sad news: new zealand warriors head coach has just announce a devastating news….
It is unlikely Shaun Wane will ever forget the 1987 World Club Challenge. For starters, there are plenty of people he meets when out and about in Wigan who will not allow him to.
The player of the match in that historic showdown with Manly Sea Eagles at Central Park on that October night, where David Stephenson kicked Wigan to an 8-2 victory in a fiery encounter with nearly 37,000 fans crammed into the old ground, still gets asked about it regularly to this day.
Now serving as the club’s leadership and management director alongside his role as England head coach, Wane knows first-hand what it will mean for the current generation of Wigan Warriors players if they can down Penrith Panthers in Saturday’s clash between the Betfred Super League and NRL champions.
“It changes your life,” Wane told Sky Sports News. “It was 37 years since I played in that World Club Challenge against Manly, and there is barely a week or sometimes even days go by when someone around this town doesn’t mention that game.
“It was a brutal game, there weren’t many tries, it was 8-2, we smashed them to pieces, and they smashed us too. It sticks in people’s memories, and people talk about the Cronulla game we when won it when I was coaching in 2017.
