“We spoke about it all week. That was going to be the winning try. I said to him before we kicked: ‘stay on side’.”
In the jubilation at full-time of a fifth Wigan world title, confirmed when Penrith’s Taylan May had a try disallowed right on the hooter, halfback Harry Smith is talking about what would have been the greatest try in 48 years of World Club Challenge history.
As it was, it became the greatest non-try.
With the home side clinging to a 16-12 lead and being propelled by a din of a 24,091 crowd that evoked 1990s Ashes Tests, Smith kicked on the first tackle from the scrum base near halfway.
One of the great tries is called back!
Super League Man of Steel Bevan French pinned his ears back and set sail upfield with Penrith struggling to comprehend what was happening.
Like footballing poetry, French won the race, regathered, touched down and brandished his jersey to the section of DW Stadium that had been serenading their Gods all night.
Only one problem.
“In a normal setting it’s one foot behind the kicker,” French explained. In international [rules], I think, it’s two.”
Smith wasn’t swallowing the excuse, forcing guest presenter Sam Burgess to apologise to a UK TV audience when he said: “He’s the fastest player on the field and he was offside … he f—ed me over!”
Without the slam dunk, Wigan needed to white-knuckle their way to fulltime, holding on by four to fill in the outline of the fifth star - signifying world championships - on the wall of their gym and leave the Panthers winless from four attempts.
Like all epic matches, it could have been very different.
One of the passes in the lead-up to winger Abbas Miski’s 31st minute try looked a tad forward.
Only referee Liam Moore seems to have actually seen Wigan centre Jake Wardle touching one side of the ball while the other side touched the try line in the 53rd minute.
A crucial ball-steal penalty against Panther Liam Martin did not seem to be in accordance with the international rules French describes above.
Nathan Cleary knocked on with the line open at one point.
Jai Field’s covering 70th minute covering tackle on May, bundling him over the sideline just short of scoring, was straight out of the Scott Sattler pantheon.
What a try saver from Field on May!
And as in the case of Wardle, the video of May’s attempts to pull victory from the jaws of defeat with a solitary second left in the contest was inconclusive enough the render the video ref useless.
“That summed it up,” said Ivan Cleary. “It was a game of inches.”
But there was no doubting Wigan’s courage and quality in the first great game of 2024.
They lost replacement hooker Kruise Leeming and forward Mike Cooper to injury for a huge chunk of the match but kept showing up, winger Liam Marshall personifying their resilience after losing his mother at the start of the month.
A heart-stopping finish
“In three trips to our end they scored three times - that’s not something we pride ourselves on,” said Cleary, who thought his men would snatch victory.
Asked about the comparative strengths of Super League and NRL teams in the wake of two consecutive WCC defeats to English opposition, Cleary said: “They’re obviously better than we are”.