Wigan’s Oliver Gildart finds hope in father’s World Club Challenge story

“My dad always speaks about it, literally all the time,” says Oliver Gildart, laughing, as he prepares for the biggest game of his burgeoning career. For the 20-year-old, Sunday’s World Club Challenge is uncharted territory given it is the first time in six years Wigan have reached the biggest game in club rugby league, but luckily he has someone to fall back on for advice.

Gildart’s father, Ian, was in the Wigan squad who defeated Manly in front of almost 37,000 at Central Park 30 years ago, a neat symmetry as the young centre looks to follow in his footsteps and help Wigan become the world champions for the fourth time with victory against the NRL club Cronulla.

A local lad and well-versed in the importance of games such as these, Gildart needs no lecturing about the magnitude of the match despite having reached 40 appearances for Wigan. “He [dad] mentions all the time how it was an absolutely massive game and Shaun [Wane, the Wigan coach] always talks about that night,” Gildart says.

“You look at the pictures – I see them a lot in my family as it is, and see that it was such a special night for Wigan as a town and as a club. Dad was on the bench and didn’t play that night, but he’s mentioned to me what it’s like to be involved in it and I think it’s helped get me ready.”

Given Wigan’s history, it is somewhat surprising that to date, they have won the World Club Challenge only three times. The last was in 1994 against Brisbane in Australia, and the mood around the club emphasises the collective desire to bring that lengthy drought to an end. “This is the one we want,” Gildart says. “It’s the one we’re desperate for because we’ve not won one in my lifetime, so it would be pretty nice to know what it feels like for Wigan to become world champions. My dad was involved in it 30 years ago and I guess it’s weird how these things work out that I’m in his position now going for it.”

With Super League labouring in recent years – NRL sides have won seven of the past eight World Club Challenges – there is a sense Wigan must do British rugby league proud. Gildart had a taste of international club rugby last year against Brisbane as part of the World Club Series, but he is adamant the stakes are higher now.

“It’ll be right up there with the Grand Final last year if we can get over the line and become world champions,” he says. “We’ve played in the World Club Series in the past but being in the big game on the Sunday and the final match, it does all feel a little bit different and a little bit more significant. There’s a different atmosphere to the game last year and a different feel around the town.”

A 26-16 victory at Salford on the opening weekend of the Super League season was good preparation to face Cronulla, even if Gildart insists Wigan “didn’t play at all well”. Victory on Sunday, with his dad in the crowd, would be seismic for the Gildart family, Wigan and the game in Britain.