World Cup
Well over the last few weeks I have watched the Soccer World Cup, basically because there isn’t much else on that late at night in Australia. Now Australia were bloody terrible, but I take heart in knowing that at least we are not as bad at Soccer as England is. If you are English and…
A harsh, cold dose of reality. The 2008 World Cup was supposed to be a turning point for English Rugby League. It was the competition where reality set it and expectations had been reset. The catastrophic performance of the English side, which saw them barely beat Papua New Guinea, thrashed by Australia, and then easily…
Cause and effect. It is something that gets over looked far too often in Rugby League. When you change one thing, it effects other things you possibly don’t want it to effect. Right now in Super League we are seeing how short sighted moves can effect areas of the game many did not expect. Slow…
The Rugby League Ashes series goes back 101 years and to the very heart of the establishment of Rugby League in Australia. For 90 years it was the pinacle of the game. It was THE proving ground. It was where greats become legends, where former greats realised the game had passed them by. It was…
When people ask me who was the last real English halfback, I tell them Bobby Goulding. The game was different back then back when Bobby played, but he was a handy players for a short while there. He was creative, he was fearless, he had a swagger no English player today has, and he had…
The supposed Rugby league International Federation (Or what ever they are called today) is currently meeting in Singapore (I’m not joking) and thrashing out the future of the international game which spending huge money on high priced hotels in a country where Rugby League has never been played. During this time a big decision was…
Well the State Of Origin series is over and the next representative football we will be looking forward to is the end of season Four Nations competition held in England and France. The World Champion New Zealand team will be looking to stamp themselves as the best in the world while Australia will be looking…
Watching Jarryd Hayne’s performance over this State Of Origin series has made me think a lot about the players in our game that are natural leaders. The amazing thing about Hayne is that, 12 months ago, he was a very different person. A good athlete, a great player, but off the field he was starting…
Normally, I find nothing more exciting than a Test match. I grew up in an era of very good Test football where it was a real pinacle of the game. The mid season “ANZAC” Test though, its just not doing it for me any more. We throw two teams together with a five day preperation,…
Australian Test selectors have made few changes to the team beaten in last year World Cup Final. The team that wasn’t good enough will be given a chance to get some sort of false redemption against the World Champion New Zealand Rugby League team in Friday night in Sydney. New Zealand have made a few…
There, I said it! Well we all know Parramatta suck, and have sucked for quite some time. So what is there problem? Well the current situation the club finds itself in wasn’t helped by former coach Michael Hagan. He was a terrible coach, a terrible leader and even now having moved on, he is publicly…
Australia were outstanding in their first game against anyone since their mid season thrashing of New Zealand. Their combination looked good, the forwards played well, the backs were oustanding and Lockyer and Thurston were clicking already. England meanwhile have had a number of games over the same period of time including a thrashing of Wales…
Its amazing to think that after so many years of waiting, the 2008 Rugby League World Cup is now behind us. After setbacks, questions about whether it would even be run, countless doubters and a cynical supporters base wondering if they would get it right, you have to give the organizers credit for pulling together…
It was very strange seeing New Zealand doing a victory lap with what I consider to be OUR World Cup, and while it was great for the game to see it happen make no mistake, I wanted Australia to win the big one. Having said that, I think the reaction by some within the Australian…
Strap in folks, this is gonna be a long one! In an amazing game that was a fitting end to the centenary celebrations in Australia, New Zealand has beaten Australia 34-20 to claim the Rugby League World Cup! I was lucky enough to be at the game and it was very surreal to see New…
Well its here, the Rugby League World Cup Final and the chance for one nation to claim it is the undisputed World Champions. Australia have held that mantle for three decades, and while New Zealand managed to win the 2005 Tri Nations Final, this is the only game you can win and claim to be…
New Zealand has won a great test match beating England 32-22 and booking a place in the 2008 World Cup Final. It was a fantastic game to watch and at time it looked like either team might win the game, but the Kiwi’s always seemed to have something in reserve. England probably played their best…
Its mind blowing to me that a nation that claims to be the second best in the Rugby League World, but who has not beaten the best in the world for 30 years, can honestly think its doing things right and is just down on its luck. As an outsider, its hard to know how…
Samoa has easily beaten a very poor French team by a scoreline of 42-10. The game marked Tony Puletua’s last game at Penrith Football Stadium as he captained the Samoan team to an easy win. Samoa will have to wonder what might have been. They went from eying a place in the semi finals to…
Australia beat Papua New Guinea 46-6 up in Townsville tonight in a game that marked the end of the Test career of PNG legend Stanley Gene. PNG fought hard all game and did themselves proud. They managed to keep the Kangaroo’s close then England did just last week. Its amazing, after watching every game in…
One thing a World Cup does is open the eyes of certain people that forget that the game isn’t just played in Sydney and Yorkshire. Unfortunately for Rugby League, these ignorant types are usually the people running the game. As the World Cup gets to the business end of the competition and teams finish their…
Tonga have thrashed Scotland 48-0 in Rockhampton and ended their World Cup rankings match in style. It all seemed too little too late for Tonga who played better than they did through the rest of the tournament but it should be remembered Scotland were coming off the back of a short preperation. Its obvious that…
New Zealand have easily accounted for England in the last of their pool matches, winning 36-24. Now, before you read on keep in mind that these two teams will play again next week in the World Cup Semi Final, and this game had no baring on the competition, so both teams tried a few things….
Scotland beat Fiji 18-16 with a last minute try to give the bravehearts their first World Cup win ever. Scotland played ok, but Fiji were horrible! You have to wonder if the short turn around both Samoa and Fiji had was a major reason both teams lost against opposition most expacted them to be way…
Ireland has claimed one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, downing Samoa 34-16, claiming the top place in the group and booking a playoff with the winner of Group B for the right to play Australia in the World Cup Semi Finals. Ireland were outstanding and improved on their impressive performance against Tonga…
Australia have secured the top spot in Group A with a crushing 52-4 win over England. As usual England come out playing physically and they were helped along when Australia played terribly for about ten minutes. However from that point on it was all one way traffic and to be honest, England were lucky a…
Fiji have easily beaten France 42-6 in the worst game I have ever seen a French side play. They just were not in the contest from the first minute as they lacked intensity and offered nothing in attack. Fiji meanwhile were what you’d expect, they always play well at the World Cup, but they really…
New Zealand have belted Papua New Guinea 48-6 in a game that really tied off a lot of lose ends in this World Cup. Many were looking at this contest as a marker towards how England will fare tomorrow night against Australia, and the signs were not good for Pommy fans. While PNG didn’t play…
Samoa has beaten Tonga 20-12 in the most important match of the World Cup so far. The win means Samoa is now in the box seat to claim the top of the group and look on track to play Australia in the World Cup semi finals. Forget all of that though, this game was a…
This is the footage I know some of our friends in the UK may not have seen yet. This is the moment the “Welcome To Australia” game between the Australian Aboriginal Dream Time Team faced off with the New Zealand Maori. This ended up being a great contest in which the Aboriginal side won 34-26…