The Betfred Super League Grand Final is not the only big match in the north-west this Saturday – it is also a significant day for two England Community Lions teams, and for Physical Disability Rugby League.
In a double header at Ruskin Drive in St Helens, the Community Lions Under-23s will face the Wales Dragonhearts at 1230, before England’s PDRL Community Lions face their Welsh equivalents at 230pm.
The Community Lions players have then been invited to Old Trafford for the Grand Final as guests of the RFL’s Development Department.
Wales Dragonhearts will be in buoyant mood after a hard-earned win against Ireland in Dublin last weekend.
But England’s Under-23s will have a squad containing representatives of 11 different community clubs, for the first of three away fixtures this autumn, as they also head to Dublin to face Ireland next Saturday, then play a return match against Wales in Port Talbot on October 28.
The PDRL fixture will complete another successful season which included a previous meeting between the teams in Llandovery last month, narrowly won by England, and has seen a 69% increase in participation since 2022.
More than 50 players have been involved in the representative programme, all of them having come through the new classification system led by International Rugby League – and with a bigger domestic and international programme planned for 2024.
