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And here we go! This is the first in a series of general World Cup previews. I’ll be taking you through the teams, showing some of my favoured lineups and telling you what to watch out for. The first preview is Group C. While Group A is the Super Group, Group C would have to…
Well the World Cup kickoff is getting closer and it seems very strange to me. I remember when they announced the tournament would be held in 2008, I thought it was way to far away. Now, I hardly have enough time to book all my flights! I’ve talked about some of the negatives in regards…
Why do we have a Rugby League World Cup? In fact, why does any sport have a World Cup? The Rugby League World Cup was first held in 1954 after a lot of work by the French to make it happen. The French saw the need for a World Cup and the opportunities the competition…
You’ll have noticed I am yet to post the official squad lists for other nations competing in the World Cup, but I have a good reason. It seems the people running these teams have no idea what they are doing! In some instances I can’t really blame them. The rules are there are no rules……so…
Stephen Kearney and Wayne Bennett have already made their mark on the New Zealand test side, picking the first Kiwi test side in a long time that looks perfectly set for the modern day game. Gone are many of the players that get selected year in year out no matter how unfit they are or…
To win the Rugby League World Cup, you have to beat Australia, and with the squad Australia has announced, thats going to be a big ask. The Manly Sea Eagles got six of their players selected in the squad and thankfully, Karmichael Hunt and Sam Thaiday have been left out of the side after their…
I know, I know, its a day late, but Australia did beat Fiji 52-0 to advance to the World Cup Final on Sunday night. Fiji did their best but Australia is just way to good. It looked early on though that the scoreline could have pushed 80-100 but the Fijians managed to hold out Australia…
Australia has named a preliminary 46 man World Cup squad and its interesting to see some of the names in the list. For the most part the side consists of proven performers at representative level with one or two players thrown in to cover for any injuries that may occur between now and the start…
Well the World Cup Countdown has begun and if you are following some of the squad selections at the moment you will find that some players are being named in more than one squad. Because this kind of muddies the waters, the RLIF (See ARL via an fancy letterhead) decided to clear things up. The…
The Scottish Rugby League scene is small to say the least. At best its just starting to get going at the junior level in a few small areas. At worst you could say it doesn’t actually exist. However on the back of a team full of English players, and being fortunate enough to be grouped…
In a recent article in The Guardian Online Rugby League reporter Andy Wilson wrote an article about England World Cup chances titled No reason to fear Folau and co. The article was typical of a lot of press thats coming out of the UK at the moment. With England having just beaten a French team thats was mostly…
Well the World Cup is fast approaching and at this stage all you can hear is the voice of a thousand Poms claiming they are in with a real shot of winning the World Cup. With an easy win over France under their belts, England’s confidence is sky high, and the script of every major…
Australia has beaten New Zealand 28-12 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in a good, entertaining match. Australia looked like they were going to run away with the game after scoring 22 points in the first 22 minutes, but a turn of possession saw the scoring halted as the Kiwi’s floated in and out of the…
Leading into this Fridays on of Test between Australia and New Zealand, we have once again been told by anyone wearing a small, flightless bird on their t-shirt that they ar proud to play for New Zealand and to be a Kiwi’s Test player. Pull the other one! For well over 10 years now the…
Billy Slaters amazing form has been rewarded despite a major push by some media types for Manly Fullback Brett Stewart to retain his place as the Australian fullback. Slater joins back rower Paul Gallen and prop Carl Webb who are also making their debut in a great looking Australian lineup that is probably a bit…
He is the captain of the England Rugby League team and yet he talks like a 10 year old high on red cordial…..with a speech impediment. Thats what made Jamie Peacocks rallying call to English Rugby League so funny. Peacock told The Sun “Sometimes in this country we are too quick to put ourselves down,…
Well the mid season Test Match is coming up and there is a lot of talk about who should, and shouldn’t make the side. Australia has so many form players to choose from with only prop being a bit of a problem because of injuries to Luke Bailey and Brett White being suspended. The Kiwi’s…
Stephen Kearney has been announced as the New Zealand Kiwi’s new coach. He will be helped along by Wayne Bennett who will take an “advisory role”, what ever the hell that means! This saga has dragged on for so long that quite frankly I’m sure all Kiwi Rugby League fans are over it. Its been…
Gary Kemble has resigned his position as New Zealands test coach effective immediatly. At the end of the day Gary Kemble put himself out of his own misery and quit as coach of the New Zealand Test side. After a disasterous term as Kiwi coach and with players speaking out against his lack of experience,…
Before I start I just want to ask one question. Does Wayne Bennett actually want to coach New Zealand? We all know the complete disaster New Zealand Rugby League went through in 2007. From issues with the running of the game in New Zealand, to the shambolic performance of the Test side, 2007 was a…
Anyone struggling the understand the eligibility rules in Rugby League would be well advised to not read this article, because quite frankly, in outlining the official rules you are going to end up even more confused than you already are! NRL.com.au posted an article regarding eligibility rules that heavily quoted ARL CEO Geoff Carr. You…
Samoa have scored a 38-16 win over Lebanon to secure the tenth and final place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Lebanon tried hard all game and for a while in the second half looked like they were on the comeback trail, but the Samoan side just had way to much fire power. The…
Great Britain has scored an unconvincing 28-22 win over New Zealand to take a 3-0 series win for the first time since Moses was a lad. As with this entire series New Zealand played well below par and Great Britain did what they needed to score a fairly easy win. Rob Burrow was named man…
Samoa has defeated the United States 54-10 while Lebanon has beaten Wales 50-26 leading towards a great final qualifying game in which the winner between Samoa and Lebanon will secure the last place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Many people expected Wales to beat Lebanon but after watching both teams last week I…
In 2007 New Zealand Rugby League was supposed to be celebrating 100 years of international competition. Instead, it has been brought to its knee’s as a century of incompetence hits a new low and the game in New Zealand becomes a shattered shell compared to the long awaited promise of success. With the Bardercard Cup…
Despite going down 18-16 against Wales, Scotland has secured a place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup due to having a superior for and against record. Scotland looked the more desperate to win throughout the match but at half time they found themselves down 14-4. Had Wales held onto that 10 point lead, they…
Great Britain has beaten New Zealand 44-0 in a very, very average Test match. The Lions didn’t really do anything special, New Zealand were just nothing short of atrocious. After setting a laughable goal for New Zealand coach Gary Kemble to win at least 75% of his games in change of the Kiwi’s, his record…
Ireland has scored a late penalty goal to secure a 16-all draw against Lebanon and have booked the 8th place in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup It was a close game throughout with a lot of ill discipline from the Lebanese costing them in the end. At one point they were down to 12…
Some great news for fans of the game with Australian internet provider BigPond showing the World Cup Qualifiers live through their Rugby League TV service. http://bigpondvideo.com/leaguetv With Australian fans deprived of coverage of these games, this is a great way to be able to see some important contest over the next month or so. Ireland,…
The Rugby Football League has always been soft on things like gambling, drugs use and illegal play, and once again this week the English governing body has turned the game into a laughing stock. In the last 7 days we have see 3 of the worst head high tackles in International football in recent memory,…