LEADING figures from the three English clubs preparing for this weekend’s ground-breaking World Series are putting aside their traditional rivalry and have adopted a united front against the cream of the NRL.

Saints chief executive Mike Rush, Wigan’s Ian Lenagan and Warrington owner Simon Moran have urged their own club’s supporters to back their local rivals in the three match battle between the hemispheres.

And after Saints posted the sold out notices outside Langtree Park for their showpiece clash, both Wigan and Warrington are confident that tickets sales for their clashes against Brisbame and St George-Illawarra respectively will be bolstered.

Lenagan said: “We will certainly do 20,000 – I am confident of that. When Saints announced their sell-out our sales the following day were 600. It had been 100 a day before then.

“People are realising what a special event this is.”

Moran, meanwhile, expects the club’s biggest gate at the extended Halliwell Jones for the visit of the Dragons on Friday.

“It is our priority to sell the ground out for the first time since we expanded the ground to 15,200.

“It is important – this is not a friendly, it is a new competition to try and beat the NRL. Myself and Tony Smith have made this a huge priority and Tony is quietly confident of doing so.

Traditionally the world club challenge has featured only the champions from each competition – and agains this year that will be the showpiece with Super League champions Saints tackling the Burgess boys, Greg Inglis et al.

But this season sees a three-match rubber featuring beaten finalists Wigan and best placed semi-finalist Warrington.

Warrington face a St George-Illawarra club which boasts plenty of Saints connections past and present.

Legendary Knowsley Road packman Dick Huddart joined the Dragons in the mid 60s during their remarkable 11 Premierships in a row, while former Saints coaches Mick Potter and Nathan Brown played for them and another former boss, Ian Millward, is now the club’s assistant coach.

Rush said: “St George historically are a phenomenal club. We played them last year on the Academy tour and when you meet people like Craig Young – you can see that they are steeped in history and tradition. They won 11 comps in a row and that is remarkable.

“If you were picking teams to come here from Australia – you won’t have gone far from the three clubs.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity for the young players in our game and supporters to watch people who they admire play against their club side – whether that is Saints, Warrington or Wigan.

“With us no longer having the old fashioned Kangaroo tours or the British Lions, this is the only chance that young and old get the chance to watch England versus Australia at the same time as watching your own club side.

“Some of my fondest memories as a supporter was watching Saints play the touring sides – like when we beat New Zealand in 1989 and it created such a buzz around the town.

“If you are a Leeds fan why would you not want to come and watch Benji Marshall play or Sam Thaiday,” said the Saints CEO.

He echoed the views of Moran and Lenagan in backing Britain against an Australian game that has a tendency to look down its nose upon what they view as an inferior competition.

“They see us as a lower grade comp, a poor relation – they think we are a talent pool that they can dip into and take our players.

“But we are a very talented comp in our own right,” said Rush.

“Saints fans will love to see Gary Wheeler do well in this game and when Matty Smith plays for Wigan against Brisbane they will want him to get over an Aussie counterpart and forget that they are wearing Warrington and Wigan shirts.”

Wigan boss Lenagan was happy to urge his club’s supporters to back the Saints and that sentiment was reciprocated.

He was also confident that the concept would make money and would be an important development within the game.

He said: “It is important that we win, I m fed up with losing to Australia. The togetherness that has engendered across the three clubs in the north west and the co-operation to beat the Australians is great to see.

“You don’t find three people like Eamonn McManus, Simon Moran and myself throwing in £185,000 to get this game on believing that we are going to lose money.

“We are good business people and not only do we think we will make money, but we will also raise the profile of the English game.

That was echoed by Moran, who still recalls fondly watching the Wire being one of only two club sides to beat the Kangaroos on the 1978 tour to Britain, and he feels success this time around could give the sport a real shot in the arm.

“The NRL clubs probably think that this is going to be a walk in the park and they don’t really rate Super League apart from thinking there’s a few good players they can poach - that why is important that Super League comes out strong.

“It’s Super League versus the NRL – the best of three and it’s a unique opportunity for the game to expand its horizons.

“We want to put a marker down for Super League against the NRL,” he said.

Although Saints clash has sold out – tickets remain on sale for Warrington v St George Illawarra on Friday, February 20 and Wigan v Brisbane the following day.