The 2017 World Club Series (also known as the 2017
Dacia
Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...
World Club Series) was the third staging of the
World Club Series
The World Club Series was an annual rugby league football competition played between clubs from the NRL (Australia and New Zealand) and the Super League (England and France). The competition culminated with the World Club Challenge, a single ma ...
and featured two
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
teams and two
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
(NRL) teams. The series included the
World Club Challenge
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...
, a one-off match between the champions of the Super League and NRL.
Background
In 2016 it was suggested that the 2017 Series could be expanded to 8 teams. Two games would be played in Australia and two would be played in the UK with the
World Club Challenge
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...
alternating each year.
Plans to expand the series were quashed when the NRL Grand Final runners up
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...
announced they would not be participating due to it interfering with their pre-season.
The
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...
were the only side that finished in the top 8 from that season that accepted an invitation to play meaning the series would be reduced to only two teams.
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
winners
Hull F.C.
Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...
would consequently not be able to participate as no game could be arranged.
Series details
Series Score
Game 1: Warrington Vs Brisbane
Warrington are the first Super League team to beat a NRL team in 5 years, and 8 games.
World Club Challenge
This series was the first victory for Super League since the conception of the World Club Series, after the NRL won the last two series.
References
{{World Club Challenge
2017 in Australian rugby league
2017 in English rugby league
World Club Challenge
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks matches
Brisbane Broncos matches
Warrington Wolves matches
Wigan Warriors matches