RLWC 2026 Draw, Venue & Crowds

[Jim from Oz]

OK so I've bought three tickets for Samoa v Tonga on the half way line in the upper tier 15 rows back … @ $79 it's pretty good value !

Will get other tix later, just didn't want to miss that match!

 

[yakstorm]

It's a absolute disgrace how the NRL have treated the world cup. They were awarded the rights to host in August 2023. Over 2 years ago.

The NRL has definitely treated as a side project, but they have only done that for the past 16 months as they were only awarded the rights on July 24, 2024.

ARLC welcomes Rugby League World Cup 2026 hosting rights

ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys AM has welcomed the IRL Board’s decision to award the hosting rights for the Rugby League World Cup 2026 to Australia.

www.nrl.com

Australia to host Rugby League World Cup 2026

www.intrl.sport

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Regarding the commentators for the tournament, please oh PLEASE Channel 7....don't pick Mark "they MUST score" Braybrook again as main caller.

Is he still commentating? If they consider that, they might as well consider Raaaaayyy!!

I'm sure there are others available, I think Dan Ginnane and Andrew Moore were commentating last time the Cup was here.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Newcastle getting a semi? Holy f**k we’re being treated decently for once. Will be there for sure. Kind of interesting as I feel Newcastle is potentially a better fit for a group game. There’s a lot of support for the womens game here and I think if Australia play in Newy we’d near sell out the women’s game alone.

Good to see games in Newcastle. They were certainly robbed of matches in 2017 because the Govt had no interest.

 

[Jim from Oz]

Is it too early to ask how RLWC 2026 ticket sales are going?

 

[Last Week]

The NRL has definitely treated as a side project, but they have only done that for the past 16 months as they were only awarded the rights on July 24, 2024.

ARLC welcomes Rugby League World Cup 2026 hosting rights

ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys AM has welcomed the IRL Board’s decision to award the hosting rights for the Rugby League World Cup 2026 to Australia.

www.nrl.com

Australia to host Rugby League World Cup 2026

www.intrl.sport

That's fair. I confused the dates of when France were stripped of hosting rights.

 

[eels4lifee]

Is it too early to ask how RLWC 2026 ticket sales are going?

The pulling power of Tongan n Samoan fans are going to out rate every other nation combined

 

[Growthegame]

Yep.

Very poor scheduling having a Friday game commencing so ridiculously early. Don't know why it couldn't start at 8:05pm, like the games on the following two Fridays.

Isn’t a women’s game on at that time?

 

[Growthegame]

Is he still commentating? If they consider that, they might as well consider Raaaaayyy!!

I'm sure there are others available, I think Dan Ginnane and Andrew Moore were commentating last time the Cup was here.

Oh please no. It’s an opportunity to get a break from Dan “I scream everything” Ginnane.

 

[Perth Red]

Looking forward to watching the wheelchair tournament. Last one in England was awesome. Hopefully the crowds turn out for it.

 

[paulmac]

As much whingeing as I have done, still booked 3 trips, including to Pt Moresby for Samoa v PNG.
I just hope the IRL realise that 10 teams is just a clunky number to work with and we go to 12 in 2030.

 

[adamkungl]

As much whingeing as I have done, still booked 3 trips, including to Pt Moresby for Samoa v PNG.
I just hope the IRL realise that 10 teams is just a clunky number to work with and we go to 12 in 2030.

12 doesn't get much better!

4 groups of 3... 3 isn't enough for a decent pool stage. So you're back to cross pool games which introduce weird scenarios.

3 groups of 4? 1 needs to be a 'super pool'.

 

[Last Week]

12 doesn't get much better!

4 groups of 3... 3 isn't enough for a decent pool stage. So you're back to cross pool games which introduce weird scenarios.

3 groups of 4? 1 needs to be a 'super pool'.

For 3 groups of 4, of the 3 2nd place teams the one with the best record could qualify as the 4th semi finalist.

Could have looked something like this;

1) Australia
6) PNG
7) Fiji
26) South Africa

2) New Zealand
5) Tonga
8) France
21) Lebanon

3) England
4) Samoa
9) Cook Islands
18) Jamaica

 

[Jim from Oz]

For a RLWC at present global RL reach and strength, 12 teams is perfect.

You have three groups of four teams, each team plays everyone in their group, so therefore each team has three group games.

Top two of each group + the two best third-place finishers (via points or, if points even, for and against) = 8 teams going through to the quarter-finals.

 

[Valheru]

Sell outs - W1 AUS vs NZ (45k), W1 PNG vs lebanese (15k+), W2 TON vs lebanese (29k), W2 PNG vs SAM (15k+), W3 lebanese vs FRA/TON vs SAM (29k), SF1 (29k), FINAL (52k)

High - W1 SAM vs FRA (20k+), W2 NZ vs CIS (20k+ only because its the only game in NZ), W2 AUS vs FIJ (30-40k), SF2 (35-45k),

Mid - W1 ENG vs TON (15k+), W2 ENG vs FRA (15k+), W3 NZ vs FIJ (15-25k - will surprise people), W3 AUS vs CIS (15-20k)

Low - W1 FIJ vs CIS (10-15k), W3 ENG vs PNG (10-15k)


Change-

Week 1 - FIJ vs CIS & SAM vs FRA to a Suncorp Double Header - sell out

Week 2 - NZ vs CIS - they're going to need to promote the hell out of this one

Week 3 - ENG vs PNG in the Gong - I don't get the logic there

- LEBANON vs FRA, TON vs SAM - move it to Home Bush. You can get 50-60k for the double header

Total attendance - 400k to 430k - which is around what 14-16 team tournaments bring in - could be bigger with stadium/double header tweaks

Average attendance - 20-25k - which will be highest in the last 55 years, back when it was only 4 teams involved

The opener is a Thursday night so I doubt it gets over 30k TBH.

 

[adamkungl]

Agree
and 12 would have to include guaranteed spots to MEA and Americas imo. It would be a mistake to fill it with junk heritage teams like Scotland and Italy again.

First 10 as a result of pre-qualification or direct regional qualifying tournaments
6 Pacific
2 Europe
1 MEA
1 Americas
Final 2 via repechage or "World series": Pacific-7, Europe-3, MEA-2, Americas-2
(Cook Islands, Wales, South Africa, USA)

on current form pools might be..
Australia - PNG - France - Jamaica
New Zealand - Tonga - South Africa - Wales
England - Samoa - Fiji - Cook Islands

 

[adamkungl]

The opener is a Thursday night so I doubt it gets over 30k TBH.

It will sellout or go close.

 

[Valheru]

There's a far more realistic scenario I hope doesn't play out than Lebanon sweeping the pool matches:

The winner of the Tonga v Samoa game misses out on F/A.

If...
England beats Tonga, PNG, France
Tonga beats Samoa, Lebanon
Samoa beats PNG, France

Samoa can still qualify on f/a
Some might say it should then be decided on head to head rather than f/a

But if...
England beats PNG, France
Tonga beats England, Lebanon
Samoa beats Tonga, France
PNG beats Samoa, Lebanon

4 teams on 2 wins each! With a completely circular head to head result!


So. Some controversy is likely. Hopefully not. It's very hard to have a sub 16 format without any caveats. Even in a bog standard format you have the luck of the draw putting you in easier or harder pools. Look at France, luck of the draw has them playing England and Samoa instead of Tonga and PNG. But at least it's not Australia and New Zealand!

Lets just hope the tournament is commercially successful and something to build on so that one day we can get back to an actually viable 16 teams.

I know you're trying to be positive about the WC and International footy in general but the format is a mess, no two ways about it.

I would prefer more teams but if they are going to settle on 10 then just have two groups of 5 teams, 4 fixtures each with the top 2 in each group progressing to the semi finals. They won't do that though because they want to manufacture a situation where they get Aus v NZ in both the group stage and the knockout rounds. They also want Samoa V Tonga in the group stage whilst giving the loser a genuine chance at progressing to the knockout rounds.

The whole thing just comes across as contrived. The game needs to back itself that it now has 5 teams that are competitive enough to draw a crowd (6 if you include PNG playing at home) that they don't need to orchestrate match ups. Using the current rankings, doing a random draw from 5 pots I've come up with the below.

Group A

Australia
England
PNG
France
Cook Islands

Group B

NZ
Samoa
Tonga
Fiji
Lebanon

That looks pretty good to me. PNG are competitive enough, especially at home that AUS/ENG progressing isn't a completely foregone conclusion and in the other group we just saw how competitive the pacific cup was.

 

[Willy2452]

It will sellout or go close.

Well i got my $9 ticket so cheap!

 

[adamkungl]

@Valheru the #1 reason against 5 team pools would be commercial. They gain a bunch of extra mid to low tier games with no guarantee that they'll make more money than they cost to stage.