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English Rugby League Star Excited To Play In Same Stadium As Peyton Manning

By Michael Spencer

DENVER (CBS4) - The inaugural Rugby League Football International Challenge, featuring England and New Zealand, will invade Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Saturday as a prelude to the 2025 Rugby League World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States and Canada.

Both squads are in Denver all week as a lead-up to Saturday's match, which will be played at 2 p.m.

"To bring what we think is a great sport and showcase it to the Americans at Mile High is pretty cool," said England's Sam Burgess.

England lost in the final of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup and will be the host country for the 2021 World Cup.

"We're trying to make the sport as big as we can all over the world," said England's Scott Taylor. "To be able to bring it over here and get the fans, it's just massive for the sport. Over these next seven or eight years hopefully we'll start building the sport over here."

Saturday's match will be a surreal experience for Taylor, who is a Broncos fan.

"I started watching the NFL when I was 13 or 14," Taylor said. "One of the first games I watched was Peyton Manning with the Colts. I followed him and decided wherever he finishes is my team for life."

Saturday Taylor will get to play his sport on the same field where his favorite NFL team plays theirs.

"It's weird because it's something you'd never expect to happen as a Rugby League player. If someone would have said to me six months ago, 'you're going to play at Mile High Stadium I'd think they were joking. It's going to be an unbelievable experience.'"

Tickets for Saturday's match can be purchased by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or the stadium box office.

Michael Spencer is a Sports Anchor at CBS4. Read his bio or connect with him on Twitter @MichaelCBS4.

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