Not designed as a "downer" thread, but what are peoples thoughts of the tournament so far?



For me, the highlights have been the games involving the Pacific Islanders. I chose to drive to Hamilton for the Samoa v Tonga match and even turned down free flights and tickets to Christchurch and I am so glad I did. What an amazing event.....these 2 sides should play every year in New Zealand where the communities are well represented....it was an honour to watch the 2 sides kneel together at the start and applaud the war dances!

England are still to hit their stride and I think they will pummel France this week.......Australia look ominous...and I still have a feeling that the winner of Tonga v New Zealand may well make the final. PNG has been brilliant and shows that the NRL need to consider the Hunters next time they look at expansion (if ever).

The bad stuff was the isolated violence in South Auckland which the Media blew up into more than it was, the Scottish (sic) idiots too hammered to get on the plane (again grabbed by the media) and the poor crowds in Australia.....of the 150,577 attendees at 14 games so far, 77,750 or so have attended the 5 games not in Australia, whilst the other 9 games including 2 double headers have averaged a disgraceful 8k a pop......that is shocking and Australian organisers should never be allowed near the tournament again.



But still. Samoa v Tonga in Hamilton is now my all time favourite RL experience and I am again driving a thousand clicks and for 12 hours for the NZ v Tonga match this week......

I didn't have enough frequent flyer miles to be able to fly to New Zealand. When I do then I will.



But I think that PNG are the stars of the tournament. They beat a Super League quality team, with Louis McCarthy Scarsbrook and Michael McIlorum at its core, despite many mistakes in ball control.



Garry Lo scored the try of the tournament so far.



France will be a real presence in future years once they get their five missing stars back fit and into the starting team.



Rankings so far:



1. Australia

2. New Zealand

3. England



4. Tonga

5. Fiji

6. PNG

7. Samoa



8. Ireland

9. Lebanon

10. France

11. Italy



12. USA

13. Scotland

14. Wales

Good, the pacific island teams look very competative and capable of mixing it with the best. PNG and their fans a breath of fresh air too.



There has been a few blow outs but some great skill on show. RU has its fair share of miss matches too in the pool games lets not forget. The QF/semis are looking like they will be real contests...Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and PNG will all feel they have an upset in them.

PNG, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji have been great to watch.

Wales, Scotland, France, Italy and USA are absolutely outclassed at this level - to the point of embarrassment in some cases. The Irish are as Irish as I am. The South Sea Islanders and PNG have been great to watch. For the next World Cup, lets revert back to GB, PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Australia, NZ and one qualifier from an "Emerging Nations World Cup". I'd rather have a competitive 8-team comp than this. You could have a Champions League format - first round 2 groups of 4, second round 1 group of four, and top 2 play the final.

It's been ok good to see PNG doing well after a decade of decline playing at home has played a major part in there resurgence Scotland have been awful and that's the problem with filling your team with Aussies one minute and doing ok and then losing them the next Tonga , Samoa and Fiji will never push on as there players swap about every year at the end of the day there are 5 proper nations that play RL Australia, New Zealand, England, France and PNG

It's like there's two tournaments going on. One in Australia where it looks like the general public couldn't give a monkeys and one being played in other countries where there's a buzz and a passion to see international sport. When I see the scenes from PNG and before the Tonga vs Samoa game (not the fighting), it is fantastic and makes you want these teams involved in tournaments more often.

But regardless, the tournament has been great to watch as a spectator IMO. Tonga, Fiji, Samoa don't have the infrastructure to support anything other than an amateur league set up....until Fiji are accepted to the NSW Cup (turned down again this year by the NRL) then these countries will be made up og heritage players.....but regardless, they are competitive and have added some real colour to this event.

I agree I like watching the the Pacific Islanders but you never know whose going to turn up and play for them from one year to the next

Obviously the RL flat-cap tendency can find much to be upset about. However, I'm loving it. There's always been two elements to the WC - the competitive side, and the celebration of the game side.



In previous WCs, Australia, NZ or England could only realistically be beaten by one of the other two in that list. In this WC, there's an entirely realistic chance of Tonga, Fiji or even PNG giving NZ and England a run for their money. Certainly I'll be nervous should England meet one of them in the quarter finals. That on its own makes it a great tournament competitively.



I couldn't really give much of a monkeys for the crowds in the group games. Folk sitting on a grassy bank in the sun watching USA or Fiji or Wales, even in one-sided matches, is very much part of the celebration of the game. I've no problem with that at all, and if I could afford to travel over there, I'd be having a whale of a time soaking it all in, not counting the crowd and whining about it.



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:



Australia v Samoa

Tonga v Fiji

Kiwis v Lebanon

England v PNG



Of those, while the Kiwis and Aussies would have to have bad days to do anything but win, they'll still know they've been in a game - especially the Aussies. England could struggle against PNG if they repeat the performance of this weekend, and if you're not excited about a Tonga v Fiji match after watching them play so far, then you've no right to call yourself a rugby league fan.



A few people need to pull their heads out of their backsides, stop moaning that it isn't the soccer world cup with dozens of roughly equal teams supported by billions of dollars of international finance, and accept it for what it is - a big party which unites our sport in a celebration of what it means to play and support the game.

I've enjoyed a good number of the games, but the blow outs are disappointing. The 3 team groups were much closer in 2013 so I thought the games back then were far better as they were unpredictable.



I like watching the pacific nations, I get to watch players I wouldn't usually watch and they're stepping up big time. They need to a regular international calendar so that there's an incentive for players to keep playing for these nations.



I think Fiji have slipped under the radar slightly in the build up to the tournament with all the hype surrounding Tonga and their stars. Fiji have always been well drilled and even though their opponents so far haven't really provided any challenge, they stick to their game plan and look a class above. If they have to play Tonga in the quarter finals, I think we'll be seeing Fiji in the semi finals for the 3rd consecutive time.



I know one thing everyone can agree on after this tournament. We need to see Fiji/Tonga/Samoa/PNG play tests regularly, not just against the big 3 but against the European nations too. This needed to happen after the last World Cup but everything stood still. They can't waste the opportunity again.

Agree with most of what you say, but have to mention that whilst Ww outdid everyone's expectations last time out and it really sounds as if the Aussies haven't bothered marketing at all and whilst I agree that people sitting on a grassy bank is great, only 5k or 8k for a double header is bloody atrocious.