Rugby league to swap Leigh for Las Vegas as part of four-game showcase

Rugby league sides Wigan and Warrington will play a regular-season game in Las Vegas next year as part of a four-game showcase for the sport.

England’s women are also set to play Australia in the US city the same day, while the other two matches will be from the antipodean NRL (National Rugby League).

Allegiant Stadium, which hosted this year’s Super Bowl and is home to NFL franchise the Las Vegas Raiders, will stage all four games. 

“We are putting Super League on the world stage,” said Warrington coach and former England international Sam Burgess. 

“We are really excited. The guys are looking forward to what is going to be a great week in one of the most famous cities on Earth.”

The NRL successfully held a double header in Vegas earlier this year but this will be the first time that their English counterparts have played competitively in the US.

“We want to break out of this rugby league bubble and go mainstream,” said Warrington chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick. “It’s brave, it’s bold, but this is the kind of thing we need to do. We need to aim big.”

Super League sides are joining their NRL counterparts, who played in Vegas earlier this year

England captain Jodie Cunningham praised the NRL for “recognising the importance of the women’s game” by including their fixture on the bill.

“We all watched the NRL games in Vegas at the start of this season, and it was so exciting to see the impact they made,” she added.

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