World Cup 2022

First topic message reminder :

Thought a separate thread is in order.  Men's, Women's and Wheelchair rugby to look forward to.

Men's Groups

Pool A

England
France
Greece
Samoa


Pool B

Australia
Fiji
Italy
Scotland


World Cup Pool C

Ireland
Jamaica
Lebanon
New Zealand


World Cup Pool D

Cook Islands
Papua New Guinea
Tonga
Wales

I saw the Scotland game, a loss but a big improvement from them. Up to them one of the most disappointing teams in the tournament IMO.

Looking forward to Samoa v France later.

Samoa won 60-4, Samoa finding there feet, France were dreadful.
Tonga beat Cook Islands 92-10.
Both these games are disappointing for someone (me), who believes getting a proper international calender is needed to progress the sport.

Lebanon continue there good wc, as they beat Jamacia 74-12, and could be a shout for a suprise result.

It's been a pretty dismal week for the competition and, after a good start in the opening week, it feels as though everything's fizzled out a little. Hopefully the KO stages will reignite the competition to life. There's been too many games which are blowouts and thrashings and I just don't believe it's good for the game. I checked the odds for the Round 3 games and the longest priced favourite I could find was 1/50, with a couple of games having the favourite priced in at 1/1000!. There have only been two games in the groups separated by single-score margins, out of 24 games in total.

France have been terrible all competition, which is a big disappointment. They've essentially had about 10 good minutes versus England (when England were asleep); other than that they stuttered v Greece and were destroyed by Samoa. A lot of faith has been reposed in France as being a big RL nation but, while the Catalans have made strides in Super League, internationally the French have floundered...and they're hosting the next World Cup, so a strong French team is required, but looks unlikely.

Presuming PNG don't lose to Wales by around 20 points tomorrow (biggest shock in sport they do!), we have the QF line-up:

Australia v Lebanon -  No question, easy day for the Aussies. Expect them to win by at least 40. Isn't the Lebanese coach rather busy with his RU requirements?

NZ v Fiji - NZ haven't been sparkling thus far, so there is a small, outside chance for Fiji in this one. Do expect NZ to win by around 20, but if Fiji get a couple of early tries, put the opposition under pressure, they might just repeat 2017.

England v PNG - Should be a comfortable time for England, but it'll be interesting to see which PNG turn up. The PNG that ran Tonga close could cause England a fright, but the PNG that laboured past the Cook Islands would get hammered. Hoping England put in a strong 80 minutes, as they did v Samoa, to show they are potential champions.

Tonga v Samoa - Game of the round and could be game of the tournament. Samoa started at a very low ebb, but have been gradually building into the competition, and probably have a higher ceiling of ability that they can reach compared to Tonga, so I am narrowly favouring the Samoans. But only narrowly. It will be a very physical game that will likely boil over, so expecting cards and best of luck to the referee.

Duty281 wrote:It's been a pretty dismal week for the competition and, after a good start in the opening week, it feels as though everything's fizzled out a little. Hopefully the KO stages will reignite the competition to life. There's been too many games which are blowouts and thrashings and I just don't believe it's good for the game. I checked the odds for the Round 3 games and the longest priced favourite I could find was 1/50, with a couple of games having the favourite priced in at 1/1000!. There have only been two games in the groups separated by single-score margins, out of 24 games in total.

France have been terrible all competition, which is a big disappointment. They've essentially had about 10 good minutes versus England (when England were asleep); other than that they stuttered v Greece and were destroyed by Samoa. A lot of faith has been reposed in France as being a big RL nation but, while the Catalans have made strides in Super League, internationally the French have floundered...and they're hosting the next World Cup, so a strong French team is required, but looks unlikely.

Presuming PNG don't lose to Wales by around 20 points tomorrow (biggest shock in sport they do!), we have the QF line-up:

Australia v Lebanon -  No question, easy day for the Aussies. Expect them to win by at least 40. Isn't the Lebanese coach rather busy with his RU requirements?

NZ v Fiji - NZ haven't been sparkling thus far, so there is a small, outside chance for Fiji in this one. Do expect NZ to win by around 20, but if Fiji get a couple of early tries, put the opposition under pressure, they might just repeat 2017.

England v PNG - Should be a comfortable time for England, but it'll be interesting to see which PNG turn up. The PNG that ran Tonga close could cause England a fright, but the PNG that laboured past the Cook Islands would get hammered. Hoping England put in a strong 80 minutes, as they did v Samoa, to show they are potential champions.

Tonga v Samoa - Game of the round and could be game of the tournament. Samoa started at a very low ebb, but have been gradually building into the competition, and probably have a higher ceiling of ability that they can reach compared to Tonga, so I am narrowly favouring the Samoans. But only narrowly. It will be a very physical game that will likely boil over, so expecting cards and best of luck to the referee.

To a degree I agree, though it highlights the good games Tonga/PNG, Cook Islands/Wales. The one thing you can't legislate for is how many sides have been poor. Whilst Tonga were fantastic today, Cook Islands where shocking. Whilst Greece and Jamacia and Wales have been giving it ago, other's have just folded in the towel. Though do feel refs aren't helping them all the 50/50's go to the big boys, though guess that's the nature of all sports.

As for the quaters.
Lebanon have been good, only lost to New Zealand by about 14. Think Australia will win, but my be closer and more competitive than people think.

England will beat PNG, and probably by a bit, but again expect PNG to put in a good performance.

Neither New Zealand or Fiji have been great, both can up there game. Could be a tight one.

Agree Tonga Samoa should be a fantastic match.

Congratulations to England on winning the pdrlwc final, beating New Zealand 42-10.

PNG beat Wales 36-0.

In a game the scoreline doesn't reflect, as I thought Wales were good tonight, and put in alot of effort. PNG where just better, but I thought it was a decent game.

I saw the second half and the Welsh defence was really strong, full credit to them. In drier conditions they may have got a try or two of their own as well. Full credit to Wales in this tournament as they've been coached well and given 100%, not thrown it in, against three tough RL nations.

Samoa, I could not believe it was the same set of players who folded vs England. I agree the Tonga game should be a fantastic game, on that showing I see Samoa winning.

Not sure if it's mind games or whatever, but apparently Australia have been hit with an virus that has spread through the camp in the past few days. Might make the margin a little tighter tonight.

Very easy night for Australia - 48-4. It was 30-0 at half-time and they really eased up in the second half.

True.

Australia where bigger, stronger and after that start in control. Lebanon looked abit star struck, good world cup for them despite the poor ending.

I am a Union man but I must admit that I have enjoyed watching the RLWC even if I don't fully understand the rules.

Good luck to England today

England are quite something.

I have to be honest Friday's Australia v Lebanon game was for me the worst game of the tournament. I agree the latter have played some good rugby for me however particularly in the last 15 - 20 mins of the first half showed very little fight. Some of the tries were embarrassing.

England today, outstanding that first 30 mins was as good as I have seen from a Eng/GB side. They are miles ahead of where I thought they would be. Tougher games to come but really encouraging.

Fiji putting the frighteners on NZ - they got the couple of early tries they needed and have put an error-riddled and ill-disciplined NZ side under pressure.

If Fiji can get the first score of the second half then they might just do this...

NZ narrowly pip Fiji to the post, after a crucial (and controversial) late penalty for NZ at 18-18. Fiji did have chances at the end, but not the composure to take them.

Can't see NZ getting close to Australia in the semi-final.

Samoa just edge out Tonga 20-18 in a very tight affair. Tonga's error-strewn first half was likely the difference. Another fantastic advert for the sport.

It exposes the folly of the format, that England will now play Samoa in the semi-final, having already played them in the groups. Down south too, which is silly. You wouldn't see the union lot playing their World Cup semi-final in Huddersfield.

Expecting an entirely different game from the groups. Samoa didn't have much cohesion coming into the tournament, but they've steadily built it up in the last few weeks and are an entirely different proposition from the side we saw first time around v England. And, in the group game, Samoa were very close to making it 18-12 at HT.

It'll be the biggest test of the tournament for England, who have been the team of the World Cup so far.

Agreed on a lot Duty. I am hopeful NZ will put in a massive effort but IMO they will do well to finish within 20 - 25 points.

Tonga v Samoa was exactly as advertised, one of the most physical games I have seen for a long time.

Not ideal to playing Samoa again in the semi and of course that could have x 2 had Fiji hung on v NZ and played Australia again.

It also seems odd that Eng are playing in London (which is the only game I can recall being played there) with Aus v NZ (Leeds) and the final in Manchester??

Duty281 wrote:

It'll be the biggest test of the tournament for England, who have been the team of the World Cup so far.

The Australian women are in fine form too. Like a machine... they are so ruthless.

Anyone want to watch a good game of Rugby, or introduce rugby to someone, last nights Australia/New Zealand women's game is a good choice.

Semi-final night. On paper the New Zealanders aren't too far behind Australia. On the pitch so far this tournament, however, they're a mile off. New Zealand conceded 18 to Fiji and just scraped through. The Kiwis also made far too many basic handling errors last week, missed too many tackles and struggled to play at a quick tempo. If they're going to win tonight that will all have to be rectified for the entire 80.

Overall, I think Australia will put 40+ on the scoreboard and win by around 30 points, but I hope NZ can put up a good fight. I get the sense Australia have rather coasted so far, and they've got another couple of gears to find.

Wow, an awesome 80 minutes. Tremendous sport. It baffles me why this game struggles for popularity.

NZ were stupendous for around 50-60 minutes and had Australia on the ropes, then their energy levels deserted them. Australia, as always, just find a way. A two-point margin was probably settled on receiving the high ball - NZ struggled in this area, but the likes of Tedesco, Mitchell and Addo-Carr swallowed absolutely everything up.

No mistake though - Australia are there to be beaten and England may never get a better chance than this.

Just got to get past Samoa first!

Hard fought match and just like the women's Australia-NZ match, the scoreline was much closer than many expected.

I had to pick up a friend from the airport early this morning so was very nervous when I got back and watched the recording after half time and saw New Zealand had a narrow lead. I didn't surprise me at all. Murray's soft try in the 2nd half was much needed but it was unfortunate NZ had that lapse after giving away the penalty. Always a good chance someone is going to try and burrow their way over the line from that position.

These matches can easily go either way. It's a game of inches as we nearly saw from Hiku towards the end. It was amazing how he even got near to grounding the ball from an airborne position over the touchline.  Liam Martin got PoM... which is probably fair enough. Apart from the spectacular try from Addo-Carr it was a real team effort to hold the Kiwis out.

So onto England-Samoa next. I don't think it will be a blow-out like last time. The Samoans really fell to pieces in that match and lost their way completely but have since got some semblance of team cohesion and a bit more confidence. I still think England should win comfortably enough.

Duty281 wrote:Wow, an awesome 80 minutes. Tremendous sport. It baffles me why this game struggles for popularity.

NZ were stupendous for around 50-60 minutes and had Australia on the ropes, then their energy levels deserted them. Australia, as always, just find a way. A two-point margin was probably settled on receiving the high ball - NZ struggled in this area, but the likes of Tedesco, Mitchell and Addo-Carr swallowed absolutely everything up.

No mistake though - Australia are there to be beaten and England may never get a better chance than this.

Just got to get past Samoa first!

I think its becasuse we don't have an international calander that rugby union, cricket have. So can be viewed as a mainly club sport in the North. Until we have an international tournament every year (4/5 nations, Lions/Tours over here etc), we will always be lagging behind. Plus football is just so dominent.

As for the game, agree. Brilliant match, New Zealand were great, Australia just do what they do and find a way to win. But are beatable, and should England win think they have the edge in the pack.
Both the mens & Womens Australia/New Zealand games have been just great rugby league.

As for today, England need to do what they've done all tournament, get a fast start, put the pressure on Samoa to make a comeback.

Outstanding game last night, roll on to this afternoon, sofa booked, snacks ready. I am expecting a much much closer game that the first, buckle up.

Heartbreak for England. The third consecutive dramatic semi-final that England have been involved in.

Simply not good enough, ultimately. The first sixty minutes was by far the worst I've seen England all tournament. Ending sets badly, kick chase was poor, unable to dominate the ruck and play at the tempo they managed earlier in the tournament, plus the right edge was defensively woeful. I think it was Watkins' worst game for England.

But the scrap between Luai and Tomkins seemed to revive England, as well as the flat crowd. From that point it looked as though England's momentum would carry them over, but the intercept try kiboshed that and it was a minor miracle they got back on terms. Then composure deserted England. An error on the last play in the 80 ended the chance to have a crack with a drop goal; then two errors in their own half during the golden point period was simply unforgivable.

Overall, a huge chance missed for England, but they simply weren't good enough over the 80, and had they won in golden point it would have felt like a burglary. Still, that's the difference between England and Australia. That mentality.

It was an odd performance from Samoa. I thought they were well below their best as well, but they were clinical and ended their sets better than England. Samoa will need to raise their game significantly to defeat Australia and spark the biggest World Cup upset since 2008.

1st up, Samoa deserved the win, they were better than England.

2ndly, England players had there worst game this tournament. 1 or 2, we'd have won but to many were poor.
We gave up some really soft tries (the one were Welsby went the wrong way at the play the ball is schoolboy stuff). They was way 2 much 1 man stuff. McLloroum hasn't been good enough for years, and his passing was woeful. Our kicking game was dire (This was the game Snyed should have played).

3rd, Why when clearly injured was McCllorum still on the pitch as long as he was.

4th, that really was the dumbest golden point sets i've seen. Amaturish.

Good luck to Samoa next week, but its hard to see past a fairly comfterable Australia win.

But in a Strange way, RL needed this result, and it strengthens the need for more international tournaments.
These 2 semi finals in different ways have been fantastic, and Samoa getting to the final, shows just how good international rugby league is, and we need to be pushing it more. Off course we won't but we should be.

I agree two hugely entertaining semi-finals. England.....gutted but the best side won. Errors and decision we had not seen during the tournament. McIlorum's passing, running down blind alleys, short kicking game, why Tompkins not Williams?, Watkins and Young had nightmare games, why was Burgess off the pitch for so long?

Credit to them for battling back in twice in that last 20 mins but the above and key errors i.e. defence and clear cut chances missed.

Good luck to Samoa next week, the Full Back Suaalli, if not already well on his way to be one of the best players in the world in any position.

England win another final. This time the Wheelchair team beat France 28-24. Massive congratulations to them.

By the end of today, both men (Australia/Samoa), and womens (Australia/New Zealand) winners will be decided. Fancy Australia for both, though hope they don't.

Samoa have already raised the profile of the game, i mean the Rock Dwyane Johnson putting out a message for them with his amount of followers, thats something that just can't be bought.

Australia win another two finals. I've lost count now but I think it's an even number. 12? And it's now 3-3 with the Kiwis in the Women's.

Samoa played their hearts out but the Kangaroo defence was formidable apart from the 2 Samoan tries, one of which was the result of Latrell going for the intercept but only leaving a gaping hole in the line. It was great to see Samoa score twice however.

The Australian forwards dominated the run of play with some crushing tackles and although it was tight at 14-0 HT the end result was never really in doubt. I'm glad Teddy scored 2 tries (along with Mitchell) and was awarded the MoM.

It was a decent crowd at OT with the locals naturally behind Samoa... but apart from the possibility of a dream outcome for Samoa I still think it would have been better if either NZ or England were playing for the trophy.

Just caught up with both finals. I had hoped the women's final would be close-ish, but Australia were almost playing a different sport. The men's final went as expected, Samoa didn't have anything in the armoury to remotely trouble the Australians.

I don't think it was a great tournament, there were a few close games but far too many blowouts. The wheelchair rugby grabbed the headlines at the end.

Would like to see more international rugby league going forward. An annual tournament in November - a sort of Nations League - shouldn't be too difficult to fit in and thus allow the international game to develop.

Men & Women classic Australia, very very efficient, I agree Duty it is almost a different game, particularly the women.

I though Samoa gave a good account the 20 mins in the first half really hurt them when they saw very little possession and very little in Australia's half. The try they conceded after having a bit of possession in the second half IMO completely killed the game.

I have not seen Wheelchair rugby prior to this, the final was outstanding, great to watch.

On the whole I have enjoyed the tournament, frankly it is good to see RL on terrestrial TV with some reported pretty decent viewing figures. It certainly could be better, yes too many blow-outs and we now desperately need to build, it seems ridiculous to me that most countries have no games planned next year, great way to destroy any momentum.

The scenes after the men's final with the Australian women giving a guard of honour to the England Wheelchair team does show the Community aspect of this sport, I really cannot imagine this happening in many other sports, fantastic to see.

Agree Beast.

Samoa weren't bad, just Australia doing what they do. Controlling the ball, tempo and all the little things to win.

As for the tournament.
There were so big minuses, some teams not turning up, the blow outs, not spreading the games around more and keeping them at the same grounds.
But there were some big positives, Lebanon progressing feom the last wc, Jamacia and Greece getting onto the world stage. The smei finals, Samoa getting to the final and Dwayne Johnson video raising the peofile of the game.
I don't think.it was a good as 2013 (which was more about the heartlands celebrating), but it was a decent wc.

Shame us that we'll now do very little in the international game till 2025 (wc in france).

The RFL and the administrators of the other major international boards really need a kicking. Must find a way of getting a regular schedule of international games.
The best sporting event I ever attended was GB against Australia at Wembley in 1994 - yes, the game where Edwards got sent off, Jiffy scored the match winning try and the GB front row made about 200 tackles between them. Oh, and the day I realised that Mal Meninga was absolutely huge (he and Steve Renoff were immediately in front of me as the Aussies warmed up).

Good news. In 2023,
As well as England v France.
There will be a Euro Nations tournament, with England, France, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy, Spain and Serbia.
There will also be a euro b for qualification to the 2025 wc. There us a planned pacific tournament, plus some other tests.

Get the British Lions going, we now have 3 destinations in Australia, New Zealand and the Islands (Tonga, Samoa, PNG). And proper tours in my opinion.

But its good news, and a start. Hopefully it will evolve and we will continue.