Gil Dudson aiming to make major impact for Wales at Rugby League World Cup

WIGAN Warrior Gil Dudson  hopes to cap off an amazing  year by making a huge impact  for Wales at the Rugby League  World Cup.

The Cardiff-born prop has  already been crowned a Super  League and Challenge Cup  winner with Wigan Warriors  alongside fellow Welshman  Ben Flower.

And now the 23-year-old aims  to help Iestyn Harris coached  Wales kick off their World Cup  campaign in style against Italy  at the Millennium Stadium on  Saturday.

Dudson maintains representing Wales in the global  showpiece in the Welsh capital  would eclipse those amazing  achievements with Wigan.

“Winning one competition  alone in any given year is unbelievable,” he said.

“But to do the double this year  has been a dream come true – I  couldn’t have imagined it.

“To finish the season on a high  by winning the Super League  Grand Final at Old Trafford  and then to go straight into the  Welsh camp with all my mates  here has been fantastic.

“Preparations here with Wales  have been going really well.  We’ve had a good first week,  the boys have really ripped into  training and everyone has  bought in to what we’re trying  to achieve. We just can’t wait  to start now.

“The squad is pretty familiar as  we’ve had a good few years  together now. Every boy  dreams of playing in a World  Cup so I’m really excited to  play in one for Wales on home  soil.

“It will cap off an amazing  season and I couldn’t have  asked for anything better.

“A lot of the players in the  squad have come through together and have been around  since 2008 so we all know what  it’s about.

“We’ve got some added experience and quality players  going into the World Cup and  we are hoping to achieve  something.

“We’re in quite a tough group  so we know the challenge  that’s facing us.”

The Millennium Stadium will  be the setting for a spectacular  opening ceremony for the  competition at 1.30pm, with  England taking on Australia at  2.30pm before Wales entertain  the Italians two hours later.

And as a proud Welshman,  Dudson says it will be a dream  come true to don the red jersey  at the famous venue.

“It’s our national stadium and  it will be a proud moment for  me if I’m selected,” he said.

“I played there at Millennium  Magic with the Crusaders in  2010 and we had a good win  over Salford.

“It was a fantastic experience  but the crowd wasn’t that big  so the atmosphere wasn’t  there.

“This time it’ll be different.  With 50,000 people in the  ground, it’s going to be fantastic this time around and  hopefully I’ll be on the winning side again.

“As a kid, I went to Six Nations  games and dreamed that one  day, I would be running out  there wearing the Welsh jersey.

“To get the opportunity to do  that will be unbelievable with a  good crowd there to cheer us  on against Italy.

“If we can create the same  atmosphere as Six Nations  games, it’ll be awesome.”

Italy, who have drawn on  Azzurri-qualified Australian  National Rugby League players. pulled off a shock last  Saturday by beating a full  strength England side 15-14 in  a warm-up match.

And with another of Wales’  other opponents in this World  Cup, USA, beating France last  Friday, Dudson knows that it’ll  be a tough competition.

“Italy have got a very good  squad,” he said. “A lot of  people have put their hands up  to play for them, which always  happens this time of year.

“They’ve got a talented side –  the likes of the Minechello  brothers and Anthony Laffranchi so it’s going to be a big test  for us.

“But we’ve got some good  quality in our squad as well so  it’s going to be a good contest.

“They turned England over last  week so they’re not to be taken  lightly. But we’ve done our  homework on them and we’ll  have to see what happens.

“USA went and turned France  over and nobody expected that,  but it’s the World Cup, teams  are picking their best players  and nobody’s going to be a  walkover.

“We’re expecting a tough competition this year and that’s  what we’ll get.”

After the match with Italy in  Pool D, Wales face the USA in  Wrexham on November 3 and  a showdown with the Cook  Islands at Neath a week later.

Article source: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/heineken-cup-roundup-exeter-find-late-consolation-in-glasgow-defeat-8892898.html

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Gil Dudson aiming to make major impact for Wales at Rugby League World Cup