RYAN Brierley hopes the hard lessons learned playing for Scotland can bring more out of him in Super League.
The Huddersfield half-back was part of Steve McCormack’s side that created rugby league history in last year’s Four Nations tournament.
A draw against then holders New Zealand was the first time the ‘fourth’ country had taken anything from the big three of England, Australia and the Kiwis.
But it is the match against the Kangaroos, which saw Scotland 30-0 down inside 34 minutes before losing 54-12, that sticks in Brierley’s mind the most.
Now he hopes to carry some of the things he picked up across his first full season of Super League action, with a view to playing in this year’s World Cup.
Brierley said: “It was a great experience for me – scoring a try against Australia is the stuff dreams are made of.
“But in terms of my own performance, I probably wasn’t as happy as other people were about me, I’m very critical of myself.
“It was a real wake up call to how good the Australians are, as well as New Zealand and England. They were physically superior to us.
“It was a massive learning curve, people were saying to me, ‘Why do you want to play for Scotland when you’re going to get hammered by Australia?’
“But I’d rather be on that side of the fence than not playing against them and not learning anything. I now know where I need to improve.
“And I’d love to play for Scotland in the World Cup. When you’re a young kid, to play in a World Cup would be a special moment.”
Scotland aside, Brierley has plenty on his hands at Huddersfield, who finished bottom of Super League last year before saving themselves from relegation in the Qualifiers.
And the 23-year-old knows things have stepped up under coach Rick Stone after being put through the wringer in pre-season – two wins from three matches is certainly welcome.
He added before facing Hull tonight: “We knew how much better we needed to be from last year – we were really poor.
“It’s difficult for me to compare as I was with Leigh but the players who were there last year say pre-season training was leagues apart.
“This was the toughest I’ve been involved in, it was a real tough slog.”
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