Jonny Bairstow Ashes exclusive: I can’t wait for Rugby League World Cup final – it’s just a shame we won’t be watching

Exclusive column: The final promises to be a great game and is a huge opportunity for the sport to grow back home. It's just unfortunate the second Ashes Test takes place at the same time!

Jonny Bairstow writes exclusively in The Independent (Getty)

There will be quite a few guys in the England camp taking a keen interest in events at Brisbane this Saturday night, when England face Australia in the Rugby League World Cup final.

Unfortunately, we’ll be playing in the second Ashes Test at Adelaide at the same time that it’s on. But I’m sure there will be a few whispers going back to the dressing room, letting us know what the score is.

There are a few connections between the two sides. Stuart Broad is friends with Sam Burgess. Our team analyst Giles Lindsay used to be the analyst at Leeds Rhinos for many years. Meanwhile Stevie Ward, who would have been in the World Cup squad until he injured his shoulder, was over recently doing his rehab, so I caught up with him in Brisbane.

It was the Rhinos who kindled my passion for rugby league. Obviously I played the game when I was at school, but at Yorkshire we share a stadium with them at Headingley, so often on a Friday night after a County Championship game, we’d have a shower and pop across to watch the lads. Over the years, I’m very fortunate to have become pretty good friends with a few of them.

It’s going to be a hugely tough final for England. We’ve not won a major tournament in 22 years, and Australia in Australia are a quality outfit. You only have to look at their playmakers: Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, and look at ways that we can try and close that down.

It’s easier said than done, without a doubt. They’ve got a fantastic group of forwards as well. But if our forwards can be dominant in the breakdown and really stamp their authority on the game, that allows England’s outside-halves and backs to have a bit of time on the ball. Then, who knows?

England take on Australia in the Rugby League World Cup final this weekend (Getty)

We have pace out wide with Jermaine McGillvary and Ryan Hall, who are prolific try-scorers. If we can get them in a bit of space, there’s no reason why we can’t get points on the board.

Victory could do a huge amount for the sport in this country. It’s on the map in the north of England, but not massively in the south, where a couple of clubs have struggled because of the dominance of rugby union down there. Winning a World Cup would open the game up all around the country, not just in the rugby league fraternity.

For me, the appeal of the game is obvious. There’s a vast amount of skill, and a different sort of skill to rugby union. The guys are ridiculously brave, to be quite honest with you. When you run into contact, it’s not to contest a ruck or a maul, but to win the contact. If you don’t, you get bashed backwards. That one-on-one combat is a huge part of the game.

Then there’s the teamwork, especially in defensive sets. You’ve got six tackles, and a duty to get back 10 metres every time. If you’re not doing that, you’re letting your team down. That’s why it’s such a good sport for kids. It’s that leadership, that desire, the togetherness, the skills.

All those things combining to make you something later on in life. That, to me, is exactly why people play sport.