World Cup
I’ve upset some people (Poms) by saying that France will contend for Australia’s crowd as World Champions before England ever do, and after watching their win over Scotland (I know…I’m late!) just yesterday I have to say my opinions have only been reinforced. Scotland played pretty well, much better than they did in the qualifiers….
After watching the New Zealand Maori Haka being challenge by the Aboriginal war dance and seeing both proud teams look like they may come to blows before the game started, you could help but be pumped up ahead of the Australia vs New Zealand match. Unfortunantly I didn’t get to see the Aboriginal Dream Time…
Well I have talked up Tonga in the leadup to the World Cup based in their amazing lineup, however Tonga showed that it doesn’t matter how good your players are if you play rubbish as a team. Ireland played smater and out coached Tonga and almost came away with a massive upset win. Going into…
Game one of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup has been run and won and already England have been left wondering how it has all gone wrong. Yes they won their match against PNG by a scoreline of 32-22, but if we are all honest with ourselves, PNG should have won that game. The Kumuls…
I can’t believe it, the World Cup is about to kick off!!! I’ll be doing previews of every game during the World Cup and here are the first three games to watch over the weekend. Obviously all the attention will be on Australia vs New Zealand but the way the competition is set up, every…
When the Super Group was announced there were many different reactions. Some said PNG was hard done by, and its hard to disagree. England immeditaly felt confident, Australia said the group would be there while New Zealand was too busying falling to pieces to care. The Super Grouping works really well for the Rugby League…
Sometimes its a moral dilemma being an Australian. Before the World Cup I said that I didn’t want Karmichael Hunt, Darius Boyd or Sam Thaiday anywhere near the Australian World Cup Side. This was based on the fact that they had legal problems hanging over their heads and they liked engaging in sexual activities in…
Its without doubt the easiest group in the World Cup but that doesn’t mean there is a lack of quality in Group B. We all know the French an play some good football while the Fijians are a sit everyone has underestimated. As for Scotland, well, they are probably the worst side in the World…
All the profits from the 2008 Rugby League World Cup will go into a fund to develope Rugby League around the world. On top of this there is $2,000,000 in prize money on offer that will be spread across all ten World Cup teams depending on where they finish the tournament. This is all fantastic…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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 New Zealand All Golds beat the Northern Union side 25-18 in Warrington last night. It was an interesting game to watch and certainly helped me get my footy fix for the weekend as the All Golds dominated for most ofthe match. It was only a 20 minute period in the second half where the…