Agree with most of this but I wouldn’t give New Zealand top spot in group B just yet, they have to beat a very good Tongan side first. An upset is possible if Tonga can perform well and keep their discipline. It would be great for the game if Tonga pull it off.="Roy Haggerty”

As the group stage ends and the quarters begin, it starts to look much, much tighter, with some really mouthwatering clashes. The quarters are looking like





Agree with most of this but I wouldn’t give New Zealand top spot in group B just yet, they have to beat a very good Tongan side first. An upset is possible if Tonga can perform well and keep their discipline. It would be great for the game if Tonga pull it off.

...it wouldn't be an upset at all. I expect Tonga to have the upper hand in the pack in this game and I would rate their chances as very good....maybe only slight underdogs, but I'd take Tonga with a 10 point start........and I think the Bookies agree.

[urlhttps://www.oddschecker.com/rugby-league/world-cup/new-zealand-v-tonga/winner[/url

I like the world cup logo. it looks good on the pitch.



I really like the BBC intro with the oversized players, but the tune isn't particularly good or memorable. I like the BBC coverage though. Robbie Paul is great and it's always good to see Jonathan "and the Welshman is in" Davies. I miss the old Wembley and those 1st tests. I hope the new Wembley can become just as special when touring teams visit.



I liked watching Australia v England. For me England/GB against Australia is the best game in RL. It's what I grew up watching and I always love those matches. I hope so much that we can get to the final so that we can play them again.



I've enjoyed watching PNG. The atmosphere has been fantastic and their yellow shirts look good. I hope they can continue to develop because RL needs more genuine international teams.



Samoa v Tonga was great and I've been very impressed by New Zealand too. I'm just hoping they don't ruin things for us again if we both manage get to the SF.

I liked watching Australia v England. For me England/GB against Australia is the best game in RL. It's what I grew up watching and I always love those matches. I hope so much that we can get to the final so that we can play them again.



totally agree, we had the best international rugby of any code with the kangaroo tours and we just threw it away, i no the change to summer did not help and made the long tours a thing of the past, but shoret 3 test tours with 3-4 midweek games thrown in would be great again, the big crowd that saw leeds v NZ at Headingley in 2015 proves there is a big appetite for club v tourist games.



just think if we had a kangaroo tour next year,



Cas v Roos at weldon road sell out



Wigan v roos at Dw 20k easily sellout not unthinkable



first test Wembley 60k comfortably with good marketing a record international crowd 80k



midweek Hull fc, possibly hull combined team Kc 20+



Leeds at Headingley 20k sellout



second test Newcastle st james or Coventry sell out at covenrty 40k min at Newcastle. (scrap magic weekend from 2018 onwards)



third test Old Trafford 60-70k



i think those crowds are easily achievable in given 12 months marketing and expectation 6-7 game tour would be enough for interest but won't upset the Nrl too much.

im enjoying it, but thats because im following it closely... most of the general public wont even know its on right now! but thats with it being in oz i suppose too.



crowds are disappointing down under, shame they treat it as a third tier competition behind the origin and nrl... the world cup should always be the pinnacle. dont think they should get the comp again for a good while if they dont respect it..... think its in the usa next and maybe england again after that... the last one in england was great for crowds.



some good games so far, looking forward to the rest of the comp! hoping for an england final spot at the very least

yes!!! hope the sl take note

It's been OK, and gone to form so far, the knockout stages look to be very interesting, and there's at least 6 strong teams in it. When was the last time we could say that about an RL international competition?

I doubt many clubs over here would want their players going off to the UK for that long, playing that many games etc & with the current level of player welfare & organised conditions for players i doubt many of the players would accept that when they have to come back & go again for a whole season

It wouldn't work anyway these days as both comps play the same time of year, the English clubs and players (those not selected for tests) would also be in shut down mode.



France should get a couple of tests against them though imo.

I think there needs to be more regular international competition between T1 and T2 nations. England and France are the only two European nations that don't have issues with elgibility, so let's take both nations other to Aus to play T2 nations in Australia, as we did vs Samoa this year - England are too good for France for them playing each other to be of any use (either playing or commercially), a large percentage of our squad is already in Sydney (and this is only likely to get bigger because of commercial failings here), nations like PNG, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga can raise competitive sides and, because of the high immigrant populations in Australia from those nations, you should be able to get a crowd and make it work commercially.



Ideally, there needs to be a window carved out (possibly during ANZAC or Origin weeks) where England and France can fly to Oz (because the NRL won't release its talent mid-season to come to Europe) and take on Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and PNG. Some sort of annual triple-header in Sydney / Newcastle / Brisbane / Gold Coast (say France v PNG, Samoa v Tonga and England v Fiji, with the fixtures rotating on an annual basis), would be a step forward in my view. Longer term, if it can be a success, let's work to carve out a genuine mid-season window.



In the winter, we can keep our international calendar. I'd like to see a four year something like:



Y1: World Cup (in Australasia)

Y2: Roos tour of England including a warm-up game vs France and a home nation

Y3: GB Lions tour to Aus (including games vs PNG / Fiji) and a

Y4: Kiwi tour of England including a warm-up game vs France and a home nation

Y5: World Cup (in Europe)

Y6: Roos tour of England including a warm-up game vs France and a home nation

Y7: GB Lions tour to NZ (+ games vs Samoa & Tonga)

Y8: Kiwi tour of England including a warm-up game vs France and a home nation

Y9: World Cup (in North America)

and there lies the problem Aussie RL not interested in international RL and thats why union is leaving us for dead, the fact that NRL see international RL as 3rd rate and are only interested in NRL and Origin is why RL is struggling

You can't just blame the NRL. RU has loads of international teams that are competitive and have huge amounts of fans. It has been that way for years. GB/England RL have never sold out Wembley - not for two World Cup finals or a semi-final. Can you honestly imagine England RU not selling out an equivalent game? They could probably sell it out twice over. I don't doubt that the NRL can do more, but to lay all the blame at their door is ridiculous. UK RL fans can't even get behind an equivalent to SOO - at least the Aussies have made a success of that.



You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I'm disappointed when games between Australia/England/New Zealand don't sell out, but I understand why interest in a lot of the other matches would be quite low.



RL needs to stop making comparisons with RU. RU has long gone into the distance, at least in terms of the international game. What does that matter though? RL is small compared to RU. RU is tiny compared to football. They're all still great sports.