cup winners. They have home advantage and are being properly prepared, setting off to South Africa for altitude training ahead of the opening game against Australia on October 26.

The Aussies are obvious 1.412/5 favourites for the tournament. They are ranked number one in the world for the very good reason that they have the strongest domestic league, and are the country where the 13-man code has always been the dominant version of the sport. But England showed in the 2011 Four Nations that they are closing the gap, and this World Cup represents another chance to prove that.

McNamara's team was evolving two years ago, and were arguably the better team for the first hour of the final against Australia when Sam Tomkins was just emerging as a standout player. Wind the clock forward to this autumn and the Wigan full back is now established as genuinely world class. He has that priceless ability to suddenly concoct a piece of genius when it matters most in the biggest matches, the sort of flair that can suddenly elevate a team to another level (a point worth remembering, incidentally, before this week's Grand Final where Wigan look sensational value at odds against 2.1211/10).

Throw in the try scoring form of Josh Charnley, the leadership of Leeds Rhinos veteran Kevin Sinfield, with the attention to detail of McNamara's modern coaching methods and who knows? When Julie Burgess has finished mopping up Luke's tears she might just be able to celebrate a historic trophy triumph with the rest of the family.