NRL under fire over 'ludicrous' mistake in promotional tour for games in Las Vegas

NRL officials have been slammed for sending Sydney Roosters recruit Spencer Leniu to a rugby union club to promote the NRL's landmark trip to Vegas. NRL stars Leniu, Campbell Graham, Billy Walters and Aaron Woods were all nominated as ambassadors of the game by their respective clubs and were sent to the US to take part in activities to promote the sport.

Leniu attended a clinic at a local high school in Park City, Utah, which he described as "the pinnacle of rugby league in America" but failed to realise that it definitely was not. The facility he attended was home to the Brighton Bengals rugby union club.

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Utah is regarded as the most rugby league-mad state in the US and the NRL's mix-up has led to a scathing message from the Utah Rugby League Association (URLA). They took to social media to blast the NRL's move, writing on Instagram: "Disappointed with the NRL coming to Salt Lake City and running a clinic with a rugby union club.

"Interested to know what he taught them. We have four youth teams here in SLC that are playing in our winter 9s tournament right now but NRL rather go to a union club and not the youth rugby league teams! Wow none of our community will come and support your games in Vegas! Way to grow the game NRL..."

The URLA then took to X, claiming they are weighing up whether or not to withdraw their entries to the exhibition tournament to be held in Las Vegas in March. "We are really disappointed with the NRL and the huge missed opportunity here in Utah. We are thinking of withdrawing our 13 teams that we submitted expression of interest to attend the NRL Vegas 9s tournament in March," they wrote.

In a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald, George Tupou from the URLA said: "As an entity that has put forth expressions of interest for 13 teams for the upcoming Vegas Nines tournament, more than any state across the nation, and has junior teams named after the NRL teams these specific players hail from, it is absolutely ludicrous they didn't do their homework to realise they should have been holding a clinic with the correct sport fostering the growth there."

The latest stuff-up comes a week after Woods and Graham appeared on an NFL half-time show where both TV hosts referred to the sport as rugby instead of rugby league. Social media erupted with complaints about the hosts not doing their research, while others took aim at the players for not correcting them.

Andrew Abdo confident Vegas trip will be an overwhelming success

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo remains confident that the code can break into the US market and wants the NRL to be the Australian code that establishes itself across America. "Unashamedly, we want our sport to be the Australian sport that's showcased in Las Vegas going nationally across the country," Abdo said.

"We believe in our product, we believe in our game, and this is a huge market. This isn't about winning fans from other sports. It's about looking at a new sport."

The 2024 NRL season will kick off on March 3 in Las Vegas. Manly will take on South Sydney before the Roosters clash with the Brisbane Broncos.

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