The long goodbye: England taking their time to leave Rugby League World Cup

Some of Brian McDermott’s players will arrive home a week after their early exit from the tournament By No Helmets Required England players would have been well advised to ignore the advert outside their North Bay hotel in Wollongong over the weekend: “Everything that truly matte

Some of Brian McDermott’s players will arrive home a week after their early exit from the tournament By No Helmets Required England players would have been well advised to ignore the advert outside their North Bay hotel in Wollongong over the weekend: “Everything that truly matters is possible,” it read. Not quite everything, it turns out. While England women packed their cases and headed out of Australia the morning after their World Cup campaign was ended by slick Samoa, England men are still stuck outside a party they’ve been told to leave.

Having watched their fate sealed during the Tonga v Samoa game on Sunday, England have moved to Sydney but some players will not arrive home until Friday, a week after their World Cup ended. It could have been worse. They have been staying overlooking Wollongong’s wonderful beaches, where the distinctly salty smell of seaweed drifts in with the mist off the bay.

The surfers among the squad could take a hundred steps from their bedroom and be in the water, and the players whose families are in town have been able to start their end-of-season holidays early. When Wigan teammates Junior Nsemba and Zach Eckersley reminisce about their trip to the World Cup, they may well talk about spending the afternoon riding e-scooters up and down Cliff Road or strolling along North Beach rather than playing against Tonga, France and Papua New Guinea. With the beaches, cafes and stunning lilac jacaranda trees on every street, there are worse places for dreams to end.

But most England players and staff are just desperate to get home. Continue reading...