WILL THE ASHES SERIES BE A GAMECHANGER?
BILLY ROBERTS
is the author of ‘The Ashes -Rugby League’s Most Important Rivalry’
IN Julius Caesar, Shakespeare could have been speaking about the future of Rugby
League:
“There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune, Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.”
Throughout life, there are those rare and critical moments that must be seized upon to achieve success.
Rugby League has that rare opportunity to take the road that leads to the uplands of success with the first Ashes series to be played between England and Australia in 22 years this October and November in England.
The Ashes is Rugby League’s most important rivalry. Sadly, it has been forsaken in both hemispheres. The last time the two grand rivals of international Rugby League faced off was in 2017 in the Rugby League World Cup Final in Brisbane, when Australia won 6-0 in a game that was pulsating and intense right to the final siren.
The last Ashes series was in 2003, with Australia winning the series 3-0. The last traditional Ashes tour was way back in 1994, when Mal Meninga led the Kangaroos across the United Kingdom and France, winning the series 2-1 after losing the opening game at Wembley that will forever be remembered for Welshman Jonathan Davies’s dashing solo try.