Brian Carney on Wigan taking on Warrington in Dublin: Rugby League needs an international dimension

The sport has pushed hard to expand beyond its northern English base and Wigan have been in action in Las Vegas and Paris across the last two seasons

POWERHOUSE: Brian Carney of Great Britain is stopped by Nathan Hindmarsh of Australia during the Gillette Tri-Nations match between Great Britain and Australia at the JJB Stadium in 2004. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty Images

Dublin will host a high-profile rugby league game in April next year at the home of Leinster Rugby. 

Wigan Warriors will take on Warrington Wolves at the redeveloped Laya Arena, where Super League chiefs will be hoping to attract a bumper crowd in the 20,600-capacity revamped RDS.

It could yet be expanded to a double header featuring Wakefield Trinity against Hull FC. Wigan and Warrington previously met 92 years ago at Shelbourne Park and in recent years, the sport has pushed hard to expand beyond its northern English base across Lancashire and Yorkshire. Wigan have been in action in Las Vegas and Paris across the last two seasons.

A Dublin team had been mooted when the European Super League commenced in 1996 but the idea was never fully developed.

Rugby league has never come close to making an impact on these shores and Ireland was reclassified as an affiliate member of the International Rugby League two years ago, ruling it out of the World Cup.

This year's men's World Cup will be hosted across Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, featuring seven teams from the NRL, where the sport is thriving, along with England, France and Lebanon.

Crossover

Irish head coach Andy Farrell, who excelled for his hometown club Wigan before switching to rugby union, is sure to be an interested spectator on April 24 next, along with Cork-born Brian Carney.

The Sky Sports presenter and former Warrington and Wigan ace started with the Dublin Blues and went on to play for Great Britain. He switched to union in 2007, spending two years at Munster and winning four Irish caps. 

“We need an international element to our sport,” Carney told The Times. "And if it isn’t competitions in Ireland, which are unlikely, as much as you could dream about having them, taking games to elite sporting venues like Dublin is something we should aspire to do. 

“It has regressed considerably. If it’s going gangbusters over here then they have the money to properly resource places like Ireland, Wales and Scotland. But as things tighten over here, as they have over the last two decades, some of the first places to suffer are those development areas, as the game has to prioritise the heartland clubs."