RLWC 2025

[The Great Dane]

It's good that the RLWC has a chance of actually being profitable event again. Having it so only full members are eligible for the WC will pressure nations to actually work on developing the sport on home soil as well, which is a very good thing.

Now all they've got to do is force squads to have a minimum amount of players born in, or residents of, each nation to be eligible for sectioned internationals, then international RL might actually start slowly moving in the right direction again.

Many people here won't be happy about it, but this has the potential to be a very good move for international RL in the long run if they stick to it.

 

[blukablu]

Maybe and I hope you’re right but I can see them saying that is “unfair” if they aren’t allowed to attempt to qualify, although the counter arguement should just be they could have qualified at the last World Cup. There is definitely enough pacific teams already for a 10 team World Cup.

It's pretty easy to justify. 6 out of the 10 teams are already from the Pacific region.

Cook Islands are basically the New Zealand C team anyway, not a single player would play for them if they had the opportunity to play for NZ or Aus (Qld/NSW).

I bet they have an Americas qualification (Canada, USA, Jamaica) and a European qualification (France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Greece, Serbia etc).

 

[siv]

It's pretty easy to justify. 6 out of the 10 teams are already from the Pacific region.

Cook Islands are basically the New Zealand C team anyway, not a single player would play for them if they had the opportunity to play for NZ or Aus (Qld/NSW).

I bet they have an Americas qualification (Canada, USA, Jamaica) and a European qualification (France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Greece, Serbia etc).

Now the only thing that changes this is that only full IRL members can qualify

 

[Last Week]

Now the only thing that changes this is that only full IRL members can qualify

And at the moment, the only American (North and South) team who is a full member is Jamaica.

It'll be the Cook Islands...

 

[Coastbloke]

This maybe the first ever RLWC since it’s inception in 1954 that France will not be there..That is a travesty..

 

[The Great Dane]

This maybe the first ever RLWC since it’s inception in 1954 that France will not be there..That is a travesty..

The French only have themselves to blame for that frankly.

 

[Coastbloke]

The French only have themselves to blame for that frankly.

Sadly, I have to agree to an extent..

 

[The Great Dane]

Sadly, I have to agree to an extent..

There's no to an extent about it. They've been incompetently run for almost as long as I can remember.

They're always chasing after unrealistic grandiose schemes instead of focusing on getting the little things right and slowly building, then blame conspiracies and events long past when the inevitable happens and their plans fail.

It sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[RedVee_8]

This maybe the first ever RLWC since it’s inception in 1954 that France will not be there..That is a travesty..

Not sure about travesty. But it is a shame.

Especially since they were supposed to be hosting 25

 

[Coastbloke]

There's no to an extent about it. They've been incompetently run for almost as long as I can remember.

They're always chasing after unrealistic grandiose schemes instead of focusing on getting the little things right and slowly building, then blame conspiracies and events long past when the inevitable happens and their plans fail.

It sucks, but it is what it is.

I think to an extent their Media hasn’t helped either. There is a few other reasons as well..

By and large you are right. Not selecting full strength teams in Tests doesn’t help but that’s Catalan to blame..

I agree they can’t keep blaming Vichy, but jeez it would be nice to get back those assets plus interest..

 

[docbrown]

12 teams. No pools - use 3 tiers. 24 preliminary matches then 3 weeks of finals.

Tier A - Australia, New Zealand, England, Samoa - play 3 tier A teams, 1 tier B team
Tier B - Tonga, PNG, Fiji, Lebanon
Tier C - France, Wales, Ireland, Serbia

*** Big appeal ** Medium appeal * Little appeal

Preliminary Matches in Australia:
AUS vs NZ***
AUS vs ENG***
AUS vs SAM***
AUS vs TON**
lebanese vs FRA*
lebanese vs SER*
lebanese vs IRE*

Preliminary Matches in New Zealand:
NZ vs ENG***
NZ vs SAM***
NZ vs PNG**
TON vs FRA*
SAM vs ENG***

Preliminary Matches in PNG:
PNG vs FIJ**
PNG vs WAL**
PNG vs TON**

Preliminary Matches in Fiji:
FIJ vs TON**
FIJ vs SER*
FIJ vs ENG**

Preliminary Matches in Samoa:
SAM vs lebanese*

Preliminary Matches played as doubleheaders in Australia/New Zealand before other games already listed:
FRA vs WAL*
FRA vs IRE*
WAL vs SER*
WAL vs IRE*
SER vs IRE*

Win against higher tier team - 3 points e.g. Tonga beats England
Win against same tier team - 2 points
Draw - 1 point
Loss - 0 points

Teams with most points go into a Top 8 finals e.g. 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5

 

[Last Week]

12 teams. No pools - use 3 tiers. 24 preliminary matches then 3 weeks of finals.

Tier A - Australia, New Zealand, England, Samoa - play 3 tier A teams, 1 tier B team
Tier B - Tonga, PNG, Fiji, Lebanon
Tier C - France, Wales, Ireland, Serbia

*** Big appeal ** Medium appeal * Little appeal

Preliminary Matches in Australia:
AUS vs NZ***
AUS vs ENG***
AUS vs SAM***
AUS vs TON**
lebanese vs FRA*
lebanese vs SER*
lebanese vs IRE*

Preliminary Matches in New Zealand:
NZ vs ENG***
NZ vs SAM***
NZ vs PNG**
TON vs FRA*
SAM vs ENG***

Preliminary Matches in PNG:
PNG vs FIJ**
PNG vs WAL**
PNG vs TON**

Preliminary Matches in Fiji:
FIJ vs TON**
FIJ vs SER*
FIJ vs ENG**

Preliminary Matches in Samoa:
SAM vs lebanese*

Preliminary Matches played as doubleheaders in Australia/New Zealand before other games already listed:
FRA vs WAL*
FRA vs IRE*
WAL vs SER*
WAL vs IRE*
SER vs IRE*

Win against higher tier team - 3 points e.g. Tonga beats England
Win against same tier team - 2 points
Draw - 1 point
Loss - 0 points

Teams with most points go into a Top 8 finals e.g. 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5

Way too complicated.

 

[The Great Dane]

I think to an extent their Media hasn’t helped either. There is a few other reasons as well..

By and large you are right. Not selecting full strength teams in Tests doesn’t help but that’s Catalan to blame..

I agree they can’t keep blaming Vichy, but jeez it would be nice to get back those assets plus interest..

Can you really blame Catalans, or Toulouse to a lesser extent?!

Their businesses are significantly more reliant on gate takings than NRL or other Super League clubs, and on average the bulk of the France's national team comes from/through those two clubs. So from their point of view they're carrying a lot of risk, especially during the season, by releasing their players for international duty, and they receive no tangible compensation for that risk.
An injury or two to key players during a throwaway international against England in April could be the difference between them having a good season or a disastrous one, and be the difference between them doing alright or carrying significant debt in their next financial report.

Forcing these sorts of international programs is just another example of RL, particularly the RFL in this case, trying to run before it's learnt how to walk. France's RL scene simply isn't strong enough and the talent pool not deep enough to support those sort of mid season tests, and pressuring them to participate in them doesn't help anybody in the long run. Furthermore, there's little reason why those tests couldn't be organised for the offseason, or why England couldn't play midseason tests against the Home Nations or ROI, other than the fact the RFL avoids playing against them because they're not particularly profitable or prestigious.

It's not the media's job to 'help' either. The media industry is a business that needs to make money and the French media simply doesn't believe that RL is a good investment ATM, and it's very hard to disagree with them frankly. Those attitudes won't change until RL gets it's shit together in France and/or Europe more generally, so maybe work on that instead of whinging about it.

 

[siv]

Europe RL is improving

But it will take likes of Serbia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Greece, Turkey to start beating France before France starts improving.

As they will move forward in standard as a group

 

[The Great Dane]

Europe RL is improving

But it will take likes of Serbia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Greece, Turkey to start beating France before France starts improving.

As they will move forward in standard as a group

I see no reason to believe that's the case, and I doubt that any of those nations will be launching semi-professional or professional leagues that are comparable to even those in France anytime soon.

What's happening in e.g. Serbia has no impact on the sport on the ground in France.

 

[siv]

I see no reason to believe that's the case, and I doubt that any of those nations will be launching semi-professional or professional leagues that are comparable to even those in France anytime soon.

What's happening in e.g. Serbia has no impact on the sport on the ground in France.

Your right it doesnt.

France hasn't progressed with England as expected. With a lot of this to do with Catalans not releasing players over the years

As such France these days looks like a NZ residents team, which means its more aligned to RL in Europe mainland

 

[Last Week]

What are the odds that the 10 team World Cup will be 2 groups of 5?

Pool A
Australia
England
PNG
Lebanon
*Qualifier*

Pool B
New Zealand
Samoa
Tonga
Fiji
*Qualifier*

All teams play each other once.
Top two of each pool qualify for finals.

1A vs 2B
1B vs 2A

I won't hold my breath.

 

[England87]

Hopefully two pools of 5 with no convoluted seeding system or super pool. Some short turnaround mid week games during pool stages to make it a 6 week tournament from start to finish. Australia & New Zealand as 60/40 joint hosts with a opening ceremony at Eden Park with all the bells and whistles highlighting the Pasifika representation in the game and the Final in (dare to dream...) Sydney.

The benefit of 2 pools of 5 is their is 3-4 more high profile group stage games that would have genuine media and public interest no matter the make up of the Pools.

Host Cities/ Venues / Use

AUSTRALIA (14 games)

Sydney - Stadium Australia (Final)
Sydney - Sydney Football Stadium (2nd highest profile Australia pool game)
Sydney - Western Sydney Stadium (Medium profile game involving Lebanon and/or Pacific Island nation)
Brisbane - Lang Park (Semi Final, Highest profile Australia pool game)
Melbourne - Rectangular Stadium (3rd highest profile Australia pool game + an England pool game)
Newcastle - Hunter Stadium (2 Pool Games)
Townsville - North Queensland Stadium (2 Pool Games ideally involving PNG)
Canberra - Bruce Stadium ( 2 Pool Games)
Gold Coast - Robina (1 Pool Game)

NEW ZEALAND (9 Games)

Auckland - Eden Park (Semi Final, Opening ceremony including Highest profile NZ pool game)
Auckland - Mt Smart (2 Pool Game/s involving Pacific Island nations)
Wellington - The Cake Tin (2nd highest profile NZ pool game)
Christchurch - Rugby League Park (2 Pool Games in the South Island including NZ pool game)
Hamilton - Waikato Stadium (1 High Profile Pool Game involving Pacific Island nation)
Rotorua - International Stadium (1 Pool Game)

 

[Perth Red]

Hopefully two pools of 5

I hope to see (presuming state govts are willing to pay) and presuming its ten nations with top 2 in each group of 5 going straight into semis. That's 20 pool games plus 2 semis plus final giving a total of 23 game tournament.

Host Cities/ Venues / Use

AUSTRALIA (14 games) (Group A + some Group B)

Sydney - Allianz - Event opener, AusvEng first game + 1 pool game
Sydney - Commbank Semi Final (winner Group A v second Group B)+ 1 pool game (AusvPNG second game)
Brisbane - Suncorp Final
Melbourne - Rectangular Stadium (EngvFrance game)
Newcastle - 2 lower pool game
Townsville - 1 lower pool game (PNG)
Perth - HBF Park 1 pool game (EngvPNG game)
Gold Coast - 1 Pool Game
Canberra - 1 pool game
Win stadium - 1 pool game
Gosford - 1 pool game

NEW ZEALAND (9 Games) (All Group B)

Auckland - Eden Park (Semi Final -winner of Group B v second Group A)
Auckland - Mt Smart 3 Pool Games (NZvFiji, tongavSamoa, Fiji v Tonga games)
Wellington - 1 pool game (NZvSamoa)
Christchurch - 1 pool game
Hamilton - 1 pool game
Rotorua - 1 Pool Game
Dunedin - 1 pool game

Pools
Group A
Aus
Eng
PNG
France
+1

Group B
NZ
Samoa
Tonga
Fiji
+1

 

[Last Week]

The concern with the two groups of 5 is the total amount of matches that the IRL would have to convince a government to pay for.

2 groups of 5 in a round robin, plus 2 semis and a final is 43 matches.

If they use the 2008 format for 10 teams (the Super Pool) its 18 matches. Plus, they don't have to try and sell the dead rubber match of PNG vs Lebanon, for example.

What they should do is seriously lobby the Australian and New Zealand federal governments to pay for the costs of playing matches in PNG, Fiji Samoa and Tonga. Those nations should absolutely host international matches even if its at a financial loss.