Mmm Matterson’s Tomahawks chop down Les Bleus

With a week’s work done, Friday night usually means home, tea and then feet up to watch the big match on Sky Sports. With the domestic season finished, and the World Cup not starting until next Saturday, I wasn’t quite sure what this evening had in store. But then along came @rugbyleagueontv on Twitter with a link to a stream of the France v USA World Cup warm-up.

The whole game beamed live from Toulouse to Wakefield via t’internet. Marvellous. In a game that swung one way then the other, it was Terry Matterson’s Tomahawks who came out on top, beating their hosts 22-18. Matterson only got the job a fortnight ago, after Brian Smith mysteriously quit as coach of the USA rugby league team.

So the first result of the World Cup season poses loads of questions. The US good, or the French poor? Meaningless result or indicator of what’s to come? France are 150/1 to win the World Cup and the USA are 1500/1.

By any stretch of the imagination, this is a shock result, and one that the Americans can quite rightly celebrate. Naturally rugby league in the States is riddled with politics. You couldn’t possibly expect rugby league administrators to get along together, and the ones in the US, are as bad as any.

When the Tomahawks squad was announced there was great fury amongst certain US league fans. It was the usual debate about whether the squad should be comprised of the best US players playing in the States, or whether it should simply be the best US players possible. I’m not sure what I think myself. No point putting out a team of players too far off the mark, that they get tonked in every game. On the other hand, if I’d been working my socks off for several years to develop rugby league in America, and I got overlooked for someone only marginally better than me, but who has no involvement with league in the States, I might be a bit cheesed off.

There have been a few compromises since the original squad was announced. The superbly named Curtis Cunz was drafted into the squad as ambassador. Unfortunately his name isn’t pronounced as you might think, but hey, let’s not worry about the details. Speaking in April, you get a real sense of how the game is developing in America, and what it meant to qualify for the World Cup

Does tonight’s result show how far the USA have come, or how far the French have fallen away? It certainly can’t have been what France coach Richard Agar had in mind.

But for the Tomahawks? It’s a great result and it’s in the history books. I expect those US fans who were there, will always remember the time when they shocked France on home soil.