Pacific spots in RLWC2017

[The Partisan]

Article i located re the loss of the 5th Pacific team for the 2017 RLWC.



http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/279288/sport-fewer-pacific-teams-at-rugby-league-world-cup-'unavoidable'

 

[expansionist]

this is something I hadnt really consciously considered until I saw this article yesterday. I guess it makes sense, but it is a shame to leave teams out if theyre good enough to compete.

I suppose the only alternative it for more teams to be in the RLWC

 

[Heritage XIII]

Yeah but we can't rely on the Pacific to make numbers and be the bulk of the 14 teams. it is good in that there are more nations able to step up outside the pacific rim and we must continue to encourage this. it's all nice & dandy to give the likes of the Cook Islands a go (if they should fail to qualify under this new system) but the sport just won't develop on the 'world' stage if we don't see non traditional countries make the leap. Canada & Jamaica are great examples of rugby league development success of late and it would be good to see one of them here in 2017, even if it is at the expense of Cooks or Tonga etc.

 

[deluded pom?]

Yeah but we can't rely on the Pacific to make numbers and be the bulk of the 14 teams. it is good in that there are more nations able to step up outside the pacific rim and we must continue to encourage this. it's all nice & dandy to give the likes of the Cook Islands a go (if they should fail to qualify under this new system) but the sport just won't develop on the 'world' stage if we don't see non traditional countries make the leap. Canada & Jamaica are great examples of rugby league development success of late and it would be good to see one of them here in 2017, even if it is at the expense of Cooks or Tonga etc.

Exactly. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. FIFA don't have the best 32 teams in the world at their WC. They go for the global representation approach. The RLWC is starting to steadily improve and hopefully within a couple more WCs the geographical spread will consist of more and stronger teams.

 

[yakstorm]

Arguably the Pacific lost their additional qualification spot to the new Middle East-Africa group. Whilst that group currently only includes Lebanon and South Africa this time around, the growth potential in that part of the world is far larger than the Pacific and as others have already stated it helps give our tournament a better global feel.

I'd imagine as well that there would be more domestic Rugby League players in Lebanon and even South Africa than the Cook Islands.

 

[paulmac]

Arguably the Pacific lost their additional qualification spot to the new Middle East-Africa group. Whilst that group currently only includes Lebanon and South Africa this time around, the growth potential in that part of the world is far larger than the Pacific and as others have already stated it helps give our tournament a better global feel.

I'd imagine as well that there would be more domestic Rugby League players in Lebanon and even South Africa than the Cook Islands.

Lebanon won't pick any of those domestic players.I wish there was a quota of 8 heritage players in a squad of 17 in the qualifiers.

 

[roughyedspud]

Exactly. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. FIFA don't have the best 32 teams in the world at their WC. They go for the global representation approach. The RLWC is starting to steadily improve and hopefully within a couple more WCs the geographical spread will consist of more and stronger teams.

Begs the question...is it better to have tbe cook islands in the world cup or usa,canada or south africa...?

 

[RedVee]

The latter, as long as the Cooks have a chance to qualify if they make the top 4 of the region

 

[donny donny]

I thought there were two extra Asia pacific spots up for grabs?

If Tonga are playing Cook Islands for one then what happened to the other one? I'm assuming PNG have got it but did they do anything to qualify?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

They're co-hosting.

 

[donny donny]

Cheers, I assumed that was why they've auto qualified but I couldn't find anything confirming it.

 

[paulmac]

Jeez it will be a disaster if Tonga don't qualify.Really think it should of been a series rather than one off winner take all proposition.

 

[deluded pom?]

Jeez it will be a disaster if Tonga don't qualify.Really think it should of been a series rather than one off winner take all proposition.

Even Lebanon v SA is a two legged series.

 

[hutch]

Does anybody know if, when and where these qualifying games will be played?