Rugby League World Cup: Box-office England stars selling World Cup to wider audience

Young (centre) has become one of the stars of the tournament so far

When Great Britain won Rugby League's World Cup in 1972 it created barely a flicker of acknowledgement back home.

Clive Sullivan's extraordinary long-distance try at the State de Gerland in Lyon, France, helped to give the Lions a tournament winning platform.

But it's only become famous long after the event. At the time very few knew about it, very few cared.

Only 4,200 turned up to watch the final in the giant stadium; the tournament hadn't been shown live on television and when Sullivan and his team-mates returned to England a few days later it was to a wave of indifference and anonymity.

They weren't even given winners' medals.

But 50 years on and the latest group of players to represent these isles are achieving real cut through.

If either Tommy Makinson or Dom Young could reproduce what Sullivan achieved five decades on, they're likely to become some of British sport's most recognisable faces.

England go into Saturday's quarter-final against Papua New Guinea knowing that TV audiences are already switching on to their exploits in good numbers. And the tournament as a whole, with every match on a BBC platform, is beginning to achieve the cut through that rugby league doesn't normally get.

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A healthy 1.8 million viewers tuned in for the men's tournament opener between England and Samoa. And the figures for the other two group games have not been far behind.

On a regular weekend of Super League fixtures, whether they be on satellite channels or free to air, a figure of 300,000 viewers would be considered good. But that number has been surpassed by many of these World Cup games.

The England women's opener against Brazil on a Tuesday afternoon on BBC Two scored with half a million viewers. That's more than a match for the number of viewers who watched the men's Super League Grand Final live back in September.

Australia v Scotland may have been a blow out, but a peak of 800,000 were watching late in the second half on BBC Two.

And many of the matches on BBC Three have also been punching high, with regular audiences of 300,000 plus, more than that channel might have expected for its usual programming.

The TV buzz around the tournament in other regular programming - breakfast shows, news bulletins etc - is making this Rugby League World Cup arguably the most talked about ever by the British public.

The wheelchair tournament is almost certain to build a following and the further England's men and women can progress, the bigger the draw for audiences.

The expectation will be for figures of two million plus if any of England's three teams can go all the way in their respective competitions. In an age when the likes of EastEnders and Coronation Street pull in just over three million viewers for live airings, that would be considered a success.

Sullivan was inducted into Rugby League's Hall of Fame last week, 50 years after his wonderful try. He's the only player from that 1972 side to have been inducted.

But this current crop of England stars can expect much more instant recognition from rugby league fans and well beyond if they can do what Sullivan did five decades ago.

For England's men that will start with beating Papua New Guinea in the quarter-final in Wigan on Saturday. That's not a given, but Shaun Wane's side are clear favourites.

PNG have real quality in their side. Full-back Alex Johnston, from the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is one of the NRL's most prolific try-scorers. Justin Olam in the centres has Grand Final-winning pedigree with Melbourne Storm.

They have some real craft in the halves with Lachlan Lam - son of PNG legend and Australian assistant coach Adrian - and the ex-North Queensland Cowboy Kyle Laybutt.

Edwin Ipape, the hooker, has taken the Championship by storm this year. He will likely do the same in Super League next year with the newly promoted Leigh Leopards.

And there are some hard hitters in a Papua New Guinea pack that has a reputation for being one of the toughest around.

There's an argument to say that this is the best PNG side ever assembled. From the foundations of the PNG Hunters team, that began playing in the Queensland Cup competition a few years back, they've built a formidable looking outfit.

And those players will know how much passion and pride they are generating back home in a country where rugby league is almost a religion

But England should be a different class. PNG will probably give Wane's side their sternest challenge of this tournament thus far. But that's what they need after a high-scoring saunter out of the group stages.

This is where the real hard work begins.

In fact, it feels like the World Cup is properly under way, now that the men's competition has reached the quarter-final stages and the women and wheelchair athletes have joined the party.

All four of the men's quarter-finals this weekend shouldn't be missed, but the real box-office smash will be the collision between Samoa and Tonga.

After a dreadful start against England, Samoa have begun to pick up, as evidenced by their 62-4 win over France. Tonga had a shaky first game against PNG, but their bandwagon is picking up speed, especially now Jason Taumalolo is back from suspension and at his destructive best.

The performance of their pre-match challenges - Samoa's Siva Tau and Tonga's Sipi Tau - will be breathtaking events. They will be worth the entrance fee alone.

And whoever wins that game will have a genuine chance of becoming the first Pacific Islands nation to reach a World Cup final.

If you haven't switched on to the Rugby League World Cup just yet, now is a good time to start.