BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Wigan halfback Harry Smith says he has no personal rivalry with Mikey Lewis, but he will be looking to outperform Hull KR’s star playmaker on Friday night.
Wigan host Hull KR at home on August 15 with the League Leader’s Shield up for grabs. Smith and Lewis have been England teammates for the past two years and both are pressing to be part of the prized Ashes squad at the end of this year.
“I see it just as coming up against the opposition, trying to beat them week-in-week-out. It’s not personal,” Smith told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“Mikey’s a good lad. Him and George Williams play a very similiar game, so that sort of helps me and makes it different when we play Hull KR as I know Mikey is more of a 6 than a 7.
“But you always want to try and be the best player on the pitch. We’ve had meetings with Waney [England coach Shaun Wane] where he’s like show if we brought someone to the game who’s a neutral and then they would know you’re an England player.
“So you just try and be the best player on the pitch. If that’s being better than your opposition, then you have to do that.
“It’s good for the game that we’ve got competition in every position for the Ashes. It’s only good for the country and for the league as well.”
The Robins and Warriors are in the middle of a burgeoning rivalry after the pair clashed in the Super League grand final last year. Both sit at the top of the competition ladder, with Hull KR first and Wigan in second place.
“It’s good. The more the merrier, really,” Smith said.
“If you can have those rivalries and a lot of good teams playing, then that comes with it. I enjoy the rivalry.
“These players in my position who are their key players, like Mikey etc, [Artur] Mourgue, they’ve got a lot of talented players.
“So there’s mini-rivalries within the whole team where you want to do better than your opposite number. And hopefully if we have more of us beating our opposite numbers, then there’s more chance of us winning the game.”
Anticipation has been buidling this week for the top of the table fixture. A crowd of around 20,000 is expected at The Brick Community Stadium.
“Coming into the big weeks and the big games, you can sort of feel it,” Smith admitted.
“It always seems to happen – people are a bit more switched on, wanting more to play well. It all comes with it.
“You want to play in these games where you know it’s going to be a good, high standard of rugby and played at a good pace, free-flowing and set for set stuff.
“That’s the games I enjoy. We know it’s going to hopefully a great game, a good contest and both teams go after it.
“It [last weekend’s win over Warrington] was a great game. Both teams went at it and it was good to be a part of it.
“There’s still loads to improve on and if we want to beat Hull KR on Friday, we’ll have to be better than we were last Friday.”
This season the halfback has crossed for three tries, notched 18 try assists and kicked 24 goals in 21 appearances. Smith leads Super League in attacking kicks with 127 and is equal top in Forty20s with three.
The 25-year-old from Widnes has faced criticisim this season, along with his Wigan teammates, over some of his performances.
But Smith has defended his form: “I think I’ve done well. It’s been a bit harder to show with the inconsistency of a few losses and a few dips in performance as a team.
“But personally I think I’ve done well this year, I’ve led the team well and just tried to compete and give my best every week. I think I’ve done that and I just try and compete and earn the respect of my teammates, and play hard for them.
“If we win, we win, and if we don’t, we don’t, but we look to get better and go ahead. Personally, I feel there’s probably been a few games where I’ve been out of games for too long and not affected the game enough.
“But for most of the year I’ve been up there and played well in most games.”